Second Annual O+ Poughkeepsie to Feature 3 Mural Artists, 20 Bands

Three mural artists and approximately 20 bands and solo musicians will participate in the second annual O+ Poughkeepsie festival of art, music and wellness, which takes place Aug. 3-4.

Legendary graffiti and mural artist Lady Pink of Gardiner (who made a mural for O+ Kingston in 2016), Newburgh-based mural artist and graphic designer Joe Pimentel and muralist and educator Sam Meyerson of New York City will make large-scale artworks in response to the theme “Shadow.”

O+ Poughkeepsie will feature bands and solo musicians from the Hudson Valley and beyond with an emphasis on busker-style street performance. Genres include hip-hop, reggae/dub, indie rock, folk/bluegrass, electronic and spoken word.

Music highlights include Lara Hope & The Ark-Tones (rockabilly), Bright Dog Red (improvisational) and J.A.H.G (rap).

The full music lineup and the locations of the murals will be announced in the next couple of weeks.

What sets O+ apart from other festivals? The participating musicians and artists will receive complimentary health and wellness care in the O+ Artists’ Clinic, which is staffed by volunteer providers.

In addition to all the art and music, festival attendees will also experience a wellness EXPO+ that highlights health and wellness services locally available and have the opportunity to take EXPLO+RE classes in yoga, dance, meditation and more.

Admission is pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $10.

In the weeks leading up to the festival weekend, O+ Poughkeepsie alumna Risa Tochigi aka boogieREZ will paint a mural at the Poughkeepsie Gateway, which is the Route 9 underpass on Main Street. That project is a partnership between Arts Mid-Hudson, Poughkeepsie Alliance and O+.

SWAK Bike Rack Combines Public Art, Wellness

Cyclists riding along Kingston’s Cornell Street can now park and lock their bikes on a piece of public art at The Lace Mill.

Writer, artist and aerobics teacher Buddy Valentine in collaboration with Pioneer Agency was the winning designer of a 2017 bike rack competition made possible through a grant from APA NY Metro as part of the Plan4Health program.

This art-meets-wellness project is a partnership between City of Kingston / Live Well Kingston, Bike-Friendly Kingston, Kingston Greenline / The Kingston Land Trust and O+.

“Buddy Valentine’s bike rack, which references the designer’s pair of O+ murals that kiss across town, adds a new element of functional public art to Cornell Street,” said Aimee Gardner, O+ director of operations. “It’s a seamless blending of art and wellness.”

Two more of Buddy Valentine’s SWAK bike racks will be installed along Cornell Street soon!

“When I was a kid in the suburbs of Chicago and we’d drive into the big city, there was this giant sign shaped as a pair of red lips,” said Buddy Valentine. “It was along the highway as you approached the urban areas, for me a beacon of big, big dreams. My dream for the SWAK murals I’ve been fortunate to create with O+ and now this exciting bike rack project is that they’ll ignite excitement and big dreams in the same way, intriguing kids and adults alike about Kingston’s awesomeness.”

The bike racks were purchased through a Main Street Revitalization Program grant funded by Central Hudson.

O+ Hosts Opioid Panel, Forum, Narcan Training in Newburgh

O+ presents “Trends in Opioid Use, Treatment and Harm Reduction,” Thursday, May 31 at 5:15 p.m. at Grit Works, 115 Broadway in Newburgh. The free Educate & Activate panel and community forum focuses on opioid use trends in the Hudson Valley, plus harm reduction, treatment, first-person perspectives, and advocacy for harm reduction practices. A training for the opioid overdose prevention drug Narcan will also be provided.

“This life-affirming panel and forum aims to empower community members to take action and advocate for progressive drug policy and access to harm reduction means and treatment,” said Shannon Light, O+ nurse and director of the O+ Artists’ Clinic.

Listen to Shannon Light’s interview with Radio Woodstock’s Greg Gattine here:

 

Panelists include Dr. Maya Hambright, medical director of Samaritan Daytop Village’s Cape Road Residential Treatment Program in Ellenville, physician at Health Quest Medical Practice — Woodstock and a volunteer provider in the O+ Artists’ Clinic; Sean Tonner, outreach coordinator of Hudson Valley Community Services Syringe Exchange Program (SEP); Deb Greene, program director of RECAP’s New Life Manor; and Kathleen F. Morgan, chief operations officer of HONOR (Helping Others Needing Our Resources). Daniel Maughan, vice president of Transformation for St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, is the moderator.

HVCS and Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange and Sullivan will provide Narcan training and kits.

Refreshments will be served.

