The Northside Festival was an annual week-long summer showcase celebrating emerging "music, innovation and art" in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, United States. The festival was held at venues across the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint and

Bushwick Bushwick is a neighborhood in the northern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by the neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, to the northeast; Williamsburg to the northwest; the cemeteries of Highland Park to the southe ...

and was organized by Northside Media Group, the publishers of '' The L Magazine'', '' Brooklyn Magazine'', Playwright's Horizon and BAMbill.

History

Northside was started in 2009 by Brooklyn's Northside Media Group, which published the ''L Magazine'' and ''Brooklyn Magazine''. The festival was a showcase of Brooklyn's recent cultural renaissance. Every June for a decade, Northside brought hundreds of bands, artists and speakers to the festival. Past performers include

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Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

, Miguel, Dirty Projectors,

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, Girlpool and more. Past speakers include Mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

, Senator

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, SNL's Sasheer Zamata, hotelier

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, writer Piper Kerman and Kickstarter CEO

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. Northside Festival held its tenth and final edition in June 2018. After its 2018 event, the festival did not return in 2019, and Northside Media Group closed in 2020.

References

{{Reflist Arts festivals in the United States Festivals in New York City Culture of Brooklyn Music festivals established in 2009 2009 establishments in New York City 2018 disestablishments in New York (state) Music festivals disestablished in 2018