Earth Celebrations
Engaging Communities to Generate Ecological and Social Change through the Arts

ECOLOGICAL CITY 2023 – Route Schedule

2023 – ART & CLIMATE SOLUTIONS WORKSHOPS – VIDEO

Ecological City Workshops 2023

ECOLOGICAL CITY 2023 – Route Schedule 

Ecological City 2023 Procession for Climate Solutions 

DATE Saturday, May 13 (Rain Date May 14)
TIME 11 am – 5pm, See Route and Schedule Below
START 11am at Sixth Street Community Center
638 E. 6th Street (btw. Aves B & C) Lower East Side, NYC

CLIMATE SOLUTION SITES & PERFORMERS 

ROUTE SCHEDULE 2023

11:00 AM – SIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER

638 E. 6th St. btw. Aves B & C
GINGA PURA BAND (11AM-3PM)

Ginga Pura Director Glenn Healy is a versatile and experienced percussionist, drum set player, educator and bateria director. In addition to drumming in dozens of Rio de Janeiro carnival parades with top-tier samba school baterias, he has toured performing in 15 countries on four continents, and taught on three continents. Recordings include Romero Lubambo‘s award-winning Rio de Janeiro Underground album. Also long-time drummer of NYC’s Tom Clark & the High-Action Boys, and music consultant SideTime.com’s featured expert on Brazilian Percussion and Rhythms.

11:50 AM – 11th STREET EAST SIDE OUTSIDE GARDEN
11th St btw.1st Ave A.
“Party in The Compost” -FARM ARTS COLLECTIVE
CLIMATE SOLUTION: COMPOST
Farm Arts Collective performance ensemble is composed of performers, stilt walkers, farmers, playwrights, musicians, scientists, designers, and community members. The ensemble is deeply invested in performer training and collective performance creation centering on social and earth justice issues. In response to the 10-year window suggested by scientists for global climate change mitigation, the Farm Arts Collective ensemble will create a decalogue of climate crisis-themed performances in the years 2020-2030 entitled Dream on the Farm. Led by artistic director Tannis Kowalchuk, a theatre artist trained in the physical ensemble traditions of Barba (Odin Teatret) and Grotowski, Kowalchuk leads the collective’s play-making process while maintaining a weekly performer training research open to those interested in the practice of innovative performance creation.
Tannis Kowalchuk is artistic director of Farm Arts Collective and organic farmerand co-owner of Willow Wisp Organic Farm. Kowalchuk makes site specificdevised experimental theatre. Current projects include DREAM ON THE FARM, adecade long series of climate change themed plays that she is creating with herensemble from 2020-2030, and DECOMPOSITIONS, her solo play set on acompost pile. Tannis hails from Canada and was a founding artist of NACLTheatre.
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12:00 PM – EL SOL BRILLANTE GARDEN
12th btw. Aves A & B.
“Heliotrope” – ALAINA WILSON
CLIMATE SOLUTION: RECYCLING & UPCYCLING

Alaina Wilson is a choreographer, dancer, and visual artist based in New York City. She holds a BA in Classics and Art History from Vassar College, and an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. With a background in ballet, modern, and contemporary dance, Alaina seeks to combine movement with objects and elements of design to generate encompassing sensory environments, often working in site-specific settings. Her work has been presented at venues across New York City and the Hudson Valley including the Actors Fund Arts Center, Chez Bushwick, Dixon Place, Triskelion Arts, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, and more. In addition to her ongoing artistic practice, Alaina is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Dance Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Choreography by Alaina Wilson
Performance by Maranda Barry & Alaina Wilson
Original Score by Jon Lloyd

12:10PM – CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP SCHOOL 
610 E. 12th St. btw. Aves B & C
“Climate Solutions” – 
CLIMATE SOLUTION: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

12:20PM – CAMPOS GARDEN
12th St btw. Aves B & C
“Sustainable” – MINDY LEVOKOVE
In loving memory of STEVE DALACHINSKY (1946-2019)
CLIMATE SOLUTION: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Steve Dalachinsky was a Poet & Collagist. He wrote poetry, haiku, music criticism, CD liner notes, travelogues & had a long running column: Outtakes in The Brooklyn Rail. His publications include The Final Nite: A Complete Notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006 (Ugly Duckling Presse); Superintendent’s Eyes (Autonomedia); Reaching Into The Unknown (RogueArt); Flying Home (Paris-Lit-Up); Fool’s Gold (Feral Press); Black Magic (New Feral Press); Where Night and Day become One (great weather for MEDIA) & others along w/ many collaboration CDs w/ musicians such as Matthew Shipp, Joëlle Léandres & The Snobs. He received the PEN Oakland National Book Award; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres; Acker Award; Kafka Award & Benjamin Franklin Award. 

