The cycle of neighborhood change is one of the complicated inheritances of Brooklyn living. Though the conditions of urban movement are often man-made, the cultural materiality that comes to define the borough’s enclaves is in many ways organic. As many longtime residents can attest, there is a collective heartbeat that comes to define a community, even as its demographics change over the years.
Emily Anadu, a resident of Fort Greene for nearly two decades, has been sensitive to the shifts in the historical Brooklyn neighborhood she calls home. “When I moved to the area, it was the time of Soul Summit every weekend in the Summer. There were so many institutions that are not here anymore,” Anadu tells ESSENCE. “I was spending a lot of time in [Fort Greene Park} and it just didn’t feel the same. My heart needed to feel the presence of Black people. I spoke the idea out loud and had four friends who believed in it before it even was anything.” Four years later, The Lay Out’s annual event operates as an homage to a community’s tapestry of interconnected lives.
In 2020, Emily Anadu used her extensive marketing background to build The Lay Out, a commemorative celebration of the Black community’s enduring spirit. Inspired by post-party let-out convenings, the event is a day-long event featuring the BuyBLK. ByBLK. marketplace, a headlining DJ lineup, and a growing list of all-ages activities. Together, these offerings create what Anadu calls the “Joy Ecosystem,” where Black expression, cooperative economics, and social impact thrive in an annual Juneteenth celebration that welcomes cross-generational community. The first iteration was attended by five hundred people, and attendance has only increased since then. Spreading outward from Fort Greene Park’s central monument, laughter, and reflection dance in a delicate balance with cultural remembrance.
Over forty Black vendors operated food, home goods, books, and apparel booths along the perimeter of the park. Each business has a storied origin now generously shared through good and service exchange. Tameika Lewis of BKLYN Bar Soap is one vendor who has exhibited with The Lay Out over four times now with her line of handmade vegan soap. Her journey into entrepreneurship started while she sought a holistic skincare regimen to heal her son’s eczema. Now, her brand serves as a testament to hand-made craftsmanship, empowered through an equity-based marketplace that enables her work and story to reach larger audiences. She credits The Lay Out for enabling her business to grow while maintaining its integrity.
In 2023, Anadu was able to ideate larger connectivity solutions to increase the margin of impact The Lay Out could have. By that point, her team had established brand partnerships and were in a position to define how people engage with their work moving forward. They chose to advocate for minimum external brand signage and to keep outreach as organized as possible. “I don’t want an audience, I want a community. The distinction for us is that we know one another.”
As a result, The Lay Out has grown through collaboration with other community empowerment groups that share the common goal of meaningful engagement. Through recent workshop series like The Make Out, Anadu and her partners have been able to build with other organizations through smaller teaching events such as cooking classes and fragrance-making.
Earlier this Spring, as an extension of The Lay Out community, Anadu launched Nourish Me. Nourish My Community, in partnership with One Love Community Fridge, empowers Black chefs to teach small courses in food preparation and equity. Anadu and One Love founder Asmeret Lumax joined forces with Chef Rasheeda of Ramen By Ra, the first Black-woman-owned ramen shop in New York City, to raise awareness for the act of collective feeding.
One Love’s partnership extends to other ends of The Lay Out’s programming, including a food relief station manned this past Sunday in collaboration with the Walt Whitman Houses on the park’s Northwest edge. Asmeret Berhe-Lumax, the founder of One Love, took the helm of the assembly line and was joined by volunteers to pack bags of food for donation. Their work transcends providing sustenance, evolving into a symbol of unity and empowerment. Through collective effort, they transform discussions around food access into a tapestry of hope and resilience. “So many moments have meant so much to us,” Lumax tells ESSENCE. “What I think I’m most proud of is how many people we can bring into this work. It’s about how we create ripple effects in the community, all backgrounds coming together in one space.” There is a natural alignment between Anadu’s work and Lumax’s—The Lay Out is similarly rooted in joint uplift through cooperative commerce and recreation, just as One Love is through thoughtful nourishment.
Over the years, Anadu and many other Black residents have watched as the brownstones and tree-lined streets attracted a racially and economically diverse group of new tenants that make the idea of what defines Brooklyn more dynamic. While this is a welcome change, it may require regular reevaluation of the neighborhood’s internal engagement.
In a neighborhood as historical as Fort Greene, pain is neither singular nor isolated but echoed and absorbed by the community. To honor this shared weight, as both a founder and resident herself, Anadu has gone to great lengths to ensure the dignity of her host site is always preserved. “We have been very clear about taking ownership of what we create, good and bad,” she tells ESSENCE.
For the first couple of years of the event’s launch, Anadu would be on location herself—sometimes as early as 5 in the morning—to pick up trash and anticipate site needs in collaboration with the Fort Greene Park Conservancy. The event remains free and accessible, and Anadu says there is an onus to make sure things are as safe as possible for everyone in attendance. In this delicate dance of community endurance, the resilience of Fort Greene’s long-time residents shines. Thanks to people like Anadu and her team, their stories, etched into the very bricks of the brownstones, refuse to be erased.
Today, just hours after The Lay Out’s annual Juneteenth programming closes, the Park’s gardens and courts flourish amidst surrounding concrete. Echoes of music still linger in the air, a soulful reminder of the neighborhood’s spirit. The cultural materiality of Fort Greene adapts; yet beneath the veneer of change lies the indomitable heart of a community that remembers its roots, struggles, and triumphs.
In celebration of five years of The Lay Out, photographer André Gray captured the spirit and style of the festivities.
