Vote for Favorite Bike Rack Design for Kingston

Think creatively about public streetscapes by helping to choose the design of the bike racks to be installed along Cornell Street as part of the Kingston Connectivity Project. The KINGSTO+N Bike Rack Design Competition, a partnership between Live Well Kingston and O+ Festival, will add a new element of distinctive public art to Kingston streets.

The five finalists are Kathleen Griffin, Paolo Vidali of Hidden Gears, Keith Carollo, Rick Whelan and Madelyn Erb of Ditto! Design! and Hugo Jule-Quintanilla. The finalists are entitled to wellness visits in the pop-up clinic during the Oct. 6-8, 2017 O+ Festival in Kingston. The winning designer will receive a Wellness Clinic visit and $500.

To vote, click on your favorite bike rack design image, which will bring you to a new window, and then click on the “thumbs up.” You can vote for one design or as many as all five designs, but you cannot vote more than once for any particular design. Online voting concludes at the end of the day on Wednesday, March 29.

O+ Haverhill Partners With Better Block

Better Block is coming to Haverhill, MA! A block of Merrimack Street between Main and How streets will be transformed with more beauty, more life, according to Better Block organizers.

Why?

“A better block makes better neighbors. And a better local economy. A better block is more local business. More time outdoors. More beauty, more life. More bicycles, more foot traffic. A better block is more friends, more laughter, more conversations. A better block is a beginning. It spreads. It compounds. It changes everything. Better cities start with better blocks. Let’s get started!”

Haverhill Better Block aims to combine local art and culture programs, including O+ Haverhill, with pop-up infrastructure aimed at improving quality of life for all.

 

March 30 Party Reveals Bike Rack Design Winner

YO+U’RE invited to the Design A Better Bike Rack Final Vote & Reveal Party on Thursday, March 30 from 6:30- 8 p.m. at The Lace Mill, 165 Cornell St. in Kingston.

The evening, which is free and open to the public, includes:
•Exhibition of the five bike rack design finalists.
•In-person voting for your favorite design
•Screening & discussion of “Groningen: The World’s Cycling City”
•Vote tally & reveal of the winning design, which will be fabricated for installation along Cornell Street

Refreshments will be served.

At 5:30 p.m. join Bike-Friendly Kingston for an easy pre-party ride that includes stops at O+ murals. Meet at the front entrance of the Lace Mill. Dress appropriately for the weather. If you plan to bike home after the party please have working front and rear lights.

The bike rack design competition is a partnership between O+ Festival, Live Well Kingston, Bike-Friendly Kingston, Complete Streets Advisory Council and the Kingston Greenline.

This competition was made possible by a grant through APA NY Metro as part of the Plan4Health program.

Announcing O+ Poughkeepsie

The inaugural O+ Poughkeepsie, a festival of art, music and wellness, takes place Aug. 5 on the block of Main Street between Academy and Market streets. Participating visual artists and musicians will receive complimentary health and wellness care from art-loving volunteer providers.

The lead sponsor is WMC Health and confirmed partners include: Changepoint Church (pop-up wellness clinic site), Mid-Hudson Heritage Center, Arts Mid-Hudson, Institute for Family Health, Hudson River Health Care and The City of Poughkeepsie.

Corene Concepcion-Rivera has been named festival director of O+ Poughkeepsie. Poet Gold, the 2017 Dutchess County Poet Laureate, will serve as the festival’s music coordinator.

MidHudson Regional Hospital will host a Wellness EXPO+ for the community during O+ Poughkeepsie.

Want to volunteer your time to the planning of this inaugural community celebration? Email: cconcepcion@opositivefestival.org

Poughkeepsie is the second O+ Festival to take place in the Hudson Valley. The eighth O+ Kingston, where the national nonprofit O+ Festival is headquartered, takes place Oct. 6-8.

The nonprofit’s first festival of 2017 is the inaugural O+ Haverhill, which takes place in Haverhill, Mass., on May 6.

O+ Festivals have previously been celebrated in San Francisco, Petaluma, Calif., Chicago and The Bronx.