Mindy Levokove is an old friend of Steve and Yuko’s and honored to be reading Steve’s poem today. A multi-media performance poet, this year, Mindy has been awarded a Creative Engagement Grant in music from LMCC, for EXPANDING TABLE – A POP – (APART) – OPERA!  A member of writing groups Brevitas and HERStories, Mindy also teaches qigong, Tai Chi, Writing and Math. For more than 20 years, Mindy’s been a member of the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden, where she often curates Poetry and Prose.

12:30PM – 9TH STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN
9th St NE cor. Ave C
“Same Trees” – MICHELLE ULERICH
CLIMATE SOLUTION: SOLAR MICRO GRID
Choreographer
Originally from California, Michelle Thompson Ulerich trained at San Francisco Ballet for 9 years. She danced with Ballet Austin for 14 years. She is an adjunct professor at SUNY Purchase and a freelance choreographer in New York. She is the artistic director of Spark Movement Collective as of 2020.


Dancer
Piper Makenzie Dye is originally from San Diego, CA, and holds a BFA in Dance from the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase. Previously a dancer with Eveoke Dance Theater and a soloist for Ballet Nepantla, Piper has been pursuing her freelance performance career in New York for the last 7 years. She has performed works from choreographers including Crystal Pite, Doug Varone, Shannon Gillen, Twyla Tharp, Kelly Ashton Todd, Mark Morris, Christopher Huggins, Jennifer Archibald, Jose Limon, and Donald McKayle, and is thrilled to be dancing for Michelle in this festival.

Musician
Elsa Nilsson is an improvising flute player active as a bandleader and collaborator in New York since 2010.  She is adjunct professor at The New School where she teaches Rhythmic Analysis and socially engaged artistry.

Choreography by Michelle Thompson Ulerich
Performed by Piper MacKenzie Dye
Music performed & composed by Elsa Nilsson
@michelle_thompson_ulerich

12:40PM – LA PLAZA CULTURAL DE ARMANDO PEREZ GARDEN
9th St & Ave. C SW cor.
“Opera – Birth of the Gardens” – EVE ORENSTEIN
“Birth of Climate Solutions” – BRIAN MOORE, Orator
“Climate Solutions Song  – FARM ARTS COLLECTIVE
“Story of Water” – GLOBAL WATER DANCES – MARTHA EDDY

CLIMATE SOLUTION: SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY CULTURE
Eve Orenstein is a versatile mezzo soprano and inventive opera producer. She is a member of the National Chorale, the resident professional choir of New York’s Lincoln Center. Eve founded the Colorado chapter of Opera on Tap and directed the group for 10 years. She was profiled in Westword as one of the 100 Colorado Creatives. Eve and her husband Sean mix classical voice and synthesizers in the space opera duo Orbiting Olympia.
Instagram: @evelovelee
Eve Orenstein, Mezzo Soprano.
Im Treibhaus from Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner

Brian ‘The UltraFlowwz’ Moore, is an ex enteric artist with a taste for word and movement, and an activist for the environment and climate that love’s to love. The UltraFlowwz|Dancer/poet

Farm Arts Collective (see bio above)

Dr. Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT is a co-founder of Global Water Dances, which uses body consciousness to enhance our capacity to protect water and the planet. This organization sponsors a biennial worldwide environmental dance event that brings together over 180 sites on 6 continents. Martha also created Moving For Life Dance-Exercise for Health, first in NYC, which offers free movement and wellness classes in libraries, centers and hospitals in all five boroughs and throughout the world. Currently online, MFL seminars and classes attract older adults, and people of all ages in treatment or recovery from cancer. It is open to others dealing with chronic pain or illnesses. Martha leads movement choirs for conferences and brings Global Water Dances to environmental justice actions that focus on local or global issues. She is the author of Mindful Movement and Dynamic Embodiment of the Sun Salutation.  

1:10PM – DE COLORES COMMUNITY YARD & GARDEN
8th St btw. Aves B & C
“Islands and Rivers”  – Original music performed by the Head Peddlers (Elizabeth Ruf and Karl Bateman)
CLIMATE SOLUTION: BIOSWALE
Elizabeth Ruf is a theater director, actor, musician, writer, educator, who has created socially engaged performances across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. A co-founder of De Colores Community Yard on East 8th Street, she has been performing with Earth Celebrations since the early 1990s and is the mother of one of the Butterfly Children. In 2017, she and musician/songwriter Karl Bateman formed the rock band, the Head Peddlers, named for Queequeg in Moby Dick. Their first LP and EP came out last summer and can be heard at TheHeadPeddlers.BandCamp.com and most online streaming services.

