Ghetto Hors D’oeuvres is a festival where rappers, musicians, and poets break barriers to collaboratively create an ode to New York City’s streets. Served with hors d'oeuvres throughout the evening, the audience bears witness as a diverse group of NYC artists decipher their block and breakdown the rock that is the foundation and cornerstone of the city. Performances are followed by a live DJ set, conversation and dancing.
Baldwin 101 — a no-holds-barred night of live lit, protest, poetry, and pure Black queer brilliance!
What if James Baldwin taught the dopest class you’ve ever taken?
What if the syllabus spit bars?
What if revolution felt like a block party?
Those were the questions we answered on July 2025, where we celebrated the legacy of James Baldwin! Set in a school-inspired space that echoed Baldwin’s passion for education and justice, it was a live, literary, and unapologetically Black study session in motion for three nights.
PERFORMERS
1. Paula Ramirez - Gentrified Jasmine Iced Tea (video)
2. Keomi Tarver - Black Girl Stay 3. Nick E. Finn Morning Announcements (video)
4. Jerome G. - Forty One Questions for Mr. Amadou Diallo (video)
5. Mariana - Then There Were More Guns (video)
6. 7 Perception - Peace To The Gods
7. Paula Ramirez - Rumors at the Zoo
8. 7 Perception - Black Woman
9. Keomi Tarver - Black Wombyn (video)
Second Act
10. Elisabet Velasquez & Keomi Tarver Dancing - Elephant
11. Jerome G. - Thrown Back (video)
12. Elisabet Velasquez - Amends
13. Nick E. Finn - Morning Announcements part.2 (video)
14. Jerome G. 2 - Hammers in Holsters
15. Paula Ramirez - On Light and Darkness: A Timeline
16. Hendi - National Anthem (video)
17. Roya Marsh - Closing
A recap of the activities, events, and performances that took place in Maria Hernandez Park (Bushwick, Brooklyn) on July 30, 2017. Ghetto Hors D'oeuvres: CLIMATE was a community festival by Oye Group, directed by Modesto Flako Jimenez, and produced by The Bushwick Starr and the NYC Mayor's Office of Media & Entertainment as part of their Off-Broadway in the Boros series. Film and Edit by Sean O'Neill and Brittney Yates
PERFORMERS: Artem Yatsunov, Candace Williams, Carmen Bardeguez Brown, D Brid, Elizabeth Velazquez, Eric Acevedo, Jani Rose, Jo Annesta, Lemon Anderson, Mariela Regalado, Nessa, Rob Parker, and Sergio Rosario.
