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Live Arts Arlington

LIVE ARTS ARLINGTON RETURNS!
Get ready for another lively, fantastic summer season of outdoor performances in Arlington! For summer 2022, Live Arts Arlington was focused on bringing live performance to Broadway Plaza on Fridays. At 6pm each Friday, live music, performance and visual arts demonstrations. Stay tuned for future Live Arts plans!
Come hear or see something awesome a short trip from home, and celebrate the beauty, talent and diversity of Arlington with your neighbors! Bring your chairs and get ready for some great entertainment. Make sure to support our local businesses and make Live Arts Arlington your go-to Friday night summer plan!
You can contact us via Email to the Community Engagement Committee for more information or to join us in helping enliven our public spaces with music, art, dance, performance, etc! Our Live Arts Arlington programming was organized in 2019 in partnership with artists, and it was designed to encourage public performance and creation in the Town. The group invited diverse artists to step out and share their expertise on sidewalks, parks, and plazas where people gather and enjoy outdoor entertainment. This year we’re concentrating on centralizing performances in Broadway Plaza, a space that lends itself well to public performance surrounded by local businesses in the heart of Arlington Center! We hope you’ll join us!
  • Dixie Cookbook
LIVE ARTS 2022 IN THE PLAZA!
Dixie Cookbook — WHEN: July 15, 6pm
9lb Hamster AND Marina Strauss, Gelli Printing — WHEN: July 22, 6pm
Blue Smoke — WHEN: July 29, 6pm.
Blue Smoke is Kerri Hilton and Steve Baggish, playing guitar and singing familiar pop and folk-rock tunes mostly from the 60’s and 70’s (Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Loggins and Messina, etc.)
Seyyide Sultan, Dance  AND True Story Theater — WHEN: August 12, 6pm – 8pm

Seyyide Sultan has performed since 1999 at the most prestigious MA area Middle Eastern clubs (Red Fez, Byblos, Layaleena, Awtar, Sahara, Athenian Corner, Black Olive, among others). She has also appeared at numerous fundraisers and cultural events, receiving grants from Arlington Grants Committee of ACAC in 2017 and 2018. Seyyide founded her award-winning troupe “SARAB” in 2001 and has been teaching regular group and private oriental dance (belly dance) classes for students of many levels, in the Boston area ever since.
True Story Theater’s mission is to promote social healing through theatre by building empathy, respect, and understanding in the honoring of true life stories. In a form called “Roving Playback”, troupe members will ask passersby a simple question and have a 1-minute conversation. Then 2-3 actors will respectfully dramatize the emotional essence of what was said, using movement, music, and dialogue. Performers then check back with the speaker about their experience watching.
Foster Powell — WHEN: August 19, 6pm
Indie/folk rock singer/songwriter with a mellow and intimate vibe.
AUGUST 26 CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER
Cousin Louis AND Marina Strauss, Gelli Printing — WHEN: September 2, 6pm
Cousin Louis plays a mix of roots/blues/jazz music. They performed a blues set for the New England Folk Festival last month, and have performed at porchfests and used their busker permit to play a pop-up performance in Arlington last fall.
Marina Strauss, Gelli Printing — Marina Strauss was called to art at a young age. She blends her background as a mental health professional with her creative side, teaching expressive arts education at Lesley University and for kids in her home studio. Her artistic expression always allows for exploration, experimentation, and having fun with the creative process. Marina Strauss is part of ArtLinks Arlington, the networking organization for artists in Arlington and surrounding communities.
Ann Bausman, Fabric Artist AND Swing99 — WHEN: September 9, 5pm
Ann Bausman, Fabric Artist — Ann Bausman will work with participants to create and explore with fabrics and thread! Ann has been an Arlingtonian for over 25 years and has been sharing her love of textiles through classes and workshops at Arlington Community Education and the Arlington Center for the Arts as well as other area venues. Ann’s work includes fabric collages as well as mending and embellishing clothing. She works with “found fabric”, incorporating vintage and contemporary textiles as well as old linens and discarded clothing. Her style of stitching is reminiscent of Japanese boro stitching which employs the simple running stitch to add texture and color.  The process itself is slow and meditative. Ann will have fabrics and threads available for people to use and explore!
Swing99 is an this acoustic jazz quartet playing standards, hot club jazz, and swing’n originals, beginning at 6pm. Come and party on the plaza! The energy will be hoppin’, and dancing is always welcome!

REMINDER: Busking in Arlington

Arlington has had a street performance – or busking – ordinance on the books for several years. In order to produce a street performance, artists need only fill out an application form and return it to the Select Board office at Town Hall with $12 application fee to receive a permit good for one full year. You’ll receive information about locations allowing street performances, including opportunities to be promoted as part of Live Arts Arlington. Artists are encouraged to “put out a hat!” Members of the public can help support art and performances in public spaces in Arlington by making a tax-deductible donation to ArtsArlington on the town website – just note your contribution is for Live Arts on the form. Meanwhile, on this page are examples of just some of the performances and demonstrations that have artists have shared all around town through Live Arts over the past couple of years!