1:20PM – CARMEN PABON’S GARDEN
Ave C btw. 8th & 7th St.
“Garden Ceremony” – CAROLYN RATCLIFFE, Gardener
CLIMATE SOLUTION: PERMEABLE PATHS
Carmen Pabon Del Amencer garden was named after Carmen Pabon who was known as the Little Mother Theresa of the Lower East Side for feeding the homeless. Her daughter Ines Pabon is President of the garden and Carolyn Ratcliffe is the treasurer. 

1:30PM – GREEN OASIS GARDEN
8th Street btw. Aves C & D
“Honeyrain” – SEA DANCE COLLECTIVE
CLIMATE SOLUTION: POLLINATOR GARDEN
Sea Dance is a Brooklyn-based collective dedicated to collaborative art-making as a means of inspiring advocacy and activism surrounding the climate crisis. We are dedicated to channeling our collective sweat into direct action outside the studio, and through performance, inspiring those in our community to join in. Join Sea Dance Collective in Green Oasis Garden as they celebrate the sweet waters, pollinators, and rain gardens that contribute to the health of our climate.
Performers: Allison Spann, Julius Elegido, Sia Lune, Renee Glitch
Instagram: @seadancecollective

1:50PM – EL JARDIN DEL PARAISO
4th St btw. Aves C & D
“Lifeword at El Jardin del Paraiso” –  NICOLE PEYFARITTE
“Garden Healing Song” – MARTA VI
CLIMATE SOLUTION: HEALING & WELLNESS
Nicole Peyrafitte is a pluridisciplinary artist. Recent exhibitions: Antediluvian Sympoiesis —Sapar Contemporary Gallery (2022), NYC; Karstic Actions/ Works with Pierre Joris —Gallery Simoncini, Luxembourg (2021);  The 11 Women of Spirit — Salon Zürcher, NYC (2020).

Marta Vi is a self-taught multi-media artist, choreographer, singer, creating healing through art with different ages and groups of people, at AHRC and the Lower East Side community, Brooklyn homeschoolers—Sharing and protecting the values of the elements, most specially water & soil.

Working with recycled and natural materials in an effort to help solve the waste problem, she has collaborated with Earth Celebrations since its inception in 1991. Her worldwide group show “Organism” (1991) took place at the Mustard Factory in Williamsburg. She has worked on visual and performing arts projects with The Living Theater, Gargoyle Mechanic, and Knitting Factory. Most recently, her mask “The Kissing Bug” (2020) was shown at the Museum of New York City. She is also a leading creator of Loisada’s Garbagia Project, a multidisciplinary theater festival using waste/recycled materials.

2:00PM – PARQUE DE TRANQUILIDAD
4th St btw. Aves C & D
“The She of God” – PAPOLETO MELÉNDEZ
CLIMATE SOLUTION: CARBON SEQUESTRATION

Jesús Papoleto Melendez is an award-winning Puerto-Rican poet and playwright born and raised in NYC. He is one of the original founders of the Nuyorican poetry movement, a cultural and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are of Puerto Rican descent and who were brought up in New York City during the late 40’s and 50’s, as a means to validate the Puerto Rican identity and experience in the United States. He is also a teacher and an activist.

2:10PM – SAGE’S GARDEN
4th St btw Aves B & C
“Speak Tree”  -MARCIA NEWFIELD
CLIMATE SOLUTION: AIR FILTRATION

Marcia Newfield is a NYC writer, teacher, and activist. She is honored to write a poem for Earth Celebrations.

2:30PM – 6 & B COMMUNITY GARDEN
6th Street & Ave. B (SW corner)
“Ngah izitchigay nibi ohnjay/I Will Do It For The Water” (Anishinabe) – EL TEA (Lee Taylor)
Song to Yemanja  – MINDY LEVOCOVE
CLIMATE SOLUTION: RAINWATER HARVESTING

Lee Taylor is a Brooklyn based singer-songwriter. She has a monthly residency at the Django in Tribeca, Freddy’s Bar in Brooklyn, and Jack Jones Gastropub in Astoria. She also performs regularly at Bar Bayeux and Barbes in Brooklyn. Her debut album, “Wild Woman”, is available on all platforms.

Mindy Levocove is multi-media performance poet, this year, Mindy has been awarded a Creative Engagement Grant in music from LMCC, for EXPANDING TABLE – A POP – (APART) – OPERA!  A member of writing groups Brevitas and HERStories, Mindy also teaches qigong, Tai Chi, Writing and Math. For more than 20 years, Mindy’s been a member of the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden, where she often curates Poetry and Prose.

