It’s been eight years since New York City suffered the wounds of the 9/11 attacks, and, as they have done every year since then, Brooklynites will gather together to remember those who perished and to honor those who served at Ground Zero on September 11th and in the following months.
Fromcandlelight vigils to runs, events will be held to mark the somber occasion, both on 9/11 and before and after the anniversary%u2013 to encourage remembrance and to provide comfort to those whose friends or family members were victims of the attacks.
The works of numerous artists reflecting on the 9/11 terrorist attacks can be viewed as part of Art After September 11, an exhibition that will be on view at the Kumono Gallery, 464 Seventh Avenue, from September 4th through 6th, and again on September 11th and 12th. The display — whose purpose is to bring together artistic visions of the individual way that different people responded to the disaster — will be open on those days from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be a reception on Saturday, September 5th, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the gallery.
The exhibition has been curated by artist Akiyuki Ina, who has exhibited his own works in galleries both in New York and Japan.
For further information, call 718-788-6020 or log onto http://kumonogallery.com.
There are several memorial services being held on September 11. State Senator Marty Golden will host two memorial events, one in Marine Park and one on the American Veterans Memorial Pier at 69th Street, the latter in the shadow of a memorial to those who lost their lives at the World Trade Center.
The Marine Park memorial will take place at 6 p.m., at Fillmore Avenue and Marine Parkway by the track entrance, and will encompass prayers, a candle-lighting ceremony and music.
Then, at 8 p.m., the memorial event at the American Veterans Memorial Pier will begin. Among the highlights will be a candle-lighting ceremony, as prayers and music.
The events, Golden stressed, “give solace to the families, and give us an opportunity to celebrate the lives of the people who were lost on 9/11. It’s also an opportunity for the community to grieve with the families and to be with each other on the anniversary of one of the worst days in the nation’s history.”
Also on September 11, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a candlelight vigil sponsored by the Brooklyn/Bedford Park 9/11 Memorial Committee at the Handball Court of Bill Brown Park, at Avenue X and Bedford Avenue, which was painted as a memorial, immediately after the attacks, by local resident Ray Fiore.
The vigil, which organizers say is intended to “honor the memory of those we lost on September 11, 2001,” has been held every year since the attacks.
Noted Tina Gray, one of the members of the memorial committee, said that the purpose of the annual event is “to make sure that the families, the firefighters everyone who lost someone, know we remember. It’s also about keeping the memory of these people alive.”
For this reason, she added, “Every year, we try to find something special to give to our invited guests, the firefighters, the 61st Precinct, the EMTs, and, of course, the families of people who lost loved ones. I was afraid, this year, that we were not going to have anything. Then, somewhere on line, I found the song ‘Since September,’ by Tom Chelston. I started emailing him and I spent him a link to a blog about the event. He was all excited. He said he would be in New York on September 11th, and he would like to come by and sing.”
What makes this especially significant, Gray added is that ‘Since September’ is the song that one of the memorial committee’s members plays, each year, for her sister, who was killed in the World Trade Center attack. “Mary plays it for Lucy, when they put the tower of lights in the sky, so this is really special,” Gray stressed.
There will also be a variety of musical events, taking place under the aegis of the September Concert Foundation. A highlight of this year’s concerts will take place at 2 p.m. with a sing-along of the foundation’s recently adopted official song, “Give Us Hope,” by New York composer Jim Papoulis.
“The September Concert offers an opportunity for people to come together once a year and be united in hopes for peace and celebrate our universal humanity,” emphasized Haruko Smith, the founder and chairperson of the September Concert Foundation.
In conjunction with the September Concert, there will be six free concerts around Brooklyn, harmonizing with hundreds of concerts across the country and around the world.
The Brooklyn venues are:
*Bard, 444 Seventh Avenue, where a concert will be held from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Performers include Emily Easterly, Jessi Robertson, Kevin Johnston, Lucius, Matt Singer, Paul Basile, Secondstar, Tarrah Reynolds and Tim Noyes;
*Block 45, 45 Main Street, where fishtapper will perform at midnight. “We hope that you will stop by and jam with us this 9/11,” the organizers urge;
*Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, where the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra Quartet will perform from noon to 1 p.m.;
*South Oxford Space, 138 South Oxford Street, where a concert featuring DAAD Quartet, Frank Carlberg, John McDowell and Emmanuel Vukovich and Sam Sadigursky/The Words Project will be held from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.;
*Target Community Garden, 931-933 Bedford Avenue (concert details not yet finalized by press time);
and,
*The Commons at Metrotech Center, 1 Metrotech Center (concert details not yet finalized by press time).
For further information, log onto www. septemberconcert.org or call 212-333-3399.
In addition, the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC), which each year puts together a memorial project, will present its September 11th Memorial Sing, featuring performance of original songs about September 11th, from 5 to 7:30pm in Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, or, in case of rain, at Powerhouse Arena, 37 Main Street.
Attendees are invited by BAC to bring blankets and light refreshments to the grassy area across from the Tobacco Warehouse, facing the water.
For further information, log onto www.brooklynartscouncil.org or call 718-625-0080.
There will be at least one 9/11-related event after the anniversary. On Sunday, September 27th, the Tunnel to Towers Run/Walk will be held, with participants, according to the event’s website, “Follow(ing) in the footsteps of an American hero, Firefighter Stephen Siller, who on September 11th, 2001, ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the twin towers, where he laid down his life for others.”
Siller, a member of Park Slope’s Squad 1, was off-duty when the attack commenced. Learning of it, he headed toward the World Trade Center. When he couldn’t drive through the Battery Tunnel, he left his vehicle and ran through the tunnel to Ground Zero, and was last seen alive, according to the website, at West and Liberty Streets. The event, say its organizers, honors not only Siller but all the firefighters, police officers and emergency service personnel who responded to the attacks.
The Run/Walk is 3.1 miles in length, beginning in Brooklyn at the Gowanus approach to the tunnel at 9:30 a.m., then heading through the tunnel to West Street, turning left at Liberty Street, and heading over to Battery Park Esplanade, then east on Warren Street, south onto West Street, and coming to an end at the intersection of West and Vesey Streets in lower Manhattan.
Money raised from the event will be donated to a variety of charities for children and firefighters.
Pre-registration requires a donation of $40, and must be received by September 23rd. Late entry requires a donation of $50. Sunday registration will take place in Coffey Park, in Red Hook from 7 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
For further information, call 718-987-1931 or log onto www. tunneltotowersrun.org.
