The Basquiat Project: Looking Back, Moving Forward

Barclays Center will host an art show featuring approximately 150 pieces created by Brooklyn middle and high school students, inspired by Brooklyn-born artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. All of the artwork to be displayed was created by participants in an educational arts program the Brooklyn Nets developed this year, in partnership with the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) and the Fund for Public Schools, about the work of Basquiat. The Basquiat art program was funded by the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation. In 2020, the Tsais established a Social Justice Fund to work toward economic mobility and racial justice for Black, Indigenous and People of Color in Brooklyn.

The free-admission gallery will be set up in the arena’s main atrium and will be open to the public from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 8 and Monday, Aug. 9. Barclays Center will host a private opening for the students on Saturday, Aug. 7. All attendees must wear a mask when inside the Arena, regardless of vaccination status.

For a look at some of the art that will be featured at Barclays Center, please visit HERE.

MORE ABOUT THE BASQUIAT PROJECT

The Basquiat Project was taught in 50 Brooklyn middle and high schools from April to June of 2021. The 1,400 students studied various Basquiat works, learning how art can both serve as a vehicle for communication and to facilitate societal change. Basquiat is widely recognized for popularizing black heritage in art and used his artwork as a creative outlet to explore himself and provide social commentary on the world around him – mostly on societal inequalities.

The program’s curriculum will be made available to all NYC public schools beginning this fall.

Due to the course’s extraordinary reception, the program’s curriculum will be expanded to all NYC public schools beginning this fall.

To view our health and safety regulations, click here.