2:40PM – EARTH SCHOOL PS 364
6th Street btw. Aves B & C SE cor.
“Green Roof Rap” – VICKY SANDO
KALUNGA NEG MAWON BAND (2:40PM-5PM)
CLIMATE SOLUTION: GREEN ROOF

In 1992, teachers in Manhattan’s East Village founded the Earth School on a dream: to create a peaceful, nurturing place to stimulate learning in all realms of child development, intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Visit the Earth School today and see how that dream has flourished. Today it is a thriving community of over 300 children in pre-kindergarten through grade 5 with a teaching staff dedicated to the founding values of hands-on exploration, an arts-rich curriculum, responsible stewardship of the Earth’s resources, harmonious resolution of conflict, and parent-teacher partnership. 

Kalunga Neg Mawon is a musical ensemble whose mission is to preserve the African tradition and identity existing in Kisqueya Ayiti, known today as the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti. We use the name, Kalunga, to highlight the Congolese cultural aspects retained in Dominican/Haitian culture and throughout the African diaspora in the Western Hemisphere. Kalunga is a goddess of the Congolese nation known also as the Muntu-Bantu or Bakongo. She is the universal cosmos, the “Big Bang” from which all life comes from, including the depths of the seas and oceans.

2:50PM – 6BC BOTANICAL GARDEN
6th. St btw.  Aves B & C
“Bees, Beavers and Bats”- ESTHER CROW
CLIMATE SOLUTION: BIODIVERSITY

Born and raised in NYC, Esther Crow is an award-winning singer/songwriter, puppeteer and educator. She is a member of the Recording Academy and has produced/co-produced 8 full-length albums, 3 of which are for families. This is Thunder & Sunshine (2017) received an Award of Excellence from the Film Advisory Board, and All Together Now (2021), a climate-conscious album produced by Grammy-winning engineer Dean Jones, won a 2021 NAPPA Award. Her next album, Listen Lead Love, will be released on Earth Day (4/22/23) and is packed with songs to empower kids and families to be leaders of social/climate justice movements.
“Bees, Beavers and Bats”; written by Esther Crow, performed by Esther Crow and her puppet, Bernie the Bee.

3:00PM – SIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER 
638 E. Street btw. Aves. B & C
“East River Park Heroes” – SIXTH STREET YOUTH PROGRAMS AFTER SCHOOL KIDS
CLIMATE SOLUTION: FOOD JUSTICE & ROOFTOP BEE FARM

Founded in 1978,  Sixth Street Community Center (SSCC) is a community-based not-for-profit organization based in the heart of the Lower East Side. Having formed out of the historical sweat equity and homesteading movement, SSCC empowers the local community through grassroots organizing and power building. SSCC is committed to advancing social, environmental, housing, economic and racial justice– offering a number of community-based programs: a youth program, teen climate justice program, community-supported agriculture (CSA) program, emergency food distribution program, and a mutual aid kitchen project. Our students enrolled in the Sixth Street Youth Program will perform a play centering topics such as ocean pollution, corporations and their role in climate change, community building, and how to be caring stewards of our planet. 

3:45PM – EAST RIVER PARK WATERFRONT 
Site 1 near 12th Street
“Cycles” – ARTICHOKE DANCE COMPANY
“We Are Drowning” – ARTICHOKE DANCE COMPANY
EAST RIVER PARK HOMAGE
Steward of the River: Allie Ryan, East River & Park Advocate & Solar One

Artichoke Dance Company (ADC) works at the intersections of performance innovation, environmental activism, community building and civic engagement. ADC’s work in environmental justice communities envisions sustainable and resilient futures and creates pathways to making these visions a reality. The Company’s Ambassador Program trains and mentors the next generation of artists in eco-arts activism. Join us this June for immersive performance tours in rapidly changing Gowanus, Brooklyn. Follow @ArtichokeDance.
Choreography and Costumes: Lynn Neuman
Dancers: Emily Arden Jones and Aidan Feldman
Music: Adam Borecki

Solar One is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization whose mission is to design and deliver innovative education, training, and technical assistance that fosters sustainability and resiliency in diverse urban environments. We empower learning that changes the way people think about energy, sustainability, and resilience by engaging and educating a diverse set of stakeholders and beneficiaries. Our programs help individuals and communities explore new ways of living and working that are more adaptive to a changing world.

