Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership is proud to present the 4th Annual Black Artstory Month, titled SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED acknowledges the significant role that community building, cross-sector collaborations and collective actions have played within the Black Community in their pursuits for political freedom, cultural revolutions and social change through art. The FREE weekly performances, talks, film screenings, and public art experiences all take place on Myrtle Avenue, coincide with Black History Month and feature the work of 50 artists. Partners include: BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Leisure Life NYC, Pratt Institute, and University Settlement at Ingersoll Community Center.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED recognizes Arts’ ability to act as a medium and conduit to expose, question and inspire when other forms of communication or action fall short, will explore themes that include cultural, racial, gender and identity politics. Rather than framing the month’s programming /exhibition content around one theme, participants were invited to respond to a series of prompts that included but were not limited to: Obama’s 2008 ‘Race Speech’; the Young Lords/Black Panthers/ Black Lives Matter; Intersections of Art and Politics; the Role of Religion and the Church in Social Change Movements; Worker Assembly Lines; Protests; the Civil Rights Movement; Police Brutality; Collective Change and more.  Programs and exhibitions are curated by Daonne Huff.

FREE events will take place every Friday in February (7-9pm) and visitors can also enjoy the artwork any day at ART INSIDE/OUTSIDE, a self-guided Artwalk featuring artwork of 15 New York-based artists, on display at 12 independent businesses along Myrtle Avenue between Flatbush Avenue Extension & Classon Avenues and at BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Click HERE for the ART INSIDE/OUTSIDE Artwalk Map.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

Event: ART: INSIDE/OUTSIDE (Self-guided Artwalk)
Date: All Day/ Every Day Feb 1-29
15 artists have activated interior and exterior spaces along Myrtle Avenue between Flatbush Avenue Extension & Classon Avenue with 15 window murals and art installations. An additional exhibit is located at BLDG92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. From hair braiding to Black Lives Matter to President Obama on Horseback to cleaning greens—artists seek to assemble, seek to gather, seek to build communities within private quarters and public squares. Click HERE for the ART INSIDE/OUTSIDE Artwalk Map.

Event: BLACK ARTSTORY MONTH KICKOFF: MEET ME AT THE GYM
Date: Friday, Feb 5, 7-9pm
*Arrive Early
Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Avenue
A Night of Performance, Engagement & Art featuring Ingersoll Community Center Youth Drum Line, Gospel Group Manifest, Sophia Dawson and her Roller Skating Crew, Victorious Dance Company, live painting by Ashton Agbomenou, artmaking workshops with SONYA (South of the Navy Yard Artists), Spoken Word Artist, Alyssa “Lady Logic” Saunders  and more. Taking inspiration from the community gatherings of organizers during the Civil Rights Movement and experimental art Happenings, the night is equal parts artistic expression and community building.
RSVP HERE

Event: Conversation: Art as Protest, Protest as Art
Date: Friday, Feb 12, 7-9pm
Leisure Life, 559 Myrtle Ave
*Space is limited/ RSVP Required
Moderated by Erica Cardwell with Panelists Jamal T. Lewis & Janisha R. Gabriel
This panel will discuss the collective power of radical artistic communities. Artists will share their “entry points” and define “radical” as black practitioners and art makers.
RSVP HERE

Event: FILM: re-work/re-frame
Date: Friday, Feb 19, 7-9pm
Pratt Institute’s Film/Video Center, 550 Myrtle Ave
*Space is limited/ RSVP Required
Featuring films by Yisa Fermin, Lindsay Catherine Harris & Esteban del Valle
A Night of Short Films & Documentaries spotlighting voices unheard or unseen. A night to re-view and re-frame perceptions and interpretations of lived experiences.
RSVP HERE

Event: PERFORMANCE: The Glass Eye Featuring Hot Hands & members of Victorious Dance Company
Date: Friday, Feb 26, 7-9pm
BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 63 Flushing Ave at Carlton Avenue
The placement of a camera on a body of authority as a deterrent of violence to another has created new forms of perception and symbolism concerning race relations and the growing paranoia for “the other” from both citizens and those sworn to protect them. The Glass Eye is a multi-disciplinary performance piece for voice, music, dance and film concerning the disembodiment of the black body through police violence; and the subsequent protests in reaction to these incidents—witnessed through the camera eye.
RSVP HERE