Grounds is a devised, environmental opera installation created by director and interdisciplinary artist Jennifer Williams in collaboration with International Contemporary Ensemble. It retells the history of New York through an inclusive feminist lens, delving into the stories of diverse women trailblazers. Through a constellation of interactive installations, this work illuminates the indelible impact of Brooklyn’s female-identifying history-makers, including women of the Lenape nation. The performance is devised from archival letters and ephemera, which open hidden portals into the human experience. Grounds is a site-specific, environmental installation in Brooklyn’s parklands: its unique topography inspires all aesthetic aspects of the performance, and the performed story is in conversation with Brooklyn’s history. Grounds will invite Brooklynites into a sacred space in their own neighborhood in a contemporary ritual of healing and reconnection. In tragedy and isolation’s wake, it inspires a meaningful sense of community and connectivity through a unique, interactive experience that celebrates what makes Brooklyn extraordinary.

Free to the public, this immersive, 360-degree experience will take place live as a socially distanced event as well as through a simultaneous, hybrid virtual experience to enable access for homebound audiences.

Acclaimed as a director of “particular ingenuity,” Jennifer Williams is a Fulbright Scholar and interdisciplinary artist whose innovative productions have brought her to prestigious venues in New York, Berlin, Hong Kong, São Paulo, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Detroit, and Washington, DC. Event details can be found at www.jenniferwilliamsdirector.com