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4:00PM – EAST RIVER PARK WATERFRONT 
Site 2 BBQ area near 12th St
“Shapeshifters” – OCTAVIA CUP DANCE THEATRE
Steward of the River: Diana Carulli, East River Park Coalition
COASTAL RESILIENCE
Laura Victoria Ward, BA, CMA, RSME, is an award-winning choreographer, Laban Movement Analyst, teacher, and artist. She is the artistic director of Octavia Cup Dance Theatre (founded in 1998) and the Glam Rock Cabaret (2018). She is also a member of the punk rock band the Dick Pinchers.
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Performed by: Octavia Cup Dance Theatre
Music by: Orlande de Lassus and Palestrina performed and arranged by Tonus Maximus

—-Steward of the River: East River Park Coalition———————————
East River Park Coalition is a dynamic group of local artists, organizations and community members who realize the immense value of East River Park to New York City. Together, East River Park Coalition is working to raise awareness of the park as a vital link to the East River waterfront and a free multi-use public space for the densely populated Lower East Side. Working in and beyond the park, we are reaching out to local youth, the creative community and citizens groups to design enlightening activities and share knowledge about this park’s unique history and potential.
Performed by: Octavia Cup Dance Theatre
Music by: Orlande de Lassus and Palestrina performed and arranged by Tonus Maximus
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4:15PM – EAST RIVER PARK WATERFRONT 
Site 3 near 10th St btw. playground & ball field
“Arboreal Entanglement” – JODY SPERLING
Stewards of the River: Lower East Side Ecology Center & Waterfront Alliance
EAST RIVER PARK HOMAGE
Jody Sperling is a dancer-choreographer and the Founder/Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance. Her work merges two threads, an engagement with climate change and an unfolding conversation with performance technologist Loie Fuller (1862-1928). She is developing ecokinetics, a dance practice exploring the relationship between human movers and ecological systems.
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Arboreal Entanglement (Excerpts)
Choreographer: Jody Sperling
Music: Matthew Burtner
Costume construction: Mary Jo Mecca
Textile painting: Gina Nagy Burns
Performers: Frances Barker, Anika Hunter, Maki Kitahara, Nicole Lemelin, Rathi Varma——-

 

The LES Ecology Center has pioneered community-based models in urban sustainability since 1987. We provide unique e-waste and composting services, environmental stewardship opportunities, and educational programming to all New Yorkers who want to learn about environmental issues and take responsibility for creating solutions through action.

 

The Waterfront Alliance began as a project of The Municipal Art Society of New York. It became an independent organization in 2007 when a group of leading activists, businesses, foundations, and civic organizations came together with the goal of making the New York and New Jersey harbor a shared, resilient, and accessible resource for all. Since then, the Waterfront Alliance has grown into a coalition of more than 1,100 organizations working together to bring about real change to our region’s waterways and 700 miles of shoreline.

4:30PM – EAST RIVER PARK WATERFRONT 
Site 4 near 8th St btw. ball field & track
“Captain Planet” – DYNAMIC ROCKERS, Kidd Glyde
Steward Of the River: Jasmin Sanchez, East River Alliance
WETLANDS BUFFERING SEA RISE
Dynamic Rockers
is one of the first foundational crews in Hip Hop history. A legacy passed down from father to son. Established in 1978 “The Original Glyde” passed the torch down to his son “Kid Glyde” who is the current acting president of the crew today. Dynamic Rockers. A breaking crew, who’s mission statement is: 
“TO CHANGE PEOPLES LIVES, ONE HEAD SPIN AT A TIME.”
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Dynamic Rockers presents to you “Captain Planet”Choreography by:
Victor “Kid Glyde” Alicia
Edwin “Indio” Garcia
Jayson “Mouse” Vasquez
Rinto Fujita 
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East River Alliance was established in December 2018, is an alliance of advocates for open space, waterfront access, and resilience along New York City’s East River.

We were among the first organizations to alert our community about the City’s decision to change the agreed-to East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) flood protection plan for the waterfront between 25th Street and Montgomery Street. Over the last three years, ERA has helped secure improvements to that plan, including phasing of the project, the establishment of the East Side Coastal Resiliency Community Advisory Group to monitor the project
, and the promise to return the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s headquarters and composting program to the park.



