The Citizen Arts International Festival presents FLAMBOYANTS! from La Compagnie Tilawcis on September 17, 2026 at 6:30PM at Jackie Robinson Bandshell (89 Bradhurst Ave, New York, NY 10039) and September 18, 2026 at 7:30PM at NYCEDC’s MADE Bush Terminal (13 42nd St, Brooklyn, NY 11232). The event is free to attend, and tickets can be reserved at https://www.citizenartsinternational.org/flamboyants.

Flamboyants! by La Compagnie Tilawcis is a vibrant theatrical and musical journey connecting the Creole worlds of Réunion Island, Puerto Rico, and New Orleans. Through music, storytelling, movement, and performance, artists from these communities explore shared histories and cultural connections.

“NYCEDC is excited to partner with Citizen Arts International to bring Flamboyants! to MADE Bush Terminal in Sunset Park,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Senior Vice President of Sunset Park Asset Management Jennifer Brown. “Cultural programming like this creates opportunities for our community to come together. By bringing artists and audiences to MADE, the performance celebrates cultural exchange, connects communities, and offers a new way to experience the campus.”

Born from the meeting between theater director and actor Florient Jousse and Big Chief Juan Pardo, Flamboyants!is an original artistic collaboration connecting Creole communities separated by thousands of miles yet linked through shared traditions and experiences. Developed through residencies in New Orleans, Réunion Island, and Puerto Rico (2024–2025), the work brings together artists whose practices are rooted in the musical traditions of these communities, blending traditional forms with contemporary performance.

For Citizen Arts International, Flamboyants! will come to New York in two distinct forms: an outdoor theatrical performance and a concert in a NYC public park, offering audiences two unique ways to experience this celebration of music, movement, and cultural exchange.

Flamboyants! is presented in partnership with NYC’s Department of Parks and Recreation and NYCEDC’s MADE Bush Terminal. This project is funded in part by Zankel Music Fund and Broadway DNA.

Tilawcis is a neologism combining the tylosis beetle (symbol of artistic ephemerality) and Jack Kerouac’s expression “tea-law” (power of imagination). The company’s productions address societal issues through the lens of the personal. Their uncompromising approach is enriched by the aesthetics of journeys undertaken and chance encounters. The artistic research focuses on a creation that must not be overshadowed by cumbersome technical apparatus. Emphasis is placed on the text’s inherent simplicity, on embodiment as the simple transmitter of a dynamic message. Their aim is to raise issues and transform them into the unexpected by focusing on the performers (humankind) who catalyze the audience’s projections.

Established in the 1800s, Bush Terminal was once the largest multi-tenant industrial campus in the United States. Now called MADE Bush Terminal—short for Manufacturers, Artisans, Designers, and Entrepreneurs—the Sunset Park campus is an ambitious urban redevelopment project transforming the 20-acre property into a modern, mixed-use hub for local producers, fabricators and creatives. The reimagined campus includes approximately 140,000 square feet of industrial workspace, 30,000 square feet dedicated to cultural and public programming, and acres of new public open space. Central to its development approach is the adaptation of century-old warehouses to preserve the area’s rich industrial heritage and to leverage the useful life of existing materials on site. madebushterminal.nyc

Citizen Arts International transforms New York City’s public spaces into vibrant stages for free international performance, participatory art, and cultural exchange. Bringing art into everyday life across the boroughs, the woman-led festival fosters joy, civic engagement, and social connection.

Responding to calls from civic leaders and urban policy advocates to expand equitable access to culture in public space, the festival centers a model of radical accessibility and global cultural exchange, bringing free, high-quality performing arts directly into neighborhood parks and community spaces.

In collaboration with community organizations citywide, the festival’s inventive placemaking transforms ordinary spaces into sites of joy, spectacle, dialogue, and shared civic experience. Programming spans new circus, dance, music, theatre, and participatory performance that invite audiences to engage not just as spectators, but as participants in a shared cultural landscape.

Rooted in local partnerships, Citizen Arts International collaborates with organizations including The Ukrainian Museum, Culture Lab LIC, The Bushwick Starr, La MaMa ETC, Citizen Arts and Education, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, NYCEDC’s MADE Bush Terminal, Bronx Children’s Museum, Barnard Movement Lab, and more to connect performance with community conversation. Through hosted performances, workshops, and intergenerational learning opportunities, the festival creates intimate connections between audiences of all ages to engage with global artists and ideas in spaces that belong to them.

The festival is led by co-directors Meg Araneo, Natalie Rine, and Elena Siyanko. The multigenerational, women-led leadership champions collaboration, artistic vision, and public engagement as central to the citywide festival initiative. With decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, festival programming, international touring, and scholarly practice, they offer a civic-minded, community-focused, and globally informed approach to multidisciplinary performance in public spaces.

“Public culture is civic infrastructure,” said the Co-Directors in a joint statement. “Citizen Arts International is doubling down on radical accessibility — bringing global performance directly into neighborhoods, free of charge, and using public space to spark dialogue, imagination, and connection across difference.”

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

Citizen Arts International transforms New York City’s public spaces into vibrant stages for free international performance, participatory art, and cultural exchange. Bringing art into everyday life across the boroughs, the festival fosters civic engagement and strengthens social connection.

The Citizen Arts International Festival is produced in partnership with Citizen Arts and Education and the Ukrainian Museum, in affiliation with Social Practice CUNY, with special thanks to the PhD Theatre + Performance Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. The festival is fiscally sponsored by the Graduate Center Foundation Inc.

www.citizenartsinternational.org

@citizenartsinternational