East Fourth Street comes alive with art and culture
The Fourth Arts Block will present its tenth annual FAB! Festival on Saturday, September 28, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM. Festivities take place on East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery and are free and open to the public. FAB received a 2011 Village Award from GVSHP for its work to preserve the East 4th Street Cultural District, home to a dozen arts groups, 10 cultural facilities and 17 performances and rehearsal venues. The festival is your chance to sample the many different offerings of the cultural district – original dance, theater, and musical performances – all in one afternoon.
Tamara Greenfield, FAB’s Executive Director, sees the festival as an exciting opportunity to make the programming the Cultural District presents throughout the year accessible to the public. She notes “we see the festival as an opportunity to spill everything that takes place in our neighborhood year round out on the street so it’s accessible to everyone.”
So what’s on tap for the 10th Festival?
- Twenty-Five choreographers from FAB’s Dance Block program, a service that helps dancers connect to low-cost rehearsal space on 4th Street, will present on the East Stage.
- There be a sampling of readings and performances on the west sage, by groups including Nuyorican
There are plenty of family fun activities at the festival. Poets Cafe, the Hip Hop Re:Education Project, and Downtown Art.
- La MaMa E.T.C. will provide arts activities for kids, and festival goers are advised to BYOT (Bring Your Own T-Shirt) — social entrepreneurship group Works in Progress will be on-site screen-printing the FABnyc logo on any cloth item!
- And you can even be part of this year’s festival by helping to raise a stage. FAB is undertaking a fundraising campaign for the festival on Kickstarter, and is quite close to reaching its goal.
And there is much, much more. Check out the festival on the Fourth Arts Block website. Hope to see you on East 4th Street!