4:45PM – EAST RIVER PARK WATERFRONT 
Site 5 near 6th St rocky shoreline
“Shakti” – ART OF MOTION DANCE THEATRE-  LYNN NEEDLE
Bio-Remediation Sculpture – River Cleansing – KATHY CREUTZBURG
Closing Song- All That We Are – IVA
Steward of the River: Dr. Paul Mankiewicz, Gaia Institute
OYSTERS & RIVER CLEANSING
Art of Motion, Inc. Lynn Needle/RYT 500 Founder/Artistic Director of Art of Motion, Inc. a non-profit conservatory and home to the Art of Motion Dance Theatre, toured to 6 out of 7 continents and more than 40 United States as a soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre. Needle is the recipient of numerous grants including: A Coastal Art Project grant; The Poseidon Project, funded by NOAA. DEP & NJCSA, an international Andrew W. Mellon Cultural Exchange Fund grant for a teaching residency in Mexico, the ACDFA National Dance Magazine Award for Choreography,The Harkness Foundation, Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs, and the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. Her work has been featured at the global TEDMED Conference at the Kennedy Center, Jacob’s Pillow, Art Festivals, Galas, Smithsonian Museums, Consulates, Zoos, and sand dunes. Recognized by foundations, universities and press including Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Women’s Wear Daily, Washington Post, WSJ, Daily News, Dance Magazine and the Village Voice, Lynn is a recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Ridgewood Arts Foundation, Dance in the Desert Festival and has been featured on PBS, podcasts, VR film and most recently at ZeroSpace on the LED Sound Stage in Brooklyn.
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Choreographed by: Lynn Needle/Artistic Director/Art of Motion Dance Theatre
Sound Score by: Mickey Hart
Costume Design by: Annie Hickman
Performed by: Janette Dishuk, M.A. Taylor and Lynn Needle
Bio Remediation Sculpture – Kathy Creutzburg
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Bio Remediation Sculpture-River Cleansing – Kathy Creutzburg (see bio below- visual artists)
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The Gaia Institute is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. Our work couples ecological engineering and restoration with the integration of human communities in natural systems. While much environmental engineering has the worthy aim of minimizing harm, the Gaia Institute explores, through research and development, design and construction, how human activities and waste products can be treated to increase ecological productivity, biodiversity, environmental quality, and economic well-being. The purpose of The Gaia Institute is to test through demonstration the means by which the ecological components of backyards, communities, towns and cities, as well as watersheds and estuaries, can be enhanced through integrated wastes-into-resources technologies.

Visual Artist Bios 2023

ECOLOGICAL CITY: Art & Climate Solutions Action Project is a collaborative art & environmental action project directed by Felicia Young, Founder/Director of Earth Celebrations, in collaboration with over 50 community partners, gardeners, artists, residents and youth.

EARTH CELEBRATIONS is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 on the Lower East Side of New York City to mobilize environmental action through the arts. Earth Celebrations has pioneered effective cultural strategies to build community, collaboration and action for ecological, policy and social change. https://www.earthcelebrations.com 

FELICIA YOUNG, DIRECTOR founded Earth Celebrations, as a non-profit organization on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1991 to engage communities to generate ecological and social change through the arts. She has developed cultural strategies to build community, collaboration and action on environmental issues: climate change, garden preservation, river restoration, water quality, and the preservation of parks, gardens and a healthy urban environment. Projects include: Save Our Gardens (1991-2005) which built a local  Lower East Side and then citywide grassroots coalition effort and led to the preservation of hundreds of community gardens in New York City. The Hudson River Pageant (2009-2012) was a collaborative art project to engage the community in the restoration efforts of the Hudson River estuary and revitalization of the waterfront in downtown Manhattan. The Vaigai River Restoration Project (2014-2016) applied this model to build an international collaborative effort in the city of Madurai, South India to restore the sacred Vaigai River, which is in a severe crisis due to pollution and the drying effects of climate change. Ecological City – Cultural & Climate Solutions Action Project was launched as an ongoing program from 2018 – Present. Felicia has produced projects for Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts, Arts>World Financial Center, The Alternative Museum, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and The Hudson River Park Trust and engaged numerous organizations, schools and community service centers to collaborate on these efforts. These projects have received awards and grants including: LMCC-Fund for Creative Community / Manhattan Community Art Fund, DCA-Public Service Award, Threshold Foundation- Arts & Social Change, Puffin Foundation, Hudson River Foundation and International Women’s Caucus on the Arts to the UN-Artistic Activism Award 2017. She has also developed a course, Art, Ecology and Community for Princeton University. Felicia has a BA in Art History from Skidmore College and an MA in Performance Studies from New York University. http://earthcelebrations.com/about-felicia-young/earthcelebrations.com

LUCRECIA NOVOA, PUPPET DESIGN & WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR
Lucrecia Novoa is a visual artist and Cultural Educator. Founder and Director of Mascara Viva. She uses a combination of masks, costumes, storytelling and dance to interpret the folk traditions of many cultures. She is interested in bringing mythical and legendary beings to life. She studied sculpture and textiles at the University of Chile (1981- 1988) and sculpture and ceramics at Massachusetts College of Art (1990-1991). She later completed an apprenticeship in puppets and masks at Behind the Mask Studio in Cambridge, MA (1997-2000). She visits schools and senior centers, performing her giant puppets at the Bronx Botanical Garden, exhibiting in galleries, participating in collaborative projects and taking commissions. She is a Board Advisor for Expressiones Cultural Center Inc, New London, CT and participated as a Curator and Juror at XVIII Bienal Sculpture and Ceramic (2019). She has been the puppet director for Ecological City since 2004, using visual arts to educate around environmental problems and the need to collaborate as a community to take action for ecological and social change.

