Dear Friends,
It's such a fabulous Monday! Why?
The answer is Brooklyn!
And sorry if you live on Central Park West, in a barn upstate NY, in a cute studio in the Marais in Paris, on an idyllic island in Greece, in a glass palace in Jaipur, or in a cabanon on the charming port of Malmousque in Marseille.
On Sunday afternoon, thousands, dressed in white, rally on the Brooklyn Museum Plaza for Brooklyn Liberation, in support of Black Trans Lives.
On Saturday, George Floyd's last words were projected on a Brooklyn wall.
Earlier in the week, Anne Pasternak, director of the Brooklyn Museum invited Brooklyn cultural institutions* for a virtual meeting. We talked about our presents, our futures, our fears, our projects.
Three months ago she wrote: "Brooklyn needs us to come back strong"
Now look at the photo above again. Aren't we stronger when we are all together?
And surely fabulous. Nothing more to say today!
Mondaynely yours,
Lucien Zayan
Director
PS: did you miss the previous newsletters? there are all here
* Take a moment to discover Brooklyn institutions and their fabulous work. And do not hesitate to support by donating, any amount, each dollar counts.
The Laundromat Project
Jack Brooklyn
Prospect Park Alliance
Restauration Plaza
Brooklyn Historical Society
Recess Art
Eyebeam
Brooklyn Arts Council
BRIC
Brooklyn Children Museum
The Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance
Arts Gowanus
Pionner Works
Brooklyn Academy of MusicBrooklyn Museum
The Invisible Dog
OTHER UPDATES
Pride Music Video Festival is commissioned by The Invisible Dog and curated & produced by Raja Feather Kelly.
10 artists - 10 videos - 10 world premieres
New music videos and interviews released each weekend of June.Support us to commission more LGTBQIIAP artists, donate now
WEEK 2"The world has been a shitty place, and now the veil has been lifted it shows the strength we have."
Brian Gonzalez, creator of The Fire Next Time"We are all finding ways to enact and support a social revolution." Kevin Shotwell, creator of Stonewall Barbie
"What white people are experiencing is shame, and shame is the direct opposite of pride."
Becca Blackwell, creator of My Body Had aThought / My Mind Complicated it
@justiceforgeorgesnyc Instagram account centralizes information and updates on protests in NYC
Baldwin's Nigger is a 1969 documentary by Trinidadian-born British filmmaker Horace Ové, who was one of the leading Black British independent filmmakers to emerge in the UK post-war. In it, James Baldwin, the iconic Black writer, civil rights activist, and professional reader of white foolishness and hypocrisy, joined the equally iconic comedian, author, and civil rights activist Dick Gregory at the West Indian Students' Centre in London, to discuss the American Civil Rights Movement, what it means to be Black in America, and how that compares to Black British experience. The audience consisted of mostly West Indian students.
STOP, documentary by Spencer Wolff (2011) that follows the attorneys, plaintiffs and community activists who brought the successful class-action lawsuit challenging the New York City Police Department's racially biased practice of “Stop & Frisk.” (limited time on Vimeo, use password BLM)
Photo credits. Alok Instagram, Video George Floyd's last words by Marc Agger