Closing Bell: BEAT Performing Arts Festival Kicks Off Next Week

If you’re looking to support Brooklyn’s performing arts scene, stop in for any of the musical, dance, theatre, and spoken word performances happening during the BEAT Festival. For opening night — the festival starts Thursday, September 12 — visitors can walk around the Brooklyn Museum, above, and find performing artists stationed throughout the venue. Through September 21, scores of mostly free performances will happen across Brooklyn, encompassing classical music, hip-hop, experimental theatre, interpretive dance and spoken word poetry.

Check out a freestyle rap battle at Congregation Beth Elohim, a dance installation at Metrotech Center, or a play about Brooklyn civil rights activists at Billie Holiday Theatre. And a theater company will raise money for Congregation Beth Elohim’s Hurricane Sandy relief efforts by reading reflections from relief volunteers on the front lines of the storm. Closing night will feature Tony Award-winning poet and playwright Lemon Andersen.

Photo by Amy Dreher