YOHANNA M. ROA, ECOLOGICAL CITY TEXTILE-COSTUME ARTIST/WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR
Yohanna M. Roa is a visual and textile artist, art historian and feminist curator. Her artistic “activist fabrics,” apply textile practices that function as devices of feminist political action. She was born in Bogota, Colombia, lived in Mexico City and is now based in New York City, studying at the Women/Gender program, CUNY Graduate Center. She has a Ph.D. in History/Critical Theories of Art at the Universidad Ibero Americana de México, Master’s degree in Visual Arts from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts from the Departmental Institute of Fine Arts of Colombia. She has received the Young Creators Award from the Ministry of Culture, Colombia. She has developed exhibitions and educational art and archive projects for various institutions, including WhiteBox NY, Tertulia Museum of Modern Art in Colombia, Alameda Art Laboratory Mexico City, Banco de la República Colombia, and Autonomous University of Nuevo León México. In 2019 she had an artist residency at the NARS Foundation NYC. She has a large number of solo and group exhibitions such as Manifest Gallery Cincinnati OH, Artlatinou- Mexico City, McNay Museum in San Antonio Texas USA, Chihuahua Station Gallery among others.

KATHERINE FREYGANG, MOBILE MURAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Katherine Freygang celebrates ecological relationships with art, events, and environmental design. Formerly an educator/designer for Yale Peabody Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, New School and City College, she now focuses on Sustainability with Reed College, Hathaway Brown School and RISD. She is currently developing projects to promote sustainability and resilience with Sustainable CT, CT Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection, Cornwall’s Conservation Commission and Trust, the Southern New England UCC Environmental Ministry Team, and Earth Celebrations.

KATHY CREUTZBURG, BIOARTS DESIGN & WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR & BIO REMEDIATION SCULPTURE
Kathy Creutzburg is a public artist whose sculptures, mosaics, and paintings are inspired by landscapes. Between 2018- 2020, the collaborative team including Natalia Lesniak, Mirabai Kwan Yin, and Ms. Creutzburg won numerous grants and residencies for their sculptural installation, Whispers in the Grove, and Ballad of Cyclic Change. Exhibits include Figment NYC- “Dream Bigger” award, Governors Island; Phillips Manor Hall residency, Yonkers- NYS Council on the Arts; 6BC Botanical Garden and Lower East Side Ecology Center- Lower Manhattan Cultural Council- Creative Engagement award; and the Rye Art Center Public Art Program, Rye, NY. In 2018, Ms. Creutzburg was privately commissioned to create a glass mosaic on an East Village residential building. Mirabai Kwan Yin and Ms. Creutzburg collaborated on Triangula, a sculpture for the 2017 Chashama Gala. In 2016, Ms. Creutzburg’s steel sculpture work was commissioned for the UUA Peace Memorial Garden in Raleigh, North Carolina. She also designed and facilitated a PSUMC mural in Park Slope, Brooklyn. A NYC School Construction Authority grant made her sculptures, mosaics, and murals at Public School 61 in Manhattan permanent in 2014. She exhibited monumental sculptures in the “Figment Summer Long Sculpture Garden” on Soldier’s Field, Governors Island for three consecutive years, 2012-214, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her work has been shown in solo exhibits at Michael Mut Gallery and at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and group shows at Station Independent Gallery and Central Booking in New York City.

IVA
IVA is a vocalist and songwriter with an ethereal quality to her powerful voice and a cinematic feel to her music. Her work is transporting, taking the listener into a world of imagery that evokes deep feelings of inspiration, longing, and peace. Her newest record, “Nobody’s Woman” was released this year after making a breakthrough with “Run” on Spotify and AAA radio. The new record is evocative of Weyes Blood and Margo Price .. with a little Aimee Mann sprinkled in. She lives between Brooklyn and outside of Philadelphia, where she leads her band.

