Outdoor art-making, May 2021. (Photo: Kolin Mendez).
Virtual and in-person outdoor programming welcomes community members back to the Museum
The Brooklyn Museum presents a robust lineup of programming for adults, teens, and children this summer. Programs include talks, classes, and tours that amplify the Museum’s exhibitions and collections, serve the surrounding community, and support learning through the visual arts.
A select number of programs will take place outdoors. Participants will be socially distanced on the Museum’s plaza, and masks will be required for all adults and children over the age of 2, in accordance with procedures and guidelines laid out by the CDC and local health officials. All other programs will take place online or through the Museum’s social media channels.
Museum Members enjoy complimentary or discounted tickets and early access to public programs by emailing membership@brooklynmuseum.org with full name and Membership I.D.
The full schedule is as follows:
Thursday, July 1, 5:30–6:30 pm
We Speak Art
Online
This program is free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Join fellow English language learners and practice your conversational English skills with
a discussion inspired by a work of art. All levels of English proficiency are welcome.
Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, July 7–August 6 (no session July 30), 3:30–5 pm
Outdoor Art-Making with BkM Teens
Museum Plaza
This program is free, while supplies last.
Get your creativity flowing with art-making activities on the plaza, led by our teen Museum Apprentices. Kids, families, and artists of all ages are welcome to join in, and each project is inspired by a work of art in our collection.
Thursday, July 8, 1–2:30 pm
Closing Celebration: Legacies of Lorraine O’Grady
Online
This program is free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Celebrate the exhibition Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And during its closing weeks with art historians featured in the exhibition’s catalogue and explore four decades of Lorraine O’Grady’s interventions in race, subjectivity, and art and its politics. Scholars Harry Burke, Malik Gaines, Catherine Lord, Stephanie Sparling Williams, and Zoé Whitley engage with significant works in the artist’s oeuvre—from her culture-shaking performance persona Mlle Bourgeoise Noire to Announcement of a New Persona (Performances To Come!), which debuted as part of this retrospective and meditate on her many legacies in visual culture today.
Fridays, July 16, 23, and 30, August 4, 12:30–2:30 pm
Intern Convening
Online
This program is free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Organized and led by Brooklyn Museum interns, this series of four workshops asks how interns can drive the field forward with respect to criminal justice reform, immigrant communities, and public health. Interns from cultural institutions across the United States are invited to critically engage these topics through panel discussions and small group workshops with a team of interdisciplinary leaders from artists, curators, and educators to policy makers, community leaders, and mental health professionals. Participate in one or all sessions, and return for the culminating event where participants’ ideas will be documented in a final digital publication: “Handbook for Our Future.”
Saturdays, July 10 and 17, August 14 and 21, September 11 and 18, 10–11 am
Outdoor Yoga on the Stoop
Museum Plaza
Tickets are $16 and include Museum general admission.
Meet us on the plaza steps for a morning of socially distant yoga and meditation, open to all levels and led by local instructors. Open your hips and your heart in this gentle flow class, followed by a guided meditation with plenty of time to rest.
Tuesday, July 13, and Wednesday, July 14, 11 am–12:30 pm
Virtual Teacher Institute: Art-Making as Reflection
Online
Tickets are $20. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Join us for a two-day professional development workshop for teachers that examines how artists use exploratory writing, collage, and archival research to connect their lived experiences to history. Museum educators Stacey Kahn and ray ferreira draw on their interdisciplinary backgrounds as artists and writers to engage with works of art in two of our special exhibitions—Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And and The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time—through discussion, art-making, and creative writing. Develop strategies for cross-disciplinary and multimodal teaching and leverage creative expression to reflect on the fears, joys, and possibilities of contemporary life.
Thursday, July 15, 6–7:30 and 8–9:30 pm
Drink and Draw: The Slipstream
Biergarten
Tickets are $35 and include after-hours admission to The Slipstream.
