Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival 2022 activates The Plaza at 300 Ashland

The 2022 Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival was a joyful celebration of the artists, writers, and performers that make up Brooklyn’s rich cultural community. Acclaimed arts organizations from across the Brooklyn Cultural District were invited to The Plaza at 300 Ashland for a weekend of live performances, interactive exhibitions, dance classes, and more.

DBAF 2022 launched with the opening of Bradley McCallum’s Witnessing. One of the projects funded through the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund, Witnessing transforms emergency call boxes that were once a fixture on NYC sidewalks to memorialize victims of police brutality, while bringing attention to the ongoing fight to end racism, violence, and the abuse of power within the criminal justice system.

The opening was followed by a class led by Mark Morris Dance Center instructor Kim Holmes, where participants learned the basic steps to house music dancing. The dance class served as an unofficial warm-up that seamlessly transitioned into an energetic Soul Summit dance party that ran into the night.

Day 2 of the Festival featured included kid-friendly activations such as a hip-hop dance class by Mark Morris Dance Center and a musical story time in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month with The Center for Fiction and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Highlights also included a photo cube and interactive photobooth of Throned, an exhibition by photographer Tiffany Smith presented by Photoville.