Partners for the May 31 event include RECAP, Hudson Valley Community Services and St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital.

Educate & Activate is a yearround O+ series of forums that brings together panels of health providers, non-profit organizations, local government leaders, educators and activists to discuss national health issues, their impact on local communities, and to convene community task forces to address them. It is sponsored by Health Quest.

 

Spring Gala Auction Raises $50K

The sold out O+ Spring Gala Auction on April 14 at The Beverly in Kingston raised more than $50K for O+.

The event was hosted by the O+ Board of Directors and Spring Gala Auction Committee and sponsored by Hurley Avenue Family Medicine, Michael Pisacane, David Ping Group, HealthAlliance Hospital and the Columbia family — Sarah, Edward and Stephen.

Artists (including Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Gaia, Jeffrey Milstein, Kevin Paulsen and Giselle Potter), small business owners and fellow nonprofits donated auction items. Supporters participated in mobile bidding for the silent auction items and live bidding with auctioneer Jay Werbalowsky. DJ Ali spun “swanky cocktail tunes” for the 125 guests throughout the evening.

Poughkeepsie Gateway Curators Reveal Five Finalists

The selection committee for the Poughkeepsie Gateway, an art intervention at the Route 9 underpass on Main Street, has selected 5 finalist mural proposals from the following artists: Julia Whitney Barnes, Risa Tochigi aka Boogie, Peter Daverington, Layqa Nuna Yawar and Justus Roe.

The public is invited to meet the artists, ask questions, and leave feedback Friday, April 6 from 5-7 p.m. at the Poughkeepsie Public Safety Building, 505 Main St.

The Poughkeepsie Gateway is a commissioned mural project that is a partnership between Poughkeepsie Alliance, Arts Mid-Hudson and O+ Poughkeepsie.

The images below are partial mural studies for the Poughkeepsie Gateway (with the exception of the Justus Roe image, which is an example of previous work.) To see more details of the proposed murals, please attend the April 6 session!

 

Julia Whitney Barnes:

 

Boogie:

 

 

Peter Daverington:

 

Layqa Nuna Yawar:

 

 

Justus Roe:

O+ Radio Hour Launches on Radio Kingston

The O+ Radio Hour on Radio Kingston is a weekly conversation about art, music, wellness and activism at the intersection of community brought to you by O+.

Every Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST we’ll feature compelling interviews with creatives, health and wellness tips from providers, and music curated by different members of the O+ team.

And once a month we’ll deep dive into the music and bring in O+ alumni bands for in-studio performances. We hope you’ll join the conversation as we make the case for localizing our country’s health and wellness system — one town at a time!

You can listen locally at AM 1490 or anywhere in the world at radiokingston.org

Video: Amanda Palmer In Conversation at O+ Kingston

Singer-songwriter, “The Art of Asking” author and Catskills resident Amanda Palmer set the community-centered, revolutionary tone of the eighth annual O+ weekend Oct. 6-8, 2017 with a performance (featuring her dad Jack Palmer) and conversation with Radio Kingston‘s Jimmy Buff and O+ Executive Director Joe Concra (with a cameo by O+ dentist Dr. Bruce Milner) at BSP Kingston.

“Every day it gets a little weirder and a little worse, and I feel like I’m living in a movie. Then I come out and I see things like this; stark reminders of sanity and stark reminders that actually the vast majority of people — and people in this country — are good and will help each other, and do want to be connected and do want to care for each other. We just need so much more of this, and more of what we are doing tonight; not just as a special event, but as a daily occurrence.” — Amanda Palmer at BSP Kingston

Watch the video of the inspiring conversation (warning: joyful swearing!) here.

Thank you to O+ volunteer Front Row Dave for the videography and editing.

 

O+ Poughkeepsie Gifts City With Six Murals

A number of visual artists invigorated the Main Street corridor of downtown Poughkeepsie in August 2017 by transforming walls in underutilized spaces. All six of the inaugural O+ Poughkeepsie murals were made by artists living and working in New York State who were inspired by the 2017 theme of HO+ME.

Participating Poughkeepsie-based artists were John Breiner, the duo BoogieREZ and a collective from Queen City Tattoo. They were joined by O+ alumnus Eugene Stetz of High Falls (who made two murals) and Mr. Prvrt aka Justin Suarez of Rochester.

The participating underinsured artists received health and wellness care in exchange for their creative gifts: the art of medicine for the medicine of art.

Top l-r Mr. Prvrt, BoogieREZ, Eugene Stetz; bottom l-r John Breiner, Eugene Stetz, and Alex Thomassen, Mike Boyce & Kaoticstudios “Rugged”