Significant music festival grows in Dumbo and Red Hook – Red Hook Star Revue
If you hear twangs of mandolin or fiddle wafting across the East River, it’s not carrying up the coast from Nashville — it’s the Brooklyn Americana Music Festival, taking place on several stages in Dumbo. Critics Choice,
Folk music is alive and well in Brooklyn. A number of venues and musicians are committed to keeping traditional music—including folk, Americana, bluegrass, old time, and country music—on stage.
In the year 2000 I was producing weekly live music events with pioneer establishment Superfine, when Joy Glidden Director of Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) asked me to curate a live music stage loading dock at the annual ‘art under the bridge festival.’ I had already founded a collective for Folk Alliance International Conferences called ‘Little Red Hen Music’, and kept the name for the festival stage.
Brooklyn Americana Music Festival was founded in the wake of what went onto be known as the Dumbo Arts Festival (DAF) folding in 2014. DAF comprised over 100 open studio’s.
At that time, twenty two years ago, Dumbo was home to around four hundred artists paying on average $1 / sq. foot for high ceiling lofts with sweeping views of the East River, the Manhattan Bridge, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
My live music stages were in old abandoned loading docks, the then roofless shell of the tobacco warehouse, industrial era warehouse lofts, water tower roof tops and down under the cotton wood tree near where Jane’s Carousel stands today.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams, then Brooklyn Borough President appealed to the community to save the annual event, and gave me the thumbs up to forge ahead with keeping the music going in its stead. Thanks to Brooklyn Arts Council we are supported by the Brooklyn Arts Fund and NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. The 7000′ square foot cobblestone Archway under the Manhattan Bridge is a main stage thanks to Dumbo BID, who administer discretionary funding from the Office of Councilman Lincoln Restler. Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy support our women / she / her / they stages on Pier 6.
Brooklyn Americana music partners with artist owned and operated festival venues year round. We curate live music at Superfine, 68 Jay St Bar, Sunny’s Red Hook and special events at Jalopy Theatre.
We acknowledge the unceded territory where we gather as the traditional land of the Lenape Peoples, The Nayack and The Canarsee with gratitude for the land itself, and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations
We are happy to doff our hat your way for any contribution. Sliding Scale Sponsorship starting at small business level $500
Signage on stage at seven indoor stages & two outdoor stages in Brooklyn Bridge Park & the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge
VIP tickets to the Opening Night Gala
Reserved picnic table at Brooklyn Bridge Park and Dumbo Archway outdoor stages
Back Stage Guest List Passes
Shout outs from the stage & Invitation Only events year round in Dumbo and Red Hook for you & friends and family.
The 9th Annual Brooklyn Americana Music Festival is supported by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA).
The 9th Annual Brooklyn Americana Music Festival is made possible by funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Both city and state grants are administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.
The Festival is made possible in part by the office of Councilman Lincoln Restler, administered by Dumbo BID.
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