The Somerville Arts Council and outdoors-type-person Greg Cook are looking for art and science for the \u201cStarting Over Festival.\u201d The April 22, 2018, event (rain date: April 29) is a free, one-afternoon celebration of the return of spring, urban wildlife, and new possibilities. We hope hundreds of people will attend.<\/p>\n
The \u201cStaring Over Festival\u201d will be held outdoors at the Quincy Street Open Space<\/a>, Somerville\u2019s smallest \u201curban wild.” The event will be part of the city\u2019s Earth Day and Arbor Day festivities\u2014and include a tree planting, sapling give-away and other environmentally-engaged activities.<\/p>\n We are looking for visual art, Afro-futurism, installations, scientific presentations, audience-participatory projects, performances (music, dance, spoken word), urban planning, and shenanigans addressing the above themes that can be presented outdoors in the park during the festival.<\/p>\n Interpret \u201cStarting Over\u201d broadly. We\u2019re looking for projects that speak about our current society and politics, about affordable housing, about race and gender and faith. We\u2019re looking for projects that dream of new ways of living in greater harmony and mutual support.<\/p>\n We\u2019re looking for projects that speak about nature in Somerville, about how we can be good neighbors with turkeys, coyotes and other wildlife returning to our urban communities. We\u2019re interested in addressing how global warming is already affecting the nature of our neighborhoods (changing when plants blossom, birds migrate and insects appear in spring, changing precipitation and increasing flooding). We\u2019re looking for projects that address how we can live more sustainably.<\/p>\n We\u2019re looking for projects that represent the rich diversity of our community. We like unusual ideas and approaches. Surprise us.<\/p>\n Artists and other presenters must be available to participate on both the date of the festival, April 22, and the raindate, April 29.<\/p>\n The festival is timed for spring blooming, when the park is (usually) filled with tulips and daffodils. The small park is just 5,000 square feet of \u201csustainable woodland landscape\u201d on reclaimed land where a house burned down in the late 1980s. This festival is meant to be a variation on the \u201cTiny Great Outdoors Festival\u201d<\/a> held at this park on April 23, 2017 (photos<\/a>).<\/p>\n To apply: Send a short proposal (one or two paragraphs), any relevant images, your name, email, phone, a link about your relevant experience, and something about how much you’d like to get paid. To Weloveyoursubmissions At Gmail<\/a>. Deadline to apply: 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, 2017.<\/p>\n