Authentic Indie: Brooklyn Wildlife Summer Festival

I was looking for something fun to do on Labor Day weekend, and found something amazing to do from August 30 to Sept. 10– The Brooklyn Wildlife Summer Festival:

For ten nights (and some days) in a row, 150 performers will make music or art or yoga or comedy in 15 venues in Greenpoint, East Williamsburg, and Bushwick.

Music styles include Hip Hop, Blues, AfroPunk, Pop, and more! Acts were chosen with both high quality and wide diversity in mind. Performers came from all over the United States (some are enjoying a fine road trip from Missouri!) and the world– including UK, Guyana, Mongolia, China, Jamaica, Ukraine, Japan, and Ethiopia. You can find a youtube preview of some of the acts here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMkHKszExDzNpY3vEDTELVa1dwAeYidzt

I wondered how the music was chosen, did some digging, and spoke with the organizer of Brooklyn Wildlife, Chris Carr of GAMBA Forest, an art space in Greenpoint. Chris said he chose the music himself, and  it was very important to him to make the musicians very diverse, with no single group predominating, and also without the influence of corporate sponsorship, he emphasized “authentic creativity, authentic music, authentic art.” There will also be local vendors at the festival.

Chris has long been a musician and music event organizer in D.C. and Atlanta, before moving to Brooklyn in 2008. Inspired by CMJ and Scribblejam, Chris decided authenticity was of supreme importance and went completely indie with no corporate sponsorship for his first Brooklyn music festival seven years ago. “I wanted to have a one-day event, where all the artists could meet each other,” he said, and Brooklyn Wildlife was born of 60 artists at Paperbox, all in a 16-hour day.

For a complete listing of all events and artists in this year’s festival–and tickets for individual nights as well as the whole thing, visit:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brooklyn-wildlife-summer-festival-pass-2019-tickets-68738632099

By far, the largest show with the most bands will be at Rubulad on Saturday, August 31. Some shows are extremely limited with only 15 seats (or less available).

If, for some reason you can’t make this festival, Chris has a number of different events scheduled throughout the year, including Halloween and 30 days of activities for post-holiday doldrums in January. Watch Brooklyn Wildlife’s facebook for updates: https://www.facebook.com/brooklynwildlife/