O+ Festival Returns October 2021

Festival emphasizing outdoor venues, theme O+ygen

Kingston, NY March 16, 2021–Following a year of placing most events on hold as our communities have grappled with crisis, O+ Festival will return to Kingston, NY October 8-10, 2021. The festival will emphasize outdoor venues and public art and follow the updated public health guidance in place at that time around masking, social distance and capacity. Through the generosity of many supporters, the festival will be free to the public. 

The Festival celebrates life, through the exchange of art, music and wellness, while holding space for the complexity that comes with the collective, and personal, trauma of the past year. It offers joy and connection which are, like oxygen, essential to our ability to thrive as a community. 

“We look forward to a Festival this October. This year, more than ever before, we need space to collectively heal and experience joy again,” said Holly Kelly, O+ Executive Director. 

The theme of the 2021 Festival is O+ygen. O+ Art Director Lindsey Wolkowicz reflects that “Oxygen is essential. It connects all living organisms through a cycle of exchange and function of our bodies that, for many of us, is automatic or even taken for granted.” Wolkowicz continues, “In countless ways, we have been made aware of our breath through compounding crises over the last year. But breathing in oxygen is also at the center of healing, balance, self-empowerment and our shared humanity.”

Artists and musicians, of all mediums, styles and modalities, are asked to respond to the theme O+YGEN in their submissions of work to be made, performed, installed or experienced during the 11th annual O+ Festival in Kingston. Submissions will open mid-April and close by May 19th, 2021.

About O Positive Festival

O Positive Festival (O+) began as a powerful grassroots movement that re-envisioned art, music, and wellness in the community. For 12 years, O+ has enabled thousands of artists and musicians from around the world to create and perform in exchange for health and wellness services. Based in Kingston, O+ has presented festivals in seven cities, including Chicago, Haverhill, North Adams, Petaluma, Poughkeepsie and San Francisco. www.opositivefestival.org

If you would like more information about O+ Festival, please contact Holly Kelly, holly@opositivefestival.org.