Join us for a behind-the-scenes bus tour of Brooklyn's steelpan yards and mas camps as they prepare for the annual J'Ouvert celebration!

About this Event

Brooklyn Arts Council's Folk Arts program, in collaboration with J'Ouvert City International and City Lore, presents a behind-the-scenes bus tour of Brooklyn's steelpan yards and masquerade camps as they prepare for the annual J'Ouvert celebration.

Come on board the City Lore Poem Mobile with Mustafa Nasir, Najami Lezama, and J'Ouvert City International's President Yvette Rennie as your cultural guides! This exclusive tour takes you through the industrial yards and abandoned spaces of Crown Heights and East New York, visiting two mas (masquerade) camps and two steelpan yards. Snacks will be provided.

If you are interested in becoming a tour guide for 2020, please contact Christopher Mulé at cmule@brooklynartscouncil.org.

Witness the art forms and technique of the pan yards, including:

• Steelband orchestra rehearsals

• Tuning and toning of steel pan drum makers and technicians

• Steelband musical arrangement by composers and arrangers

• Wirebending and design craft of J'Ouvert mas camps

PICKUP LOCATION:

In front of the Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238. Space is very limited.

All ticket proceeds go towards supporting artists and cultural activists working to keep these traditions thriving in Brooklyn.

BRINGING J'OUVERT TO THE FOREFRONT

This initiative aims to create sustainable tourism, apprenticeship, and career opportunities around Brooklyn’s J’Ouvert celebration and parade, by providing job skills training to artists to seek employment as tour guides, teaching artists, and skilled tradespeople.