Common opens the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival on June 5 at the Prospect Park Bandshell
Who: Common
What: BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Opening Night Concert
Where: Prospect Park Bandshell, Prospect Park West & Tenth St.
When: Tuesday, June 5, free, gates at 6:30, concert at 8:00
Why: Socially conscious rapper, actor, activist, and poet Common will open the annual BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! festival on June 5 with a free concert at the Prospect Park Bandshell. The Chicago-born Common, formerly known as Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn Jr., has released such albums as One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Finding Forever, The Dreamer/The Believer, and Black America Again and has appeared in such movies and television series as Selma, The Tale, Hell on Wheels, The Chi, and The Hate U Give. The Oscar-winning songwriter (“Glory”) also raises money and awareness through his Common Ground Foundation, which he started “to empower high school students from underserved communities to become future leaders, [focusing] on character development, social impact, healthy living, technology, financial literacy, creative arts, and global leadership.” The concert will be preceded and followed by a sold-out gala, including an after-party with DJ Spinna. In addition, the evening will include the unveiling of the BRIC-commissioned “Hedera” light-sculpture installation by Grimanesa Amorós.