New Celebrate Brooklyn! Chief Sets Goals of Diversity and Inclusion

This past January, BRIC, an influential Downtown Brooklyn arts and media institution, announced the recruitment of Saidah Blount as the new Executive Director of BRIC’s annual Celebrate Brooklyn! music festival. Blount will lead the vision and planning of this always highly anticipated concert series, celebrating 46 years this summer.

Saidah Blount/photo by Skye/courtesy of This Is Dope Agency

Blount is a successful business executive whose notable credentials include her time at NPR Music, Global Marketing Director at Sonos, and Executive Director at Sonos Radio. In her new role at BRIC, Blount intends to use the marketing skills she learned in her past positions, making Celebrate Brooklyn! a better organization.

“I think that to be an effective observer and marketer, you have to be creative, analytical and have a never-ending and over-curious understanding of people, places and things,” Blount explains to Brooklyn Roads.

A View of the Celebrate Brooklyn! Stage/ photo courtesy of B.L.Howard Productions

Blount has fully immersed herself in Brooklyn’s culture and the local music scene, having gained a love for our borough since moving to New York City years ago. Over the past few years, she has traveled around Brooklyn learning about the musical environment, enjoying the various jazz and indie clubs, as well as many other venues. Through her involvement in the community, Blount is certainly able to apply her years of observation and love of the Brooklyn community to her position.

“In one evening, you can discover an amazing jazz quartet over cocktails, then go and see a concert at an indie club and wrap up your evening at a sweaty Amapiano dance party,” says Blount. The possibilities are truly endless, and Blount’s exposure to the music scene proves her qualification for heading such a prestigious event as Celebrate Brooklyn!

Among Blount’s main goals in this new role are elevating social and cultural change. “Years ago, I originally moved to NYC to pursue a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, because I really wanted to help support policies that let people live better, more creative lives,” Blount tells Brooklyn Roads. She has much to offer, bringing diversity to the music scene and allowing inclusion to be the focus of the upcoming 2024 Celebrate Brooklyn! festival.

Blount’s team is hard at work, planning the event to be held at the Lena Horne Bandshell in Prospect Park. As the plans move further along, she is excited to represent many different neighborhoods with the lineup and is eager to contribute to the end result.