O+ Seeks 2017 Kingston Festival Volunteer Manager

O+ Festival is an organization dedicated to the exchange of medicine and art. Founded in Kingston, New York, chapters of O+ across America host annual festivals during which participating artists and musicians exhibit their talents in exchange for access to health and wellness services from art-loving, health professionals. Weaving together artists and musicians, health professionals, business owners and neighbors, O+ strengthens the fabric of the community, contributing to its overall wellness.

An O+ festival is being planned in Kingston for October 6-8, 2017. We are seeking a Volunteer Manager to recruit, schedule, manage and motivate a large group of volunteers prior to and throughout the festival. Together with each department and the Festival Producer, the Volunteer Manager ensures volunteers are available and adequately prepared for their shifts throughout the weekend.

This is a paid part-time position, estimated at approximately 260 hours from March–October 2017.

  • March–June: Approximately 2 hours per week
  • July–August: Approximately 6 hours per week
  • September: Approximately 25 hours per week
  • October: Approximately 80 hours

Primary Responsibilities:

  • Organize a “Call for Volunteers Campaign” before the festival
  • Assess volunteer needs based on specific department needs
  • Access and maintain the volunteer database
  • Schedule volunteers into specific departments and positions prior to and during the festival
  • Create and adhere to a timeline
  • Become familiar with the ticketing system and volunteer messaging about donations for festival wristbands
  • Organize general volunteer orientations prior to the event and oversee process for specific departmental orientations if needed
  • Hand-in-hand with the Festival Producer, manage all volunteers during the festival and ensure all volunteer responsibilities are adequately covered
  • Provide wrap-up report for debrief after festival, which involves gathering information about the number of volunteers and suggestions

Qualifications:

  • Must be available full time between October 6-8, 2017
  • Must be able to attend monthly planning meetings from March–October
  • Ability to prioritize and delegate in stressful situations
  • Experience with volunteer management and/or event planning
  • Experience working with and communicating with a team using a variety of technologies

Please contact aimee@opositivefestival.org for consideration and include a brief statement of your interest and related experience.

O+ Seeks 2017 Kingston Festival Producer

O+ Festival is an organization dedicated to the exchange of medicine and art. Founded in Kingston, New York, chapters of O+ across America host annual art and music festivals where participating artists and musicians exhibit their talents in exchange for access to health and wellness services from art-loving, health professionals. Weaving together artists and musicians, health professionals, business owners and neighbors, O+ strengthens the fabric of the community, contributing to its overall wellness.

An O+ festival is being planned in Kingston for October 2017. We are seeking a Festival Producer to assist the Director of Operations in planning, managing and executing this year’s festival. Reporting to the Executive Director and Operations Director, the Festival Producer oversees all aspects of the festival, managing various committees and their progress, ensuring all production tasks of the festival are accounted for and carried out by each department. The Producer is responsible for working with the Art, Music and Health Committees to understand their needs and assist them in planning the Festival schedule. S/he works with the Volunteer Coordinator to recruit additional human resources to facilitate execution of all festival activities including cycling, family, EXPLO+RE and EXPO+ programming. S/he manages the festival schedule and execution of all activities during festival.

This is a seasonal part-time position, estimated at approximately 396 hours from March–October 2017

● March – June: Approximately 5 hours per week

● July – August: Approximately 15-20 hours per week

● September: Approximately 25 hours per week

● October: Approximately 60 hours

Primary Responsibilities:

● Attend and coordinate monthly or as needed team meetings for planning and resource management

● Work with various departments and Volunteer Coordinator to assess volunteer needs based on specific department needs

● Ensure all production needs are properly budgeted and staffed appropriately

● Create and adhere to a timeline

● Build and ensure all team members are adhering to festival plan and production timeline

● Hand-in-hand with the Volunteer Coordinator, manage all volunteers during the festival and ensure all volunteer responsibilities are adequately covered.

