The inaugural Crossing Brooklyn Ferry music festival kicked off last night. A three-day music and film celebration, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, the event is taking place across the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s various theater spaces through Saturday night. National guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner helped curate the event, which touched on the twins’ backgrounds in indie, folk, classical, psychedelic and avant-garde music. In an interview with The New York Times, the brothers also mentioned that they hoped to represent their larger Brooklyn musical community. Last night’s show featured The Walkmen, Sharon Van Etten, Yellowbirds, Twin Shadow and People Get Ready, among others. Members of both Yellowbirds and The Walkmen also recently performed with most of The National and Bob Weir at HeadCount’s Bridge Session.

A few special guests also joined the festivities last night. During one of the evening’s first sets, both David Byrne and Amanda Palmer sat in with Jherek Bischoff in BAM’s performance space. Both musicians have collaborated with Bischoff and were heavily rumored before the show. The Dessner brothers also performed during the evening. Crossing Brooklyn Ferry will continue this evening with performances by The Antlers, St. Vincent, a Yeasayer DJ set and more.