André 3000 and Lunar New Year: 16 things to do in Brooklyn this weekend

By Joshua Encinias

André 3000 brings his much-dissected woodwind-centered instrumental music to St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church on Monday night. But first …

Restaurant Week ends its winter run on Sunday, and there are no fewer than 62 participating Brooklyn eateries. Consult our Food & Drink archives for tips. You could even make it dinner and a show with “Our Class” at BAM, but first, read up on the production here.

Friday night brings the first of many Lunar New Year events this weekend with the Lunar New Year Night Market at Hana House. More than 25 Asian small businesses will be on hand with goods and activations.

On Saturday the Brooklyn Book Bodega returns with its special book giveaway — donate a book if you can and take a few books for free. That evening, Yalla! comes to Baby’s All Right with special guest Mykki Blanco for an evening of queer and trans BIPOC, Southwest Asian and North African music.

Sunday wraps things up with New York’s largest summer camp preview, with events and demonstrations from every participating camp. The perfect antidote to a cold winter afternoon is to start making summer plans!

Have a great weekend with our smorgasbord of things to do.

Friday, February 2

Restaurant Week wraps up
Various times and locations
Restaurant week ends on Sunday and you can find deals on the best Brooklyn restaurants from Bay Ridge to Bushwick. Among the 62 restaurants participating this winter are Buttermilk Channel in Carrol Gardens, Mable’s Smokehouse in Williamsburg and Bleu Fin Bar & Grill in Crown Heights. Check out the full list of participating Brooklyn restaurants and save the Top Ramen for next weekend.

The Exponential Festival’s final weekend
Times and venues vary
Exponential is a month-long Brooklyn-based theater festival dedicated to New York City-based emerging artists working in experimental performance. With an emphasis on inclusiveness and a diversity of artists, forms and ideas, the festival is being held at locations throughout the borough, including the Brick, the Brick Aux, Jack, Target Margin Theater, Loading Dock Theatre, Cloud City and We Are Here. Full lineup here.

‘Our Class’ at BAM
Performances now through February 11
“Our Class,” the award-winning play by Tadeusz Słobodzianek, will be performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music now through February 11. Featuring an ensemble of artists from around the world, “Our Class” is based on 10 classmates — five Jewish and five Catholic — as they grow up as playmates, friends and neighbors, then turn on one another with life-and-death consequences. Inspired by real-life events surrounding a horrific 1941 pogrom in the small village of Jedwabne, Poland, the play spans eight decades in a contemporary new production, directed by Jewish, Ukrainian-born director Igor Golyak. Read our piece on the play by Anna Rahmanan. 321 Ashland Place. Tickets start at $59.

Dumbo Projection Project
Dusk to 10 p.m., Thursday to Saturday
The Dumbo Projection Project is a neighborhood-wide, outdoor video art exhibition projected onto Dumbo’s most iconic infrastructure, the Manhattan Bridge — on both the Pearl Street and Adams Street sides — and along the BQE in Susan Smith McKinney Steward Park. The current projection is titled Natural Possibilities and it translates innermost musings and projected desires into abstract digitizations.

‘Fashion Forward’ at ‘B’ Dry Goods
Now through March 30
A new exhibit at “B” Dry Goods in Crown Heights presents a wide-ranging celebration of the fashion arts, featuring original paintings and drawings by designers Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Balmain, Hubert de Givenchy, Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, Antonio Lopez, Christian Dior and others, as well as original textiles, garments, ephemera and contemporary artworks which straddle or investigate the art and fashion worlds. The show also presents original garments and accessories worn or advertised by figures such as Josephine Baker, David Hockney, Frank Zappa, Maria Callas, Duke Ellington, Paul Newman and more. 679 Franklin Avenue, Crown Heights. Free

Lunar New Year Night Market
5 to 10 p.m.
Celebrate the Year of the Dragon for this year’s Lunar New Year with Brooklyn’s Asian American Pacific Islander community at Hana House. Featuring food from local vendors, performances, giveaways and activations from 25+ Asian American small businesses. Each ticket comes with an exclusive Kitsby tote bag and a raffle ticket for a giveaway, and the first 50 people at the door will receive free Lunar Hard Seltzers. 345 Adams Street.

Frost Children at Elsewhere
6:30 p.m.
Frost Children, OLTH and Jeffrey Lewis perform at Elsewhere on Friday evening. Frost Children are quickly becoming one of New York’s best new musical acts, with a sound that ranges from electronic to heart-wrenching pop. See them on Friday before they blow up. 599 Johnson Avenue #1. Tickets are $35.

