DownStreet Art to launch sixth year

NORTH ADAMS – Those who have always wanted to dance through the streets of the city will get their chance on Thursday, June 20.

At 8 p.m., North Adams’ Main Street will close to vehicular traffic to host a “World Music Dance Party,” one of many events scheduled as part of the celebration of the start of the sixth season of the DownStreet Art festival.

The dance party will be led by hip-hop world music super-group Nomadic Massive and serves as a kick-off to MASS MoCA’s Solid Sound Festival, held June 21-23.

The June 20 kick-off to the 2013 season runs from 5-10 p.m. and also features “Wandering Night House,” a vehicular light show running along the streets and corridors of North Adams at a very slow pace, dousing street facades with subtle light projections.

DownStreet Art, an initiative of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ (MCLA) Berkshire Cultural Resource Center (BCRC), started in 2008; according to a release, its events and exhibitions have attracted more than 100,000 visitors to downtown North Adams.

“There are many pieces of the puzzle that must be healthy and grow for downtown North Adams to continue on this wonderful path to a more vibrant future,” said Glenn Maloney, president of the North Adams Chamber of Commerce. “DownStreet Art has brought life to one very important aspect of a healthy downtown: culture.

“In addition, it’s brought both visual interest and commerce, but most important of all, DownStreet Art has been a catalyst for other growth and ideas.”

The 2013 season

“Once again, we have some truly amazing art and artists,” said Jonathan Secor, director of the BCRC. “We had great submissions from around the world, giving our curatorial committee –
made up of representatives from MASS MoCA, the Clark Art Museum, the Mount Holyoke Museum, Williams College Museum of Art, Ferrin Gallery and MCLA Gallery 51 – some hard choices.

“Over the course of the next four months, we will feature 75 different artists in over 30 exhibitions.”

Other highlights of the 2013 DownStreet Art season include “The Caravan Project,” which recently exhibited in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and a performance by Timur and the Dime Museum, a dark glam opera band, on July 26, and this year’s finale on Oct. 31, featuring a macabre All Hallows Eve masquerade performance with live music, projections, costumes, taxidermy and “mystical happenings.”

Mural work continues

Last summer, DownStreet Art facilitated the creation of three large-scale public murals, centering on the festival’s focus to bring art to public spaces easily viewable for both residents and visitors alike in an effort to attract more economic flow to Main Street.

“I smile every time I turn the corner at Main and Holden streets and see that beautiful mural,” North Adams Mayor Richard J. Alcombright said. “This sort of thing is what sets our community apart.”

This year, “Paint it Big! Paint it Public!,” a teen workshop led by local artist Andrew Davis as a program of The Clark, centers on students creating a public mural based on Albrecht Dürer’s famous 16th-century woodcut “The Rhinoceros.”

The mural will be formed in the Main Street alley between Shear Madness Salon and Eagle Street on July 15-17 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

For more on DownStreet Art’s 2013 season, visit downstreetart.org.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on June 13, 2013. Filed under Arts and Entertainment,Community Events,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry