BRIC (Brooklyn)

BRIC (Brooklyn)
Name	BRIC
Formation	1979
Headquarters	Brooklyn, New York
Location	647 Fulton Street, Brooklyn
Type	Nonprofit arts organization
Leaders	Executive Director

BRIC (Brooklyn) is a nonprofit arts and media institution based in Brooklyn, New York, focused on contemporary art, public media, and community programs. Founded in the late 20th century, it operates exhibition spaces, performance venues, and media production facilities serving Brooklyn neighborhoods and greater New York City. BRIC collaborates with artists, funders, cultural institutions, and civic organizations to present visual art, music, dance, film, and television initiatives.

History

BRIC originated from community arts movements in Brooklyn during the 1970s and 1980s, aligning with neighborhood-based organizations such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Prospect Park Alliance, Brooklyn Museum, Bedford–Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, and South Brooklyn Community Preservation Corporation. Early partnerships included programmatic overlaps with New York City Parks, New York Public Library, Public Theater, Lincoln Center, Juilliard School, and Queens Museum. Influences and collaborators have spanned leaders and institutions such as Jane Jacobs, Robert Moses (contextual opposition), Mayor Ed Koch, Mayor David Dinkins, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Mayor Bill de Blasio through municipal arts policy. BRIC’s development intersected with grants and initiatives from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Robin Hood Foundation. Over time BRIC has hosted projects linked to artists and collectives associated with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kara Walker, Theaster Gates, Martha Rosler, Gordon Matta-Clark, Dora Maar-era exhibitions, and collaborations with media entities like WNET, PBS, NPR, WNYC, and VICE Media. Capital campaigns and building projects connected BRIC to contractors, developers, and civic entities such as NYC Economic Development Corporation, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Brooklyn Public Library, Williamsburg Savings Bank, and DUMBO Improvement District.

Facilities and Campus

BRIC’s campus occupies a renovated building in central Brooklyn and includes galleries, a performance space, and media studios that share proximity with institutions such as Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Barclays Center, Brooklyn College, Medgar Evers College, and Pratt Institute. Facilities have been designed in dialogue with architects and firms linked to projects like Rockwell Group, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Norman Foster, Renzo Piano, and regional preservation efforts akin to Landmarks Preservation Commission listings. Key onsite features include exhibition galleries comparable to those at Museum of Modern Art, black box theaters similar in scale to St. Ann's Warehouse, television production suites mirroring CUNY TV, and digital labs resonant with Eyebeam and School of Visual Arts resources. The BRIC House complex facilitates artist residencies, rehearsal rooms, a rooftop venue referencing outdoor stages at SummerStage, and community meeting rooms used by Brooklyn Historical Society-adjacent programs.

Programs and Exhibitions

BRIC presents contemporary visual art exhibitions, performing arts seasons, film festivals, and public media productions that intersect with festivals and institutions such as Tribeca Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, NewFest, Imagine Science Film Festival, Harlem Week, and Celebrate Brooklyn!. Exhibition programming has featured curatorial collaborations with figures and organizations including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Thelma Golden, Okwui Enwezor, Chrissie Iles, Massimiliano Gioni, and institutions like Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), and Museum of the Moving Image. Performance programming has showcased musicians and ensembles in lineages with New York Philharmonic guest artists, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Sun Ra Arkestra, Björk, Pharoah Sanders, and DJs linked to House of LaBeija voguing nights. Media projects include documentaries and televised series produced with partners like PBS NewsHour, Frontline, VICE News Tonight, This American Life, The New York Times Television, and independent filmmakers connected to Sundance Institute labs.

Community Engagement and Education

BRIC operates community education and arts access programs that collaborate with local schools and organizations such as New York City Department of Education, Teach For America, Harlem Children’s Zone-style partners, YMCA of Greater New York, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation, CAMBA, and neighborhood arts groups in Crown Heights, Bedford–Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Bushwick, and Williamsburg. Programming includes youth media labs inspired by Girls Who Code-style STEM initiatives, adult arts workshops modeled after MoMA Learning, and workforce development aligned with New York Foundation for the Arts and Working Theatre-related training. BRIC’s education offerings have featured artists, educators, and civic leaders such as Kehinde Wiley, Ai Weiwei, Marina Abramović, Cornel West, bell hooks, Amanda Gorman, and collaborations with museums like Children’s Museum of Manhattan for family programs.

Governance and Funding

BRIC is governed by a board of trustees and executive leadership that interact with funders and partners including Rockefeller Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Knight Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Citibank Foundation, MetLife Foundation, and municipal arts agencies such as New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts. Board and advisory members have included arts leaders, philanthropists, legal counsel, and civic figures with ties to Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Council on Foreign Relations, National Endowment for the Humanities, and academic partners at Columbia University, New York University, The New School, CUNY Graduate Center, and Pratt Institute.

Impact and Recognition

BRIC has been recognized locally and nationally through awards and citations related to cultural programming, community impact, and public media, noted alongside honors given by Americans for the Arts, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Awards, National Medal of Arts, and regional commendations from Brooklyn Borough President and New York City Mayor proclamations. BRIC’s role in Brooklyn cultural life is compared with other major institutions such as Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park Alliance, Brooklyn Public Library, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center for contribution to neighborhood revitalization, cultural access, and media production.

Category:Arts organizations based in New York City