The Greater Downtown Brooklyn area is home to some of the most avant-garde arts and cultural institutions in New York City. While the highly acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music is one of the best-known cultural venues located in Downtown Brooklyn, scores of other organizations add to the area’s unique character and quality of life, including the Mark Morris Dance Group, St. Ann’s Warehouse, 651 Arts, and the BRIC Rotunda Gallery. In addition, dozens of performing and visual arts groups are taking hold in DUMBO, Fort Greene and other Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods. Below is information about Downtown Brooklyn's art scene.
Mark Morris Dance Group
Concertgoers at MetroTech
Public Art
Downtown Brooklyn embodies the best of New York City: vibrant residential communities, avant-garde arts and culture, and a bustling commercial center. The neighborhood also boasts a plethora of publicly accessible art, from turn-of-the-century monuments in bucolic plazas to cutting-edge multimedia work in building lobbies. In the past year, artists have also turned many blank walls and construction fences into site-specific installations and exhibition spaces, all of which are open to passersby. Much of Downtown Brooklyn now resembles an open-air museum.
BAM Cultural District
The growth of the cultural district around BAM is a key component of New York City's commitment to the Downtown Brooklyn area. This initiative builds on a thriving community of established and emerging artists living and working in the surrounding Fort Greene neighborhood. 80 Arts - The James E. Davis Arts Building, located at 80 Hanson Place, is the first completed renovation in the District. Projects that recently broke ground in the Cultural District include the new home of Theatre for a New Audience (expected completion, 2013) and a renovation project improving the home of BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn and UrbanGlass (expected completion, 2013).
TKTS Downtown Brooklyn
To make performances even more accessible, the famed TKTS ticket booth has opened in Downtown Brooklyn! Get discounted tickets for Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Brooklyn performance venues right at 1 MetroTech Center by Jay Street. Convenient for office workers, students, residents, and visitors, this booth is open Tuesday through Saturday and offers same-day evening and next-day matinee tickets at up to 50% off. Sign up for free, daily email alerts for which shows are available.
Museums and Galleries
The Downtown Brooklyn area has a diverse collection of museums and galleries for every visitor, ranging from the New York Transit Museum to the BRIC Rotunda Gallery that presents contemporary art.
Performance Venues
Whether it is theater, classical music, or dance, there is no shortage of performances in a given week. These Brooklyn venues draw performing artists locally and around the world to showcase their work to people like you.
Arts Organizations
Explore the many arts organizations that thrive in Brooklyn, the creative capital of the world. These organizations are valuable resources for both artists and arts enthusiasts.
DUMBO Arts Scene
An array of blossoming galleries, artists' studios, boutiques and restaurants are scattered throughout a growing residential neighborhood of converted warehouses and new condominiums. Dedicated to aiding this burgeoning renaissance, DUMBO Arts Center (dac) is a non-profit contemporary arts institution that works to preserve and enrich the identity of this area as a vital artists' community. As the lead organizer of the d.u.m.b.o. art under the bridge festival, dac also collaborates with other cultural organizations in the area to promote broader experimentation in the arts throughout the year.
Local Markets
Brooklyn is known for the creative talent of its artists. VIsit the local artisan markets and fleamarkets that can be found throughout the Downtown Brooklyn area for unique art, crafts, jewelry, and more.