Unconventional Venues, Emerging Artists -- It's BoCoCa Arts Time!

In an effort to support local art, the BoCoCa Arts Festival is back for its third year. Running June 17 - 26, the fest features more than 100 artists and takes place all over South Brooklyn -- in unconventional spaces.

The mission of the festival, explained Mary Wei, public relations coordinator for BoCoCa, is to connect emerging artists, local businesses and the public to “challenge the perception of art [and] foster community.”

The festival, which has blossomed over the years, started at Eileen Trilli’s kitchen table — she now serves as the festival’s artistic producer.

“We started discussing the artistic and passionate history of Boerum Hill and the amazing talent of artists that live in NYC area,” said Trilli.

The kitchen table meeting involved Don Blydenburgh who is now a BoCoCa board member and Annie Keating who is the festival’s artistic director.

“The idea was [to] harness the passion and energy of the new business owners in the neighborhood and provide a platform for emerging artists to showcase their talents,” said Trilli.

This year, Husky Dog Productions will present emerging artists in unorthodox venues, including bars, coffee shops, clubs, working businesses, restaurants, gardens, vacant storefronts and vintage structures. Not only will this setup support local artwork, it will also showcase businesses and neighborhoods, said Wei.

The festival will be spread amongst several different venues, including , , , , New York City Transit Museum and the . Approximately 100 artists, including musicians, visual artists, actors, directors and designers, will showcase their work throughout the venues.

For artist and BoCoCa Arts Festival first-timer Carole Cohen, the festival is the perfect platform to debut her photo project to the public.

“I was looking for a local art festival to show it to the pubic for the first time,” she said. “The BoCoCa Arts Festival is the best place for that — showing my naked ladies to cool art people in the summer, in Brooklyn.”

Cohen, who recently moved to Brooklyn from Paris, will exhibit 10 photos from her piece, “Hot child in the city,” which consists of naked female backs in different parts of Brooklyn. She is excited to see the audience reaction.

“Things go too slow[ly] over there [Paris] for art,” she said. “You really feel like everything is possible and easy to access in New York. The competition is way more intense…there [are] so many places and opportunities.”

Sara Wolkowitz of Conflict of Interest Theater Company will be directing three short plays by three playwrights, each a contemporary take on the Greek’s mythological creature, the Minotaur.

“There are so many opportunities to collaborate with interesting, imaginative people who will push you into being the artist you want to be,” she said of being an artist in New York City.

As for Carroll Gardens and its surrounding neighborhoods, Wolkowitz enjoys walking down Smith Street and looking into the windows, despite not being a shopper.

“I love the atmosphere of BoCoCa,” she said.   

BoCoCa Arts Festival’s organizers are hoping to break the 1,000-visitor mark this year, said Trilli. She hopes to do this through this year’s new partnerships with the Transit Museum, Steve’s Craft Ice Cream (opening soon on Atlantic Avenue) and the YWCA.

Visitors who venture to Carroll Park on June 18 can sit back and relax while listening to live music and participating in children’s workshops. The groups kicking off the live music are The Spanish Channel, Ganessa James Trio, Loud Apt, and Rawson. Headliners include Illardscott and BR, and Timebomb.

Should visitors need a bite to eat, the park will also host food vendors.

And for those who wish to see art underground, the Transit Museum is featuring art and music on its subway platform June 19.

“We believe there is something for everyone,” said Trilli.

Artist Aleksander Betko has taken advantage of the New York City scene with his four oil paintings he will showcase at the festival.

“I have lived in the neighborhood since 1996,” he said. “This is my home…There is a great comfort to that ‘neighborhood feeling.’”

His paintings are narrative or genre scenes specific to life in New York City — one of his greatest artistic influences being the city’s architecture.

“One of the greatest influences, apart from comfort and sheer beauty, is the unyielding sense of classicism that exists in the architecture,” he said. “There is a brilliant coupling of old world and new world as we live in old buildings built with immigrant hands in a modern world.”

BoCoCa’s Trilli, who has lived in Boerum Hill for seven years, has become close with her artistic neighbors.

“There is a ton of life, innovation and growth happening on many different levels,” she said. “A walk around the neighborhoods shows new businesses mixed with old artist studios, restaurants with daring food concepts, lifelong brownstone residents, young families and creatives everywhere…Our goal is to connect these very diverse aspects of the neighborhood by bringing business, art and community together for a focused event.”

For Trilli and her team, who spend 10 months putting together a 10-day event, seeing everything come together is the most exciting part.

“It’s very rewarding to actualize the fruits of our labor,” Trilli said. “I’m very proud of the artists in this festival. Each one of them is living their dream, showcasing their passion and hard work. It’s a really awesome thing to witness.”