Culture Window in Brooklyn Offers Free Music, Dance and Theater Performances

As the city makes a cautious return to live performance, two Downtown Brooklyn staples - The Actors Fund Arts Center and Brooklyn Ballet -- present Culture Window @ the Jewelbox with three Friday evenings of dance, music and storytelling. Designed to be viewed safely from the street and intended as a colorful revivifying moment of pride and connectivity for the neighborhood, these relaxed free evening programs span the world of live arts from classical piano to folk dance.

More than one year after the closure of all performance venues in New York City, these vibrant and varied evenings bring together artists from across the borough to share their work with a live audience, many for the first time since the shutdown. With a strong commitment to honor and authentically represent the creative, multicultural community of Brooklyn, passersby and audiences will experience a different program each Friday night from April 16th to April 30th. Program highlights include pianist Simone Dinnerstein, the multi-disciplinary Brooklyn Ballet, The Knights orchestra, Girl Be Heard theater and activist group, and City Stompers Appalachian clogging.

Part block party, part cultural happening, Culture Window @ the Jewelbox will be free and fun for the whole family to enjoy. Caribbean food and snacks will be available for purchase from Norm's Bkn Jerkmobile.

Performance Schedule:

Culture Window @ the Jewelbox will be held Friday, April 16, 23, and 30, 2021 at 8:00 p.m.

This is a non-ticketed, free performance, however RSVP is encouraged through Eventbrite. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/culture-window-the-jewelbox-tickets-148788013955

There will be a food truck on site for each performance.

Running time: 75 minutes

The Jewelbox is located at Brooklyn Ballet studio,160 Schermerhorn Street in Brooklyn.

This is a free non-ticketed event for all ages.

Accessible by the A, C and G trains at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets; 2, 3 at Hoyt Street; F, N, R, and W at Jay Street-Metrotech; and the 4 and 5 at Borough Hall.

FRIDAY, APRIL 16

Solo Piano Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will perform Mad Rush by composer Philip Glass. Brooklyn Ballet will present Pas de Deux, is a mixed-movement ballet and hip-hop duet co-choreographed by Lynn Parkerson and James "Floats" Fable, set to Jean-Philippe Rameau's Gavotte et Six Doubles, with live music by Dinnerstein and video projection by visual artist Cornelia Thomsen. Steven Beck, a member of The Knights new-age orchestra, will play two piano sonatas by George Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Innovative choreographer Julia Gleich will present excerpts from a contemporary ballet, See Through, created in collaboration with visual artist Karen Schifano, and theater and activist group Girl Be Heard, an excerpt from their 2021 song and spoken word production, The People vs. Justice.

FRIDAY, APRIL 23

A duet for flute and violin, Alex Sopp and Austin Wulliman of The Knights will play lively and delightful works by Telemann and Bartok. Choreographer Julia Gleich will present, P73 #1, a contemporary solo, en pointe, for Maxfield Haynes, and Girl Be Heard will repeat their performance of The People vs. Justice.

Jazz duo Malcolm Parson and Killian Jack Venman will perform a set for cello and percussion and join Brooklyn Ballet in Intersection- an ode to the city, its repetition, rhythm, and routine, its energy, community, and human connection- choreographed by Lynn Parkerson and composed by Parson.

FRIDAY, APRIL 30 - Family Friendly!

The Georgian Dancing Crane Ensemble will perform a section of traditional music and dance from across all regions of Georgia and Aliesha Bryan will bring her signature style to two Flamenco dances, originally choreographed by Inmaculada Ortega. Brooklyn Ballet will return to perform excerpts from their triumphant production of The Brooklyn Nutcracker, and City Stompers lively flat foot dancing adds a bright spark to their traditional American fiddle music and bluegrass songs.

Culture Window @ the Jewelbox is made possible by a grant from the Downtown Brooklyn Public Art + Placemaking Fund, a partnership with the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) and DUMBO Improvement District as part of New York State's Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

The Actors Fund Arts Center is a performance venue and rehearsal space located in the lobby level of The Schermerhorn in Downtown Brooklyn. The venue is operated by The Actors Fund in collaboration with Breaking Ground. The mission of The Actors Fund Arts Center (AFAC) is to serve as a resource for Brooklyn-based artists and arts groups to aid in the development and sharing of their work, as well as a venue for integrating the residents of The Schermerhorn with the surrounding community through the arts.

Brooklyn Ballet's programs are made possible in part by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; Council Member Alan Maisel, Council Member Stephen Levin, Council Member Robert Cornegy, and Council Member Laurie Cumbo, Sills Family Foundation, The New York Community Trust, Anonymous,, The Howard Gilman Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Curtis W. McGraw Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The John N. Blackman Foundation, Con Edison, The Harkness Foundation for Dance, Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation, One Brooklyn Fund, Liberty Property Maintenance, Alloy, iStar, Miami Foundation, The Dorsey and Whitney Foundation.