Join us for the 6th annual Solstice Sunset Cross-River Bell Ringing, a simple and beautiful collective gesture marking the turning of the Earth and the arrival of summer. The dailybell project was created by Brenda Hutchinson in 2008 on a premise we can all agree on: the Earth rotates.
This year, marks the 5th year dailybell joins Make Music New York, part of the worldwide Make Music Day celebration that began in Paris in 1982 and now takes place in cities across the globe each summer solstice.
On Sunday, June 21, meet us at the DUMBO Ferry Landing and board the 8:26 PM East River Ferry to Wall Street / Pier 11. As we cross the river at sunset, we’ll create a gentle chorus of bells together
Event Details
📅 Date: Sunday, June 21, 2026
🕗 Meet: 8:10 PM (to receive your bell)
⛴️ Ferry Departure: 8:26 PM
📍 Location:Ferry leaves from the DUMBO Ferry Landing. East River line. Crosses to Wall St/Pier 11 and arrives at 8:30
🔔 Bring: Your own bells if you have them, or arrive early to receive a complimentary bell. Bells will be distributed while supplies last.
Come celebrate the summer solstice with us—one crossing, one sunset, and hundreds of ringing bells across the East River.
Press
“One man stared into my face. What is happening here? he asked, but it was soft, genuine, open. I shrugged, and looked away from him out at the crowd, because there was no other answer.
It was so moving to stand there sweating with everyone, I said to Deb later, so sweet to recognize together that this day is over.
Not just the day (sunset) but the summer, its peak – the longest day over, the light heading now towards its decline and the darker days. Not knowing what they’ll bring, but the peak marked by this strange and specific communal making, by the ringing of so many tiny bells.”
— Leora Fridman, “One Last Letter: On Oakland’s Museum of Capitalism and the Emergent Gaze,” Temporary Art Review (July 2017)
ABOUT
Brenda Hutchinson
Brenda Hutchinson is a composer and sound artist. Through her work with large-scale experiments in socially based improvisations and interactions, Brenda has developed a body of work based on a perspective about performing with the public and non-artists through personal, reciprocal engagement with listening and sounding. In 2008, Brenda began dailybell, an ongoing aspirational project, dedicated to the observation of the sun EVERY time it crosses the horizon and to sharing the awareness of that moment with others through the ringing of bells. These bellringing events have ranged from solo affairs to large public gatherings. As major planetary events, the Solstices and Equinoxes have included the largest groups of people including several previous river crossings from Governors Island (Equinox) to large indoor Solstice celebrations (Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland CA.)
Learn More
🌐 Website: https://makemusicday.org/ny/listings/venues/96b35f0b-1eca-4dfd-8b19-062cc8950a86
🌐 Website: www.sonicportraits.org