Submissions Open Nov. 15 for Inaugural O+ North Adams

Art and music submissions for the inaugural O+ North Adams festival (May 10-11, 2019) will open Nov. 15. The festival’s theme is “Home” to celebrate the first year of the event.

Those chosen to install artwork or perform a music show during the festival will receive access to the complimentary health and wellness Artist’s Clinic, staffed with more than a dozen providers from Berkshire County.

Submissions will also open Nov. 15 for those interested in being general festival volunteers.

Do you own/operate a gallery, bar, restaurant or raw space that you would like to offer as a potential venue space? Building owners who have a wall that would be the perfect canvas for an O+ mural should submit a request as well.

Submissions for artists and musicians close on the evening of January 6, 2019. Those selected will be notified once the O+ North Adams curatorial teams review them.

Follow O+ North Adams on Facebook to be alerted to the launch of submissions.

North Adams Visits O+ Kingston

Before O+ North Adams team members could envision how an O+ Festival could look in their city, it was apparent they needed to experience the signature festival in Kingston, N.Y., where the nonprofit O+ is headquartered. They traveled to Kingston to volunteer at the ninth annual O+ Kingston (Oct. 5-7, 2018).

The North Adams representatives helped check in musicians and artists, shadowed volunteers in the Artists’ Clinic, sold tickets at venues and the box office/home base area, and helped photograph bands and live art exhibitions. Volunteers knew where to be and there were plenty of hands to help in case anything happened. 

“Volunteering for O+ Kingston was energizing!” said Suzy Helm, O+ North Adams city liaison. “Seeing the positive response their community has to the festival, how invested they are in it, and how appreciated the festival and the services it provides were, solidified my belief that North Adams is ready for our own O+ Fest, and we have the support and enthusiasm to make it a new annual event embraced and celebrated by our community.”

Suzy Helm files a document after checking in artists and musicians at the ninth annual O+ Kingston.

The North Adams team learned some valuable lessons from the Kingston festival’s footprint: the farmers’ market ran into the health expo and the O+ office and green room (which featured healthful food offerings, including shrimp, naan and spicy peppers, fresh salad and more) were situated so close to everything for easy access.

Events were able to run without interrupting normal weekend traffic flow in establishments such as Rough Draft Bar & Books for the literary salon. Whether folks came for the readings or not, business continued.

Benjamin Lamb, O+ Ambassador, enjoyed O+ Kingston’s health and wellness EXPO+. “Something I found extremely exciting was speaking with local business owners,” Lamb said. “Each of them, whether they had been open for 10-plus years, or just opened this summer, spoke positively to how O+ has become a catalyst for growth in downtown businesses, and rehabilitation of both commercial and residential properties in close proximity to the economic corridors.”

Benjamin Lamb watches his son during the O+ Kingston health and wellness EXPO+.

It was incredible to see how many community members were familiar with O+, and the North Adams team hopes the same energy is recreated in their community. Members left motivated, inspired with ideas and eager to get to work.

 

North Adams Joins O+ Lineup

The inaugural O+ North Adams festival of art, music, and wellness will take place May 10 and 11, 2019 in the heart of the city on Main Street. Participating visual artists and musicians will receive complimentary health and wellness care from art-loving volunteer providers in an Artists’ Clinic that will be installed in MASS MoCA.

Main Street in North Adams’ downtown is where several annual festivals and community events occur. There will be a kick-off show on the evening of May 10 followed by a wellness exposition, various art, and music events and more on May 11.

Spearheading the initiative includes Jessica Sweeney, festival director; Nico Dery, music director; and Ashley Strazzinski, art director. Berkshire Health Systems has joined as the lead sponsor and will provide healthcare providers for the Artists’ Clinic.

Those interested in volunteering for the inaugural community celebration should reach out to Volunteer Coordinator Bri Rousseau at brousseau@opositivefestival.org.

