Associate Director
Brooklyn, 2015 - Present
Jessica joined BRIC in Fall 2015 as the first Associate Director of Community Engagement. In this position, Jessica and her team are deepening partnerships with neighborhood organizations and residents to facilitate arts-based community action and dialog. For more information: BRICartsmedia.org/Community.
In its first year, the Intergenerational Community Arts Council (ICAC) selected artist, educator and poet Najee Omar as the groups first Artist-In-Residence; hosted arts-based events at Ingersoll Community Center; and produced the WE ARE BROOKLYN Community Block Party, a joyous summer block party celebrating the arts, culture, music, and community of Fort Greene.
The ICAC is designed to support NYCHA residents as central stakeholders and decision-makers in the artistic and cultural life of the community, and facilitate connections with neighbors, resources and local business outside the housing developments—ensuring Fort Greene and Downtown Brooklyn remain communities where both longtime and new residents of all income levels can live, work, create and belong. Through monthly planning workshops, the ICAC uses art-making, storytelling and discussion to identify shared values and goals, ideal structures, and criteria for success of arts programming in their community.
The ICAC is a joint program of BRIC and University Settlement.
The Future Historical Society is a community storytelling project created by a multi-generational collective of Fort Greene neighbors, and led by artist Yazmany Arboleda. At businesses, churches, and parks throughout Fort Greene, personal histories of this community come to life through podcasts and visual installations created by FHS members. The stories illuminate histories at risk of erasure in this time of gentrification, while envisioning a more connected, interdependent future.
Hosted by Mahogany L. Browne and DJ Jive Poetic, the Brooklyn Poetry Slam is a monthly gathering of Brooklyn’s most adventurous performance poets. Hosted at BRIC since 2015, the Brooklyn Poetry Slam teams have performed nationally and internationally.