● Provide wrap-up report for debrief after festival

Qualifications:

● Must be available full time between October 6-8, 2017

● Must be able to attend monthly planning meetings from March – October

● Ability to prioritize and delegate in stressful situations

● Experience with event planning

● Experience working with and communicating with a team

Please contact aimee@opositivefestival.org for consideration and include a brief statement of your interest and related experience.

 

Haverhill Cultural Council Awards $3K Grant to O+ Festival

The Haverhill Cultural Council has awarded the inaugural O+ Haverhill a $3,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The funding helps make possible the transformation of walls of three buildings with mural art and the hosting of a portion of the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the O+ Pop-up Wellness Clinic during the May 6 celebration of art, music and wellness.

“As a non-profit grassroots effort, O+ succeeds because of the dedication of its volunteer creatives and health and wellness providers as well as its local business partners and funders like the Haverhill Cultural Council,” says festival director Hailey Moschella. “The grant allows O+ to engage with the community in a way that will have lasting positive impact. We thank the board for their dedication to the arts and revitalization of the city.”

By exchanging the art of medicine for the medicine of art O+ empowers communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

Floatation Therapy Business Commissions O+ Artist for Mural

O+ Festival artist Eugene Stetz, who made a mural at People’s Place in Kingston this year, was among a number of creatives who experienced floatation therapy at Zephyr Float  during the weekend-long festival in October. The Kingston-based wellness business provided complimentary services as part of the O+ exchange of the “art of medicine for the medicine of art.”

“The float was an incredibly relaxing cleanse from the previous week of paint spraying, screen staring, and the high energy of O+,” Stetz says.

After his appointment, co-owner Olga Schoonmaker approached the artist about creating a mural in her wellness business’s soon-to-be spa room.

Eugene Stetz created this mural at Zephyr Float in Kingston, NY. (Photo courtesy of the artist.)
Eugene Stetz created this mural at Zephyr Float in Kingston, NY. (Photo courtesy of the artist.)

“We’ve had so much fun meeting all of the artists who came through our center that week,” Schoonmaker says. “Eugene stood out as someone whose work my husband (business partner Ryan) and I connected to. We immediately asked him to create something for our space.”

Over the next few weeks Stetz and Schoonmaker exchanged ideas about the theme of the work, Stetz says. The artist and provider also decided on a combination of financial compensation and a culture-for-care exchange in the spirit of O+ that includes future floating appointments.

“It is so gratifying when O+ helps facilitate these connections between community members, in this case an artist & wellness provider, to their mutual benefit,” says Denise Orzo, who oversees the festival weekend’s curatorial team. “The dream of O+ is that the spirit of reciprocity extends beyond the festival weekend, acknowledging the value of art and artists in the healing of our communities.”

The mural was completed in early December. Stetz has posted a video of the process.

“As a float center and a local business, it’s important for us to create a community space within our walls,” Schoonmaker says. “Eugene has added something extraordinary which will not only convey a visual representation of floatation therapy, but help people find peace and comfort.”

O+ Plans Post-Election Forum on Future of Healthcare

A message from Executive Director Joe Concra:

Dear supporters,

The recent presidential election has brought many complex issues to the forefront, and the O+ Festival community of artists, musicians, writers and healers share your concerns. O+ has been and will continue to be a nonprofit focused on empowering communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

As artist-activists we resolve to:

  • connect creatives and volunteers with yearround health and wellness care.
  • help our audiences access the breadth of wellness services and healing modalities locally available to them.
  • commission work from artists who are marginalized and/or underrepresented.
  • curate public art that reflects the history and culture of our diverse communities.
  • share inspiring words of poets, writers and musicians.
  • use our collective talents to heal and strengthen the neighborhoods that we call home.

We are working on an O+ public forum on the future of healthcare in January 2017 at a venue in Kingston, NY. We welcome your questions and concerns related to the status of your healthcare and the Affordable Care Act as we build our program and identify the community resources available to facilitate this important discussion around complex insurance questions, calls to action and hope. Please email: joe@opositivefestival.org and share your suggestions.

We are so grateful for your continued support of our mission. Now more than ever we must work hard and work together to Apply Pressure and Elevate.

PO+SITIVELY,
Joe Concra, Mission Control

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