North Adams is the second city in Massachusetts to join the O+ lineup. O+ Haverhill was celebrated May 6, 2017. O+ Festivals have previously taken place in Kingston, Poughkeepsie and The Bronx in New York, as well as San Francisco, Petaluma, Calif., and Chicago.

Ninth Annual O+ Kingston Broadens Reach

Nearly 4,200 residents and visitors experienced the ninth annual O+ Kingston festival of art, music and wellness, which was the largest and most diverse to date.

The beloved kickoff parade featured Mayor Steve Noble, Esther Gin, The Bottoms Up Dixieland Jazz Band (who also performed at Keegan Ales), Tin Horn Uprising, Rosendale Improvement Association Brass Band, Uptown Lowdown, Possibility Studios, The Secret City, POOK (who also performed at EXPO+), Broadway Arts, Center for Creative Education (CCE), Amy Trompetter Puppets, High Falls Hoopers, Hudson Valley Queer Conspiracy, Anna Hafner’s “flower monster psychedelic animal spirits” and more!

The Artists’ Clinic, this year staffed by 113 volunteer providers, is the heart of every O+ festival. During the festival weekend, 21 artists, 96 musicians and 56 festival volunteers received 465 clinic visits, which included: nursing, primary care, integrative medicine, acupuncture, addiction care, breathwork, Oriental medicine, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, homeopathy, clinical hypnosis, integrative Reiki, massage, mental health, naturopathy, neurofeedback, ortho bionomy, reflexology, Reiki, sound healing, spacious heart guidance and Thai yoga massage. In addition, the Cingel and Viglielmo dental practices saw 70 patients Friday and Saturday. Post-festival, Dr. Bruce Milner has donated 10 more dental appointments and the Institute for Family Health has donated 8 dental vouchers. New this year: speech-language pathologists from Northwell Health’s Lenox Hill Hospital traveled to Kingston to provide videostroboscopy (testing for vocal cord conditions and abnormalities), vocal consultation and coaching for O+ musicians.

Artists added seven murals to the Kingston landscape, bringing the total to 36 in the small Hudson River city. They are Lindsey Wolkowicz at Anne Hebard School of Ballet (795 Broadway), boogieREZ at Eddy’s Restaurant (742 Broadway), La Morena at Lite Brite Neon (26 Downs St.), Samantha French / Aaron Hauck at Keegan Ales (Prospect Street side), Dina Kravtsov / Mat Schulze at the future home of the Radio Kingston Annex (693 Broadway) and Thorneater Comics in the alleyway next to Citizens Bank (273 Wall St.). The seventh mural is the first of the national Survivor Love Letter project by Tani Ikeda, Jess X. Snow and Layqa Nuna Yawar at Family of Woodstock’s Darmstadt Shelter (40 Thomas St.). In addition to murals, O+ artists offered audiences workshops, installations and experimental videos.

The health and wellness EXPO+, curated by lead sponsor WMC Health/HealthAlliance, provided an opportunity for locally-based organizations to share their services with the public. This year’s EXPO+ included a performance stage geared toward families and featuring Rhys Ellis, Esther Crow and POOK and Energy Dance. The Comedy Resistance surprised passersby with an impromptu set from Janeane Garofalo, Seaton Smith, Duval Culpepper and Frances Dunn, who advocated for voter registration. Other wellness offerings for the public included five cycling events, healing arts classes in yoga, dance, sound healing, meditation and vegan cooking, Narcan trainings with Keep It Moving and HPV self-testing with Go Doc Go’s The Box.

Bands performed throughout the weekend in Old Dutch Church, front and back of BSP, The Beverly, Keegan Ales, The Anchor, Stockade Tavern and Somewhere Alley. This year’s CO+NFERENCE panels at the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center were “Radio: The Great Connector,” “Holistic Career Advice for Today’s Independent Musician” and “Art in Public!”

(Photographs by O+ volunteers or staff Mike Amari, Jeff Bisti, Micah Blumenthal, Nicole Digilio, Francesa Hoffman, Brian Mason, Franklin Mattei, Kathleen Murray and Emily Roberts-Negron.)