Sip and sketch in our backyard Biergarten this summer with a monthly series of life drawing classes, open to all levels and accompanied by a refreshing beverage and musical vibes by local DJs. This month, celebrate our newest contemporary art exhibition, The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time. Sketch from live models and experiment with materials in a casual class led by teaching artist Mellasenah Nicole Edwards. Plus, enjoy music by Amber Valentine.
Thursday, July 15, 5:30–6:30 pm
Hablemos de Arte
Online
This program is free, but registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Join us for an informal conversation in Spanish, inspired by a work of art, and practice your language skills with other participants.
Sundays, July 18, August 15, September 19, 2–4 pm
Pop-Up Performance: Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra
Museum Plaza
This program is free.
Drop by our plaza to hear string players from the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra perform a festive, family-friendly selection of music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Copland, and Tchaikovsky, led by Associate Conductor Felipe Tristan.
Tuesday, July 27, and Wednesday, July 28, 11 am–12:30 pm
Virtual Teacher Workshop: The Life of Objects
Online
Tickets are $20. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
Learn about the varied ways works of art move from their communities of origin into museum collections in this two day professional development workshop for teachers. Using case studies from our Arts of Africa collection, provenance researcher Meghan Bill and educator Michael Reback discuss how museums study the histories of works in their care, and demonstrate how these narratives can connect visual art and global history. Develop interdisciplinary strategies for teaching from objects, and learn to use their histories of ownership in the classroom to engage students with issues of cultural exchange and power.
First Saturday Lite
Saturday, August 7, 2–6 pm
Museum Plaza
This program is free.
Artist John Edmonds celebrates the Caribbean diaspora and his exhibition with a dynamic First Saturday Lite featuring music, art-making, and local vendors. Featuring sets by DJ Lovaboi with Michael the Pannist, TYGAPAW, djFRiTZO, and a performance by harpist Brandee Younger, presented in partnership with Carnegie Hall Citywide. Participate in a photo booth designed by the artist to honor the closing of our special exhibition John Edmonds: A Sidelong Glance, plus get a signed copy of Edmonds’s monograph Higher. Throughout the day, shop and snack at the Brooklyn Pop-Up Market, which is spotlighting artists and vendors of the Caribbean diaspora.
Drink and Draw: The Slipstream with Nona Faustine
Thursday, August 19, 6–7:30 and 8–9:30 pm
Biergarten
Tickets are $35 and include after-hours admission to The Slipstream.
Our monthly series of life drawing classes continues! This month, celebrate The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time with special guest host Nona Faustine. The artist offers insights based on her experience representing the body in photographs, which are on view in the exhibition. Sketch from live models and experiment with materials in a casual class led by teaching artist Mellasenah Nicole Edwards.
Opening Celebration: Obama Portraits
Saturday, August 28, 2 pm
Museum Plaza and Biergarten
This program is free.
Celebrate the opening of The Obama Portraits Tour, on view for the first time in Brooklyn. Enjoy music by the legendary Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber, which presents a smorgasbord of diverse “avant groidd” musical idioms filled with sugarsoaked sonic ingredients. Then hear a poetry reading presented in partnership with Cave Canem, Brooklyn’s leading organization dedicated to cultivating the artistic growth of Black poets. Throughout the day, shop and snack at the Brooklyn Pop-Up Market, which is spotlighting local Black artists and vendors this week.
Brooklyn Talks: The Sartorial Vision of Michelle Obama
Thursday, September 2, 7 pm
Tickets are $30 and include after-hours admission to The Obama Portraits Tour.
From Inauguration Day to her official portrait by Amy Sherald (on view as part of our special exhibition The Obama Portraits Tour), First Lady Michelle Obama powerfully expressed the values and vision of the Obama White House through her sartorial choices. Explore the former First Lady’s culture-shifting style with image strategist Meredith Koop—who has been Michelle Obama’s stylist since 2010, in the White House and for subsequent appearances and fashion historian Kimberly M. Jenkins, Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies, Ryerson University, and founder and principal researcher for The Fashion and Race Database. The two discuss some of Michelle Obama’s key looks, starting with her official portrait, and explore the intersection between fashion and politics.