Saturday, February 3

Free Books from the Brooklyn Book Bodega
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Brooklyn Book Bodega has an excess of well-loved and overstocked books for kids and adults. You can register at the link above to attend their Brooklyn Navy Yard Book Hub. You will be allowed to browse for 45 minutes and select as many books as you can carry (maximum 100 books). Please bring your own bag or luggage. 141 Flushing Ave, Suite 407. Free, although registration is required and donations appreciated. The event is f0r ages 10 and up.

Lunar New Year Celebration at City Point
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Celebrate Chinese New Year at City Point with traditional Lion Dances, kids’ Lunar New Year-inspired crafts and family portraits. Experience life-size red balloon dragons, fish and fu. You can take free family portraits in front of a red balloon dragon background, and the kids can craft dragons and drums. 445 Albee Square West. Free.

Vietnamese New Year Festival: “Chợ Tết”
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Vietnamese New Year Festival takes place in Industry City for the community to come together and celebrate the traditional Vietnamese New Year. This year’s “Chợ Tết” festivities (which means Lunar New Year) include Phong Bao Lì Xì, a traditional lucky envelope, live music, local food vendors and Vietnamese folk games. 33 35th Street. Tickets are $14.99.

Happily Never After
12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Love and death. They have inspired artists, writers and philosophers for millennia. But do you know where they are perfectly intertwined? A cemetery. If you want to get into a quirky Valentine’s Day mood, forget the box of chocolates and treat that special someone in your life to this exploration of the lovesick and the heartbroken, as well as tawdry details of dramatic — and doomed — affairs of Green-Wood Cemetery’s permanent residents. 500 25th Street. Tickets are $30 and $25 for members.

DTBK Presents: Lunar New Year Celebration
1 to 4:30 p.m.
Ring in the Year of the Dragon with City Point BKLYN on Saturday. Enjoy live performances on Albee Square, including traditional lion dances by the Choy Lay Fut Dance Team and music spun live by DJ Boogie. They’ll be giving away lucky red envelopes with coins and some with gift certificates for the neighborhood’s Asian-owned businesses. Inside City Point, enjoy a Balloontopia pop-up featuring life-sized dragons, fish, fu and a balloon hut. There are family activities including kids’ drums and dragon crafts portrait studio. At DeKalb Market Hall there will be lion dances by the Choy Lay Fut Dance Team and more traditional red envelopes with gifts. 434 Albee Square West. Free.

Baby’s Presents: Yalla! with Mykki Blanco
11 p.m.
Yalla! Party Project is an arts collective and multi-cultural community in New York centering the queer and trans, BIPOC, Southwest Asian and North African community and their besties. Their monthly dance party features Mykki Blanco this Saturday, where you’ll see international and local DJs spinning a variety of world dance music and global grooves, baile funk, Arabic pop, Dancehall, Afrobeat and diverse global grooves honoring the healing power of queer safer spaces and the communities behind them. 146 Broadway. Tickets are $20.

Sunday, February 4

Sunday morning birding
7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.
Before Green-Wood Cemetery’s gates open to the general public, birding expert Rob Jett leads a peaceful early morning walking tour on Sunday to discover the many birds that call Green-Wood home. For some bird species that migrate south after the breeding season, Brooklyn is their Miami during the cold months. 500 25th Street. Tickets are $20 and $15 for members.

CAMPTOPIA – Brooklyn’s biggest summer camp fair
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mommy Poppins and Brooklyn Bridge Parents have partnered to host CAMPTOPIA, New York’s biggest summer camp fair. The camp fair will take place at Atlantic Terminal Mall, and unlike traditional camp fairs, this event provides an opportunity for families to experience camps in person. They will have 30+ free kids activities for all ages including a bouncy house, ping pong, STEM fun, games, crafts, photo booth, weaving, magic show, freebies and more. Plus, lots of information and early bird specials for summer camps ’24. 625 Atlantic Avenue. Free.

Monday, February 5

André 3000 at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity
8 p.m.
If you missed his tour opener at Crown Hill Theatre earlier this week, André 3000 returns to Brooklyn Monday to perform“New Blue Sun,” his instrumental New Age-y flute album — his first solo work in two decades. You can hear him perform it live on Monday night at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity. 157 Montague Street. Tickets are $153.