The theme of this Saturday’s ArtBeat festival from the our friends at the Somerville Arts Council is “Consumed,” inviting you to “investigate how artists and climate activists can collaborate in ways that encourage all of us to consume less, affect positive change, and have fun along the way.”
The annual festival runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. July 13 in Somerville’s Davis Square. It features music, dance, craft vendors, food, community organizations, yoga and poetry. There’s a Parts and Crafts’ mini Fixer Fair and a clothing swap with Mendi’s Boston. Make art about global warming. Learn about herring populations on the Mystic River. Find out how our collective habits impact the environment and contribute to global warming at the Consumption Data Lab from Somerville’s Office of Sustainability and Environment and the Arts Council.
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Highlights:
All day: “Baby Virus” in Davis Square
Wen Yu’s 12-foot tall inflatable sculpture suggests how global warming is “affecting the disease landscape and possibly bringing ancient dormant viruses under the permafrost soils back to life.”
1 p.m. Luminarium Dance at Somerville Theater Dance Showcase, 55 Davis Square (repeats at 2:30 p.m.)
The Boston company performs “8.7 Million Minus 1,” integrating classical Odissi Indian dance, modern dance and shadow theatre to illuminate the effects of human waste and pollution on our planet’s ecosystems.
1:30 p.m. Red Shaydez on Elm St. Stage
“Red Shaydez is so cool that you probably will get flustered in her presence,” Nina Cocoran wrote about the Boston rapper Red Shaydez in DigBoston last year. Her latest EP is “Chillin’ in the Shade.”
2:30 p.m. Sunrise Movement at Davis Square’s Statue Park plaza
Sunrise Boston, the youth-led activist group fighting global warming, presents a “performance of personal narrative about the impacts of the climate crisis.”
3:30 p.m. Lily Black on Elm St. Stage
“You can try, but you can’t cover it up,” Lilly Senna sings on Boston punk-ska-pop band Lily Black’s latest ep “Cover It Up.” “… You and me, we’ll dance the night the way. Let the music carry you away. Come with me and we’ll run away.”
4:30 p.m. El Huateque on Elm St. Stage
A new Boston band playing Son Jarocho music suffused with memories of the workers, fisherman, flora and fauna of Veracruz, Mexico, where the style originates.
5:30 p.m. ArtBeat Parade with Grooversity!
The drummers of Grooversity lead the festival parade from the Elm Street Stage down Elm Street to the main stage in Seven Hills Park. The parade also features climate activists and the Fine Art Super Heroes. All are welcome to join in—meetup at the Elm Street Stage at 5:20 p.m.
8 p.m. The Sun Parade at Seven Hills Park
“The guys can harmonize like the Beach Boys on acid,” Jed Gottlieb wrote about the Northampton psych rock/pop band in the Boston Herald last year. “They can push out power chords with the fury of a ’70s stoner rock act. They sound like the psychedelic ’60s, the indie ’80s, and the electro-pop boom of the aughts.”
9 p.m. Cliff Notez at Seven Hills Park
“Good riddance, I gave all my fucks away,” raps Cliff Notez, winner of the 2018 Boston Music Award for “New Artist of The Year,” on “Good Riddance.” The Boston artist raps about racism, oppression, black mental health and black identity while also trying to build community through events like “Boston Answering.”
If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.