Formed in NYC in 1993, the improvising collective No-Neck Blues Band (NNCK) favors anonymity, autonomy, and obfuscation. Alongside founding member Keith Connolly (2016 AIR), they return to open ISSUE’s Fall season at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn.
ISSUE presents the first commission from Eden Girma (2026 AIR). Part dreamscape and part summoning circle, an intimate diasporic familial archive is pieced together through the eyes of a five-year-old child.
In partnership with Franklin Furnace as part of their 50th anniversary commemoration and November release of "Back to the Present: 50 Years of Free Expression with Franklin Furnace" ISSUE presents an evening of performance and conversation.
Incorporating elements of noise, trance and minimalism, Sergei Tcherepnin (2012 AIR) presents new work for Serge Modular synthesizer.
Artists-In-Residence 2021
ISSUE and The Poetry Project present the official launch for composer and poet JJJJJerome Ellis' The Clearing. The piece asks how stuttering, blackness, and music can be practices of refusal against hegemonic governance of time, speech, and encounter.
Artists-In-Residence 2021
For the third and final program of her ISSUE Project Room Residency, violist Joanna Mattrey presents an evening of World Premieres written for Mattrey by Leila Bordreuil, Nick Dunston, Weasel Walter, and Lucie Vitkova.
ISSUE is pleased to present an evening of recent electroacoustic works from visionary composer, trombonist, and scholar George Lewis. At ISSUE, Lewis presents a “portrait concert” of four recent works performed by musicians Laura Cocks, Seth Parker Woods, Dana Jessen, Conrad Harris & Pauline Kim.
With Womens Work
ISSUE is pleased to stream With Inner Sound, Truth, a new work by drummer and composer Savannah Harris. The piece, curated by Sami Hopkins (ISSUE’s 2021 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow), is a continuation of the With Womens Work series and responds to Ruth Anderson’s composition Silent sound.
ISSUE presents a free online program of renowned composer Annea Lockwood’s iconic Piano Transplants works: Piano Burning (1968), Piano Garden (1969-70), and Piano Drowning (1972). This streamed event features expansive documentation from three presented iterations of each piece.
ISSUE is pleased to present acclaimed poet Anne Waldman joined by bassist William Parker and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as part of the 2021 Brooklyn Book Festival. The program also features sound and visual artist Caroline Partamian.
Leyya Tawil (ISSUE Project Room’s 2020 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow) presents “Mirages/ FRKTL & Tarkamt,” her fourth program in the NOMADIC SIGNALS series. Mirages is a program of sonic and visual illusory spaces composed and performed by FRKTL, British-Egyptian artist Sarah Badr, and Tarkamt.
ISSUE & Weeksville Heritage Center are pleased to present acclaimed musical collective Harriet Tubman, formed by Brandon Ross, Melvin Gibbs & JT Lewis at Weeksville’s historic site in Crown Heights, BK. The performance also features a first time collaboration between JJJJJerome Ellis & Holland Andrews.