Brooklyn Arts Council will open the summer season of the yearlong initiative, Black Brooklyn Renaissance, with the Black Brooklyn Drum Call, a FREE event on Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 2 to 5:30pm.  The drum call will be a gathering of Brooklyn musicians practicing the art of drumming from many African, Afro-Caribbean, African American and Hispanic diasporic communities including Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ghana, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. The artists will take over Grand Army Plaza, performing and uniting ten distinct styles of drumming, demonstrating the role drums have played in the history of various cultures as well as the complexity of African drumming practiced in the borough.

The drum call will have drumming demos and drum-making workshops followed by a symposium on the history of African drumming in Brooklyn moderated by Neil Clarke who has played with the likes of Harry Belafonte and Miriam Mekeba. 

Typically a means of announcement or a call to action in many African cultures, this Drum Call signifies the commencement of a summer series of Brooklyn festivals celebrating African diaspora, such as the West Indian American Labor Day Carnival. 

This free event is intended to be an interactive community event so they are encouraging the public to bring their drums and have a good time!

For more information on the Brooklyn Arts council, the Black Brooklyn Drum Call or to see the full summer calendar for Black Brooklyn Renaissance, please click here.

The great thing about New York City is that it offers its people and visitors a ton free and fun things to do.  I recently discovered that Bryant Park has a reading room where people can go and just relax and read a book or magazine for free!  What a lovely way to relax after work or during your lunch break.  What is even better than being able to escape the city in such a pretty place is the history of the Bryant Park reading room.  It dates back to 1935!

The original Reading Room began in August of 1935 as a public response to the Depression Era job losses in New York.  So many people had no place to go during the day so the New York Public Library opened the “Open Air Library” to give out-of-work businessmen and intellectuals a place to go to enjoy reading materials without money or a library card.  Patrons were simply asked to sign in and out.  Eventually the Reading Room was closed in 1944 due to an increase in jobs and World War II.

The Bryant Park Corporation has recreated history by recreating the Bryant Park Reading Room. It is modeled after the original with the additions of custom-designed carts for an extensive and eclectic selection of books, periodicals and newspapers, kid-sized carts and furniture for children to use. There are even reading programs and events at the reading room where authors come to read and talk about their books.  The one I am most excited about is on Wednesday, June 16th from12:30 pm - 1:45 pm when Kelly Cutrone, PR genius and star of Bravo T.V.’s Kell On Earth, will be speaking about her latest book!   

Just like the original reading room, the programming, publications, and environment are available to everyone for free, without any need of cards or identification.