  • Elena Neva will be leading an interactive pastels demonstration. Open to all ages!
PAST LIVE ARTS PERFORMANCES FROM 2021
  • Pastels with Elena Neva — Elena Neva will be leading an interactive pastels demonstration and showcasing three of her works in sculpture. This fun summer activity is free and open to all ages (kids welcome!)
    WHEN: Sunday, August 1, 10:30am
    WHERE: Medford Street Parklet
  • Morningside Messengers — WHEN: Tuesday, July 27, 5:30pm
    WHERE: Broadway Plaza
  • C#minor7, a jazz trio — WHEN: Sunday, July 25, 6pm
    WHERE: Medford Street parklet, outside La Victoria Taqueria, Arlington Center
  • The Origami Guy — WHEN: Sunday, June 27 at 10am
    WHERE: Roasted Granola parklet in Arlington Heights
  • Gelli printmaking with artist Marina Strauss, joined by a Morningside Music Jazz Combo — WHEN:Sunday, June 27 at 5:30pm
    WHERE: Broadway Plaza, Arlington Center
  • Margaret Moody Puppets and Peter Lehman of Foggy Mountain Consort — WHEN: Saturday, June 26 at 10am
    WHERE: Medford Street parklet, outside La Victoria Taqueria, Arlington Center

Performances popped up in public places all over Town Center in our last season!

Our Summer 2019 season was great! Check out the list of past events on the right.

Live Arts is the first project of the Programs & Festivals Committee, a new group formed by the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture. This pilot effort was organized in partnership with artists, and it was designed to encourage public performance and creation in the Town. The group invited diverse artists to step out and share their expertise on sidewalks, parks, and plazas where people gather and enjoy outdoor entertainment.

Interested in performing in one of Arlington’s public places? Contact the Programs & Festivals Committee!

Busking in Arlington

Arlington has had a street performance – or busking – ordinance on the books for several years, but it has been tough going for performers who put out a hat. “We are trying to identify the spaces in town where artists will attract supportive audiences,” explained Cristin Canterbury Bagnall. In her day job, Bagnall is a freelance producer, collaborating with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band, and the Silkroad Ensemble. As an ACAC commissioner, her focus returns to her local community, where she and her husband are raising a daughter. “The P&F committee was inspired by a vision of our neighborhoods becoming more vibrant; imagine if local artists played regularly in our busy spaces, making brunch, ice cream, even errands so much more interesting. So we launched Live Arts Arlington to experiment with activating key spaces to see what works and what doesn’t.”

Lidia Kenig-Scher, another member of the committee and the Co-Chair of the Arlington artists’ networking group ArtLinks, is excited about the diversity of Live Arts. “It was really important to us to include ALL artists” she said, “so you might find someone out painting a portrait or weaving a complicated basket. We want poets, dancers, theater people – we’re not restricting busking to musicians. That’s innovative and unusual!”

P&F Committee Chair Tom Davison, the founder of the Arlington Alive Arts Festival and active in Arlington’s arts community, added that the group envisions a future when artists take initiative in running Live Arts. “We want the program to become self-sustaining,” he explained. “Once we have identified the best times and locations, and given the program an identity, we plan to create a place on the artsarlington.org website where artists can sign up for opportunities that work for them. We hope the public will embrace this initiative and show their support by leaving something in the artists’ hats”. Members of the public can also support art and performances in public spaces in Arlington by making a tax-deductible donation to the Public Art Fund on the town website – just note your contribution is for Live Arts on the form.

“It’s great that Live Arts will complement art installations I organize for Arlington Public Art,” said curator Cecily Miller. “I’ve loved getting to know the talented P&F Committee members, and they are helping me to expand the annual Fox Festival Parade this year. There is a lot of collaboration and synergy in the arts in Arlington now, it’s very exciting!”

On June 8, Live Arts Arlington featured Garage Band, a dance party hosted by the colorfully painted Arlington Service Station on Mass Avenue in Arlington Center. The committee looks forward to more Live Arts programs in the future!

Live Arts Arlington 2019

Events:

  •  May 11, Broadway Plaza, 2 to 4 pm
    Scott Samenfeld, bass and Erik Van Dam, saxophone
  • May 18, Uncle Sam Plaza, noon to 2 pm
    Ethan Kaczowka, guitar
  • May 18, Broadway Plaza, 1 to 3 pm
    Seyyide Sultan, Arabian/Egyptian dance (pictured above)
  • June 1, Uncle Sam’s Plaza, 11 am to 1 pm
    Margaret Moody, Puppetry (2 programs)
  • June 1, Broadway Plaza, 2 pm to 4 pm
    Morningside Music Studios, concert (4 bands)
  • June 8, Arlington Service Station, 6 to 8 pm
    Live Arts Arlington Presents: GARAGE BAND with School of HONK! and The Bittersweet Band
  • June 15, Fox Library at noon
    Fox Festival Parade, kicking off Capitol Square’s Feast of the East
  • June 15, Broadway Plaza, 10 am to 12 pm
    Quick Portraits and cello music by Miranda Henne
  • June 21, Broadway Plaza, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
    The Dixie Cookbook, New Orleans jazz, Dixieland, and the swing music
  • June 22, Broadway Plaza, 10 am to 12 pm
    Kimberley Harding, Hands-on Basketry Demo
  • June 22, Broadway Plaza, 12 pm to 2 pm
    Grüvmeiners, pop/rock music brass band
  • June 28, Broadway Plaza, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
    Alessio Miraglia, guitarist with trio playing eclectic blend of music

And keep an eye out for more Live Arts Arlington events to be announced!