On Monday, billionaires, bureaucrats, influencers and celebrities took over the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the Costume Institute. In recent years, the gala has attracted criticism for its astronomical ticket prices, exclusivity and opulence in a city where 1 in 4 New Yorkers live below the poverty line.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, where creativity persists against institutional and systemic red tape, the Brooklyn Public Library hosted its annual People’s Ball on the eve of the Met Gala. The free event invites locals to strut down a public red carpet in creative outfits, with a “come as you are” policy emphasizing authenticity, art and local flair.
“When you have this idea and you do it well, then it becomes art, and the library has the platform and the courage and the bravery to address these sometimes painful issues,” BPL Arts and Culture Vice President Jakab Orsos told the Brooklyn Eagle in 2025. He explained that the event aims to break boundaries, divert expectations and celebrate creativity without excluding anyone.
This year, the People’s Ball celebrated the legacy of American fashion, highlighting artists and activists who make fashion more representative and inclusive.
Read on for more free, inclusive events for everyone.
—Mandie-Beth Chau
Do you have an upcoming event in Brooklyn? Email [email protected] to have your event highlighted in BKLYN LIVE.
Arts and culture news:
While he keeps working on freezing rents, Mayor Zohran Mamdani crossed a different goal line: he was one of 32,000 participants in this year’s Five Boro Bike Tour.
Rock on: The Rolling Stones announced a new album in Brooklyn on Tuesday, slated for release on July 10.
Pizza Wars returned to Bay Ridge over the weekend, crowning Mancini’s Wood-Fired Pizza as the winner.
Brooklynite and comic book writer Gerry Conway passed away. Read about his legacy of superhero work with DC, Marvel and others.
RIP to another beloved bakery: Caputo’s Bake Shop in Carroll Gardens closed last week.
Twenty-one Brooklyn Public Library branches received $10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary. See the details of the donation.
Why go to a theater when you can go to a walk-up? Apartment Sessions transforms a small Williamsburg apartment into a full orchestra studio.
Sunset Park-based artist Iliana Emilia García paints a large-scale mural for a new community-focused development in the neighborhood.
Events:
Brooklyn Academy of Music pays tribute to Stevie Wonder’s body of work with “Stevie: Life in the Key of Songs,” from Thursday, May 14, to Saturday, May 16, at the Howard Gilman Opera House.
The Brooklyn Army Terminal announced its summer programming lineup, starting with a Mother’s Day celebration this Sunday, May 10, from 2 to 8 p.m.
Picnic season is officially here, and so is “The Longest Table,” a community picnic in Brooklyn Heights that gathered 750 people last year. The picnic takes place Saturday, May 16.
Go behind the scenes at Brooklyn Navy Yard in a walking tour hosted by the Historic Districts Council, where attendees will learn the history of the ever-evolving site.
Visit the city’s oldest and most beautiful churches during this year’s Sacred Sites Weekend from Saturday, May 16, to Sunday, May 17.
Touch grass: Fort Greene Park Conservancy hosts Step Up for the Park, a day dedicated to fitness in one of the borough’s best green spaces, on Saturday, May 16.
The 40th annual Summerstage presents over 70 free performances in parks throughout the city, including Brooklyn Bridge Park and Herbert Von King Park.
The FIFA World Cup is just a month away, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants every New Yorker to be able to celebrate with a variety of free events.
Assemblymember William Colton’s office in Bensonhurst will give away free books to children each Friday through the summer.
The Brooklyn Museum announced “Art of Manga,” a first-of-its-kind exhibition coming to the borough this fall.
Photo: Olivia Fenuccio
The 2026 Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl challenged bookish Brooklynites to visit more than 30 bookstores in the week leading up to Independent Bookstore Day, from Saturday, April 18, to Saturday, April 25.
For veterans of the crawl, this year was unique because of its new format, which received positive feedback from participants and bookstores alike. The crawl was broken into five zones: Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick; Downtown and Waterfront; Greenpoint and Williamsburg; Park Slope and Prospect Heights; Points South.
Books Are Magic Marketing Coordinator Nicole Vasquez said the new zone format helped boost camaraderie with other bookstores in the shared zone. “It was exciting to be in a zone with the stores close to us, and it gave us a strong sense of community,” she said. “I hope people take away the importance that indie bookstores have in not just Brooklyn but in the world.”
Organized by Greenlight Bookstore, readers could claim a “passport” at any of the participating bookstores and present it at each shop they visited for a stamp. At the end of the week, the Center for Fiction hosted an afterparty with raffle entries for each stamp, specialty cocktails and more book-loving fun. Get an inside look at this year’s Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl and the afterparty.
Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Public Art Fund unveiled a new public art exhibition on the waterfront by artist Woody De Othello. “Guardian Spirit,” a collection of redwood and bronze sculptures, is Othello’s first major public exhibition in New York.
Six sculptures were installed at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1. The exhibition is a continuation of Othello’s exploration of nkisi, ritual objects from Western and Central Africa that embody spiritual presences and channel protective or healing forces. Standing at over 20 feet tall, the sculptures echo messages of compassion, reverence and freedom.
Photo: Julieta Cervantes
In 1992, Dianne Berkun Menaker started the Brooklyn Youth Chorus as a small nonprofit. In the 35 years since, the program exploded, with hundreds of students enrolled and performance credits including artists and ensembles such as David Byrne, Barbra Streisand, Elton John and the New York Philharmonic.
The chorus has also transformed the lives of hundreds of students. BYC was a springboard to careers in music, and others found community and invaluable life lessons from their time with the chorus.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, when enrollment plummeted, the institution has been facing financial instability. The crisis deepened last year, when they received the news that a $25,000 NEA grant had been cut. Now, Berkun Menaker is looking to the Brooklyn community for sustained support to carry this unique organization well into the future.
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This newsletter is written by Mandie-Beth Chau. Email [email protected] with any questions or comments.