“Start your weekend here.”

Court Yard Fridays was a concert series held in the historic courtyard between Borough Hall and the old Supreme Court building that engaged Staten Islanders through cultural sharing, and activated this underused civic space in St. George to reveal opportunities for further cultural, social, and educational engagement. Over four Fridays in June 2018, Court Yard Fridays attracted 6,000 people and brought together pioneering music legends of diverse genres representing cultures from around the world.

Staten Island native, retired NYC Firefighter, and community activist Kevin Washington—with Philadelphia Jazz Project director Homer Jackson, and graphic designer Lynn Washington—hosted the weekend concerts. Nearby restaurants offered promotions to encourage local dining or take out with the shows.

This pilot project tested Future Culture’s recommendations to organize unique events of scale and regularity, and to activate existing, underutilized public space.

View the Lineup

The 4-week series brought together music legends of diverse genres from around the world, alongside local music groups from Staten Island to open each show.

Worldtown Soundsystem
June 8, 2018 | Opening band: Grounded4Life
Worldtown Soundsystem is a high-voltage live House/Techno music band that fuses the culture of electronic dance music with global rhythms from Africa, Latin America and the United States. The ensemble’s seven members have roots in three continents and their music is a celebration of sound from around the world.

Red Baraat
June 15, 2018 | Opening band: Staten Island Steel Pan Orchestra
Red Baraat is an eight-piece band that brings a global blend of Funk, Dance Grooves and South-Asian Brangra. NPR has dubbed the group as “the best party band in years.” Red Baraat sold out rooms as diverse as the Luxembourg Philharmonic and New York City’s iconic Bowery Ballroom, and performed at the request of The White House, TED and Olympic Games.

Papo Vázquez
June 22, 2018 | Opening band: Susan E. Wagner High School Jazz Ensemble
Papo Vázquez is a trombonist, composer and arranger whose forty-year career spans jazz, Latin, Afro-Caribbean, classical music, and over fifty recordings. “If you examine the signal moments of Afro-Latin music in New York since the mid-1970s, you’ll often find the trombonist Papo Vazquez in the picture, brash and precise, helping to drive the music, giving it snap and ferocity (The New York Times).”

UTA All Stars
June 29, 2018 | Opening band: Lincoln Center Middle School Jazz Academy Band
Hailing from the Universal Temple of the Arts, UTA All Stars brings together the acoustic brilliance of Staten Island’s Jazz community. Darrell Smith: drums/music director, Rudi Mwongozi: keyboards, Sylvester “Sly” Scott: alto sax, Gandharva Earl Sauls: bass, Ray Scro: baritone sax.

Visit the Court Yard Fridays website

Funders & Partners
Court Yard Fridays was made possible through the generous support of the New York City Department of Small Business Services and Neighborhood 360, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Court Yard Fridays is deeply grateful to our City government partners who made the project possible: Staten Island Borough President James Oddo; the staff at the Office of the Staten Island Borough President, especially the Office of Tourism and Cultural Affairs; New York City Department of Administrative Services; and the New York City Police Department.