On June 1, 2019, the Bushwick Collective, Bushwick’s local street art group, will be kicking off summer with their 8th annual block party. “Combining graffiti, street-art, music, food trucks and local vendors, the Collective brings together the best of the community,” they announced on their Facebook page. The Block Party will take place at the Triangle where Troutman and Saint Nicholas Avenue intersect.
Along with over 40 street artists and writers live painting on the buildings, the street will become a massive merchant market for prints, jewelry, glass, custom t-shirts, all designed by independent artisans. And as expected, there will be great food selects provided by a variety of food trucks from the tristate area, hand selected by the event coordinators.
The Block Party is equally notorious for its live music performances as it is for its street art. This year, Rick Ross will be the headlining performer, followed by Statik Selektah & Friends, and Brooklyn native DJ Evil Dee, providing the background music for the festival throughout the day as artists create and the neighborhood comes together.
Founded in May 2012 by Joseph Ficalora, The Bushwick Collective is a not-for-profit band of local street artists that exhibit their work on the neighborhood’s very own streets. Ficalora got into the street art scene as a means of coping with his past traumas.
In 2015, he did a short documentary called Born & Bred with Tribeca Film Festival about the block party and what it means to him. “When people come, I can give them something beautiful to look at,” Ficalora said in the film made by the collective. “When you’re here, you really know what transpired here and what people had to live through.”
The Bushwick Collective Block party takes place on Saturday June 1 on 7 Saint Nicholas Avenue from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more updates, follow the collective on Instagram or the event’s Facebook page.
Cover image of previous block party courtesy of the Bushwick Collective.
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