MICHELE BRODY, ECOLOGICAL CITY VISUAL ART & COSTUMES
Michele Brody has worked with Earth Celebrations on costumes and  workshops since 2009 for the Hudson River Pageant projects, where she presented the growing of the river grass skirts for the pageant as part of an exhibition at Brookfield Properties/Arts< World Financial Center. She is a visual ecological artist creating public art, ephemeral installations and living sculptures, as well as participatory rituals and community-engaged performances. Her works are made from natural and organic materials including seed, grass, bamboo, hand-made paper, and fiber. Michele has had one-person shows at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Chashama 461 Gallery, Arts>World Financial Center-Winter Garden and internationally in Germany, Costa Rica and France. She received grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council-MCAF, Pollack Krasner Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Puffin Foundation, Bronx Council on the Arts, 2015 Community Arts and Arts Fund Grants, Bronx, NY. Her public art installations include Bamboo Teahouse for the Bronx, Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx and MTA Arts for Transit Program and through the Public Arts for Public Schools Program. She has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College 1989 and an MFA from the Arts Institute of Chicago in 1994.

Production Credits 2023

BELU-OLISA P. SARKISSIAN, PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Belu-Olisa Pierre Sarkissian (BA, Brown University, Music and Environmental Studies) is an interdisciplinary artist and multimedia producer. Her studies focused on Environmental Justice, and looking for ways to shift our culture towards one in reciprocity with the Earth. Finding the arts an effective medium to communicate the consciousness needed to heal our society’s relationship with the Planet, she is committed to creating and supporting artistic projects that do this important cultural work.

WORKSHOP LEADERS
Pedro Alomar, Jon Fields, Rosa Velez

EARTH CELEBRATIONS INTERN TEAM
Chocoria Jian, Julianna Loren Desjardines, Patty Bessie, Vivienne Taylor, Andrea Pelaez, Tahra Khanjua, Dominique DeCastro, Xuehan Feng, Annie Li, Hyunji Rhee, Jen Lee

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EARTH CELEBRATIONS COSTUMES
Yohanna Roa, Soule Golden, Michele Brody with Rosa & Pedro, Jon Fields and Earth Celebrations’ volunteers, Irina Kruzilina, Nikki Traino

EARTH CELEBRATIONS PUPPETS
Lucrecia Novoa

BIO ART WORKSHOPS & BIO-REMEDIATION GAIA SCULPTURE
Kathy Creutzburg

PARTNER COLLABORATION PROJECTS

WHITE BOX GALLERYhosted Ecological City – Art & Climate Solutions Bio-Art & Costume Workshops on Wednesdays

BIO ART – School of Visual Arts – Bio Art Lab Collaborates creating bio-remediating and organic gift offerings for gardeners along the processional route.

MOBILE MURAL is a collaborative community painting project led by artist-in-residence Katherine Freygang in collaboration with partners Lower East Side Ecology Center, University Settlement After-School at East Side Community School, and Henry Street Settlement with Jacob Riis Cornerstone and Boys & Girls Republic. The murals are displayed on garden fences including La Plaza Cultural Garden (9th St. Ave C – SW cor.). Project assistants: Vivienne Taylor.

SOUND
Jumping Entertainment (Paolo Lanna & Jon Fields)

PHOTOGRAPHERS
Rachel Elkind, Robin Michals

VIDEOGRAPHERS
Dave Fasano, Michael Herrera, Vivian Taylor

IN-KIND DONORS
Revolution Rickshaws, Trader Joe’s, Two Boots Pizza, Materials for the Arts – NYC Department of Cultural Affairs & NYC Department of Sanitation

Sponsors 2023

PARTNERS
LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens – 48 Lower East Side Gardens), Green Map, NYC Community Garden District, Elizabeth Street Garden, Gaia Institute, Loisaida Inc. Center, Clemente Center, Lower East Side Girls Club, Lower East Side Ecology Center, Solar One, Waterfront Alliance, East River Park Coalition, East River Alliance, University Settlement (PS63), Henry Street Settlement-Jacob Riis Cornerstone, Boys & Girls Republic,, Chinese American Arts Council/Gallery 456, Theater for the New City, Children’s Workshop School (PS361M), Earth School (PS364), East Side Community School, Sixth Street Community Center, Arts Loisaida, East Village Community Coalition, Educational Alliance, Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, Grace Exhibition Space, White Box, Mos Collective, Moving for Life/Studio 55C, Global Water Dances, FABnyc, School of Visual Arts-Bio Art Lab, Columbia University, New York University. Numerous groups and residents throughout the neighborhood are invited to join


SPONSORS
This program is made possible with support from Howard Bayne Fund, Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, W Trust, Joseph Robert Foundation, Bluestein Family Foundation, Timon Molloy, Con Edison and private foundations, and individuals.  

 

EARTH CELEBRATIONS

Engaging Communities to Generate Ecological and Social Change through the Arts

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