Brooklyn Masonic Temple
It may seem a tad secretive what with not having windows, but you don’t have to know the secret handshake to attend concerts at this temple-cum-music-venue. You can catch everyone from Fifth Veil and the Balkan Beat Box to Swedish acoustic guitarist José Gonzalez here. 317 Clermont Ave at Lafayette Ave (718-638-1256)

Brooklyn Music School
It may not have the heft of the nearby “Academy,” but actual learning goes on at the Brooklyn Music School, a place of music and dance training for nearly a hundred years. The halls ring with student recitals, some of which (like May’s Performathon) feature adult as well as juvenile performers. Their fanciest yearly event is A Brooklyn Nutcracker, with parents, professionals and students all onstage together. Their Playhouse theater is also available for rent, and has become a repeat home to the family-friendly Shadowbox Theatre. 126 St. Felix St between Hanson Pl and Lafayette Ave (718-638-5660, brooklynmusicschool.org)

Con Edison Corporate Gallery
Under the curatorship of Leon Kalas, this corporate lobby now displays the paintings of local artists, although you’ll have to peep over the heads of scurrying businessmen to see them. For Black History Month, the featured artist will be Willie Mae Brown, an artist with roots running from Brooklyn to Alabama. 30 Flatbush Extension at Concord St. Mon–Fri 10am–5pm.

Fort Greene fests
Fort Greene herself turns into an arts venue in the summertime, as it does for the Fort Greene Fest (fortgreenefest.com). an as-yet unscheduled September festival featuring local musicians, restaurants and short films. To get around any shortage of talent, nonlocals can be named “honorary” Fort Greene artists if necessary. It also welcomes the Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival (nywriterscoalition.org), which focuses on area youth by providing them with free Saturday creative writing workshops and end-of-summer readings by literary bigwigs. In the past, readers have included Staceyann Chin and Jhumpa Lahiri, so starstruck adults will want to stop by as well.

Long Island University
The Kumble Theater, though primarily a space for student performance, hosts companies such as the Restoration Youth Arts Academy and the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, who bring their outreach and education program out Brooklyn way. The complex includes a gallery and several dance spaces, which are occasionally available to locals as rehearsal space. Most importantly, the Kumble hosts the Miss Brooklyn pageant, which would most certainly prefer that we call it a “scholarship program.” Flatbush Ave at DeKalb Ave (718-488-1624)

Mark Morris Dance Center

Mark Morris Dance Center
This handsome lightbox building (built by Beyer Blinder Belle) houses the company of acclaimed choreographer Mark Morris and a stack of underwritten dance studios (rentable to outside groups for bargain-basement prices). The largest of the spaces can be used for performance, and Batsheva Dance and the New York Baroque Dance Company have both put on shows. Sadly, the one room unavailable for rental—Morris’s office—is the one with the massive tub and sliding doors. Drat. 3 Lafayette Ave at Flatbush Ave (718-624-8400, mmdg.org)

Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (MoCADA)
Taking as its mission the exhibition and discussion of black art and issues, this small but feisty museum has hung photographs by Alexis Peskine and three-dimensional canvas creations by Arturo Lindsay. It also hosts the KidFlix film festival and a yearly masquerade ball. 80 Hanson Pl at South Portland Ave (718-230-0249). Wed–Sun 11am–6pm.

Paul Robeson Theater
Named for the late, great actor—singer of “Ol Man River”—this converted church has two spaces: the main space in the ex–house of worship and a basement cabaret space. The theater has been producing steadily for 27 years under artistic director Arnold Beauchamp, including an acclaimed For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. And it rents its spaces to other companies—including Mean Red Productions and Metromix. 40 Greene Ave between Adelphi St and Carlton Ave (718-783-9794)

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute
This 25-acre campus includes the largest sculpture park in New York—called Pratt Beach by students—dotted with an ever-changing series of works. Luminaries like Richard Serra (big metal twists) and Philip Grausman (big white heads) have left their gargantuan toys on the lawn. Inside, the Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery (718-636-3517; Mon–Fri 9am–5pm) displays student and professional art, including a long exhibit this spring on creative-arts therapy and its results. 200 Willoughby Ave at Hall St, Clinton Hill (718-636-3600, pratt.edu)

South Oxford Space
The Alliance of Resident Theaters (A.R.T./N.Y.) purchased this charming brick building so that deserving theaters could afford that pricey luxury: office space. Several impressive downtown companies (including Elevator Repair Service) call this their administrative home. The paneled library (the Great Room) upstairs also furnishes a space for small musical and dance performances, most notably American Opera Projects (718-398-4024, operaprojects.org), an invaluable organization that gives new-music works development time and concert readings. 138 South Oxford St between Atlantic Ave and Hanson Pl (212-244-6667)

UrbanGlass
If you’re tired of the robust sort of art you can whack with a stick (j’accuse, Richard Serra), swing by UrbanGlass. Your go-to source for all things fragile and transparent, this internationally touted New York Center for Contemporary Glass boasts a museum (the Robert Lehman Gallery), an atelier that manufactures objets for artists (like glass punching bags for Alexandre Arrechea) and a studio that offers glass-blowing classes. 647 Fulton St at Rockwell Pl (718-625-3685, urbanglass.com). Daily 10am–6pm.

Your guide to Ft. Greene
“ Food & drink
“ Fort-ified wine
“Art
“Art star: Whether you’re a Brooklyn Academy of Music newbie or an old fan, here’s how to get more BAM for your buck.
“Shopping
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