In a borough famous for producing culture that reverberates around the world, one organization has been quietly laying the foundation for Brooklyn's creative ecosystem for more than four decades. BRIC — Brooklyn's leading arts and media institution — has spent over forty-five years presenting and incubating artists, creators, students, and media makers from its anchor in Downtown Brooklyn.
A Home in the Heart of Brooklyn
BRIC House, the organization's main venue at 647 Fulton Street, is housed in the beautifully repurposed former Strand Theater building in the Brooklyn Cultural District. Neighbors include BAM Harvey, the Mark Morris Dance Center, and Theatre for a New Audience — placing BRIC at the epicenter of one of New York City's most vibrant cultural corridors.
The building itself is a marvel of creative infrastructure. A flexible Performance Space known as the BRIC House Ballroom features a sprung floor for dance, state-of-the-art sound and lighting, and configurable seating. An intimate Artist Studio accommodates workshops and performances for up to seventy-five audience members. A soaring three-thousand-square-foot gallery with dramatic eighteen-foot ceilings hosts major exhibitions focused on emerging and mid-career artists.
Perhaps most uniquely, BRIC House features a glass-walled public access television studio on the ground floor — fully visible to passersby — alongside editing suites, a media training lab, and the infrastructure to cablecast live events to over 550,000 Brooklyn households.
More Than a Venue
What makes BRIC remarkable isn't just its physical space — it's the breadth of its mission. The organization operates across contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action, creating a unique ecosystem where creativity and community intersect.
The BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park is one of the city's most beloved summer traditions, bringing world-class music, dance, and performance to one of New York's great public spaces. The organization's contemporary art exhibition series has launched careers and pushed boundaries for decades. And its media initiatives — Brooklyn Free Speech, Brooklyn's public access initiative, and BRIC TV, a nonprofit community television channel and digital network — ensure that Brooklyn's stories are told by Brooklyn's own voices.
Building Brooklyn's Creative Future
BRIC's education programs expand its reach even further. Media education classes, artist development programs, and The Stoop — an all-new public cultural gathering space offering free, drop-in programming for all ages — ensure that creativity isn't just celebrated but actively cultivated across the borough.
"As a creative catalyst for our community, we ignite learning in people of all ages and centralize diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward," the BRIC team explains. It's a mission that has guided the organization from its earliest days and continues to shape its vision for Brooklyn's cultural landscape.
Visit BRIC House
BRIC House is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., with gallery hours Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Media Center is open Tuesday through Saturday. Whether you're catching a performance in the Ballroom, exploring an exhibition in the gallery, or simply stopping by The Stoop for a free community program, BRIC offers something for every Brooklynite — and every visitor who wants to experience what makes this borough's creative spirit so extraordinary.