All-Access Wristbands Available Now for Eighth Annual O+ Kingston Oct. 6-8

Brooklyn’s Dead Leaf Echo (nouveau wave), Washington, D.C.’s Paperhaus (psychedelic) and Baltimore rap artist Abdu Ali join local favorites The Mammals (Americana/folk), The Big Takeover (“Jamaica meets Motown”) and Upgrade (hip hop) for the eighth annual O+ Kingston Oct. 6-8.

The weekend of art, music, wellness and community features more than 50 bands and 20 visual, installation and performance artists. It also includes the much-loved kickoff parade, EXPLO+RE classes in yoga, dance, meditation and more, cycling events for all skill levels, Wellness EXPO+ and Literary SALO+N. New this year: O+ has teamed up with the Good Work Institute to present the HO+ME Economics conference at O+.

What makes O+ unique? The underinsured artists, musicians and dedicated volunteers who donate their time and talent to the festival weekend receive complimentary health and wellness care from volunteer providers in our Artists’ Clinic. We call this exchange “The Art of Medicine for the Medicine of Art.”

Advance donations for all-access weekend wristbands come with exclusive thank you gifts including a “You Can’t Buy CO+MMUNITY” tote bag and 1240+1 T-shirts, racerback tank tops and sweatshirts.

LINEUP DETAILS

Seven artists will make seven murals that respond to the theme of “Home” throughout the neighborhoods of uptown, midtown and, for the first time, Rondout, where Kingston native and O+ alumnus Matthew Pleva will create a large-scale work at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. Other mural locations will be announced in the weeks ahead.

O+ Kingston will welcome Albuquerque, N.M.-based mural artist Nanibah “Nani” Chacon, part of the “Honor the Treaties” collective, and Brooklyn-based mural artist Vince Ballentine, who made the Tribe Called Quest tribute mural in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens.

Brooklyn-based painter and illustrator Jia Sung, who assisted Jess X. Snow on 2016’s “O Wind Take Me to My Country” mural at ARTBAR Gallery on Broadway, returns to Kingston to make her first large-scale mural project as the lead artist.

The eighth annual O+ Kingston’s diverse musical lineup ranges from folk jazz (Keys to the Moon) to hip hop/funk/soul (Cross Culture) to indie rock (Graveyard Lovers) to ambient psych rock (The Stargazer Lilies) to fever-pop (Home Body) to swamp rock (Viva Le Vox) and swamp blues (ROEBUCK) — even hockey rock with The Zambonis!

There are also exciting musical collaborations between Ambrosia Parsley (Shivaree) and Chris Maxwell and Mimi Goese (Hugo Largo) and Ben Neill.

The art lineup includes: Vince Ballentine (mural), Jane Bloodgood-Abrams (mural), Cave Dogs / Suzanne Stokes(performance), Nanibah Chacon (mural), Erika deVries & Jonah Meyer (installation and performance), Enz (mural), Matthew Goldpaugh (installation), Guerilla Haiku Movement (installation and performance), Melissa Halvorson (projection), Rik Lopes (installation and performance), Melissa officinalis (installation), Matthew Pleva (mural), Amy Poux (performance), Valerie Sharp (performance), Justin Suarez (mural), Jia Sung (mural) and The Wayfinder Experience (interactive scavenger hunt).

The initial music lineup includes Abdu Ali, Adir L.C., Air Waves, Ambrosia Parsley and Chris Maxwell, Amity, Baltic, The Big Takeover, Bob Fleming & the Drunk Girl Chorus, Br’er, Buffalo Sex Change, Candy Ambulance, Chernobyl’s Children, Cross Culture, Dead Leaf Echo, Dusted, Gong Supreme, Graveyard Lovers, Hammydown, Hardc0re, Home Body, Jouska, Justin Tracy, Keys to the Moon, Kortnee Simmons, Locofreeq, Mail the Horse, The Mammals, Mimi Goese and Ben Neill, Miss Velvet and The Blue Wolf, Mister Roper, MSL, NCM, Oshwa, Paperhaus, The Pauses, Payne’s Grey Sky, Porcelain Helmet, Purple kniF, Ratboy Jr., ROEBUCK, The Rough Shapes, Ryan Egan, The Stargazer Lilies, Surmiser, Ten Pound Chicken, Upgrade, Viva Le Vox, The Zambonis and Zero Mean.

The Kingston festival weekend is O+’s largest fundraiser. Advance wristband donations power the yearround work of the national nonprofit while allowing organizers to make the festival weekend accessible to all through a “pay what you can/what’s it worth to you” model at HO+ME Base.

All-Access Wristbands Available Now for O+ Poughkeepsie

YO+U’RE invited to the first O+ Poughkeepsie festival of art, music, wellness and community Friday-Saturday, Aug. 4-5 throughout Main Street between Market and Cherry streets in downtown Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Festival wristbands are available now for a $20 suggested donation. The wristband is your all-access pass to hear 25 bands (including Holly Miranda, Continental, The Funk Junkies and Monogold), watch artists make large-scale murals, participate in EXPLO+RE classes in dance, yoga and more and attend a Wellness EXPO+. Check out the full lineup here.

What makes O+ (pronounced O Positive) unique? The underinsured artists and musicians who donate their talent and performance to the festival weekend receive complimentary health and wellness care in an Artists’ Clinic staffed by volunteer providers. We call this exchange “The Art of Medicine for the Medicine of Art.” The lead sponsor of the inaugural weekend is Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital.

O+ Poughkeepsie kicks off Aug. 4 with programming to coincide with the FIRST FRIDAY MUSIC STREET FAIR from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Main Street from Academy to Market streets. O+ Poughkeepsie bands Bright Dog Red and Poet Gold & the Evolving Wordsmiths will perform.

On Aug. 4 and 5 watch large-scale murals being made at the Up To Date Wall (288 Main St.) by Poughkeepsie’s own Boogie and John Breiner plus High Falls-based artist Eugene Stetz. Mr. Prvrt of Rochester will make a mural on a wall at Pancho Villa, 550 Main St.

Then on Aug. 5 experience a Wellness EXPO+ featuring health- and wellness-related nonprofits, services and businesses. Take unlimited EXPLO+RE classes at Mural Square Park. And check out 25 O+ Poughkeepsie bands playing the Mid-Hudson Heritage Center, My Place Pizza and Main Street Pizza.

Make a suggested donation of $20 and receive an all-access festival wristband and a T-shirt as a thank you.

Your advance donation allows O+ Poughkeepsie to be accessible to the entire community with a “what’s it worth to you/pay what you can” option at check in. Donations also power the yearround work of the nonprofit O+ to empower communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

The Mid-Hudson Heritage Center aka HO+ME Base (317 Main St.) will open at noon on Aug. 5 for attendees to pick up their festival wristbands, programs, T-shirts and O+ Poughkeepsie swag.

Check out the full O+ Poughkeepsie lineup and plan YO+UR itinerary!