Earth Celebrations’ ECOLOGICAL CITY Art & Climate Solutions – POP-UP PAGEANT

Saturday May 8, 2021 – 11am – 5pm

Showers will not stop us. Join us Saturday May 8th.

It will be a beautiful day, showers or shine!

LOWER EAST SIDE – 4th St.to 12th St. & 1st Ave. to East River Park waterfront

Ecological City 2021 features a spectacular surprise of outdoor physically-distanced POP-UP SITE PERFORMANCES & VISUAL ART, created by over 50 partner groups and hundreds of artists, gardeners and community, celebrating climate solution initiatives at 21 SUSTAINABILITY SITES throughout the community gardens, neighborhood and East River Park waterfront on the Lower East Side of New York City.

Come to LES and find the surprises of spectacular local climate solutions, visual art, puppets, costumes and performances tucked throughout the neighborhood.There is no formal street parade and in-person pop-up performances will also be LIVE STREAMED Earth Celebrations Facebook

BECOME A CLIMATE COSTUME

Volunteer to wear a spectacular climate costume, help as a puppet marshal and assist
with visual art presentations throughout the neighborhood and gardens.

SIGN UP – EVENTBRITE

TKTS – Free – Register
More Information & Contact

CLIMATE SOLUTION SITES & PERFORMERS

EARTH CELEBRATIONS – 638 East Sixth Street (btw Aves B & C)

11th STREET EAST SIDE OUTSIDE GARDEN @ 11th St. NE Corner btw. 1st and Ave. A
PERFORMANCE – Compost Song – Nate & Hila
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Compost

NATE & HILA – Nate and Hila are an artistic duo creating music videos and live shows about environmental philosophy and social justice. They’re based in NYC, and are the resident rappers at Brooklyn’s House of Yes. 2020 saw the debut of their original live show Naughty for Nature, a musical exploration of the sexual behavior of animals, which received write-ups in Billboard and Sierra Club Magazine.

EL SOL BRILLANTE GARDEN @ 12th Street btw. Aves A & B
PERFORMANCE – Dance to the People “Birth of a Garden”
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Upcycling & Sustainable Solutions

DANCE TO THE PEOPLE is a female and immigrant led collective of dancers and other collaborators who work in non-hierarchical forms of art making to address social and environmental injustice. With each project we discover innovative ways to develop content and structures of movement research, choreography, training, performance and sharing, fostering horizontality in the exchange of resources in our community. We create together because we believe revolutionary art can only manifest itself through collective processes.
Performer Credits: Maira Duarte, Michelle Applebaum, Joanna Stone, Nicole Touzien, Annie Hudson.

CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP SCHOOL
@ 610 E. 12th Street (btw. Aves B & C)
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Art & Science Education
PERFORMANCE – “Scrappy the Compost Monster”- By Susanna Brock, Jessica Cortez, and Emily Baldwin

Susanna, Jessica, and Emily, Susanna, Jessica, and Emily, are theatre artists who are passionate about creating interactive and educational experiences that address social justice issues. Susanna is a teaching artist and theater maker specializing in puppetry and early learning. Jessica is an educator, fiber artist, and performer. Both Susanna and Jessica are graduates of the CUNY School of Professional Studies MA in Applied Theatre program. Emily is a native New Yorker and will be starting the MA in Applied Theatre program at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London this fall.

CAMPOS GARDEN
@ 12th Street btw. Aves B & C
PERFORMANCE – Poem For Sustainable Urban Agriculture by Steve Dalachinsky
In memory of Steve Dalachinsky (9. 29. 1946 – 9. 16. 2019)
Performed by: Mindy Levokove
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Vertical Farming & Sustainable Agriculture

STEVE DALACHINSKY. 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 PEN Oakland National Book Award; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres; Acker Award; Kafka Award & Benjamin Franklin Award

https://www.facebook.com/steve.dalachinsky

MINDY LEVOKOVE a long time friend of Steve and Yuko’s, is honored to read Steve’s poem, today. A multi-media performance poet; a member of the writing groups: Brevitas, and Heresies, she sings for peace and dances for water. Mindy studies and teaches qigong and Tai Chi, and tutors writing students. A 20-plus-years member of the 6th Street and Avenue B Community Garden, she curates Poetry and Prose in the Garden. This year she published a poetry collection, Mount Eden Avenue.

9TH STREET COMMUNITY GARDEN PARK
@ 9th Street & Ave. C (NE corner)
PERFORMANCE – ‘Song for Solar & Sustainable Earth’ by Stephan Said
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Solar Micro Grid

STEPHAN SAID is an internationally acclaimed musician and activist whose songs have helped build movements for peace, human rights, and global justice across the world. He is also the host of “borderless,” a docs-series and global movement lifting the voices of people doing amazing things to make a better world. Stephan has been featured in the New York Times, Time Magazine, The New Yorker, NPR, PRI, BBC, NBC, CBS, Democracy Now!, Al Arabiya, ORF, Deutsche Welle, and more.

LA PLAZA CULTURAL GARDEN
@ 9th Street & Ave. C (SW corner)
PERFORMANCES: Birth of Climate Solutions– Global Water Dances, Martha Eddy
PERFORMERS: Martha Eddy, Dafna Soltes-Stein, Patti Miss Vernam, Lucy Passaro, Wendy Joseph, Jeonghae Jones.
Birth of a Garden Dance – Dance Entropy – Valerie Green
Pollution Pirates – Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space with Time’s Up, Jim Simopoulos
Battle – Pollution & Covid Monster – Keith Saari
Orator – Armand Ruhlman
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Sustainable Community Culture

VALERIE GREEN – DANCE ENTROPY – “Birth of a Garden” Dance

Valerie Green has been an active dancer, choreographer and teacher in the NYC dance community since 1995. She created her own company, Dance Entropy in 1998, adding a permanent company home in 2005 called Green Space. To date Ms. Green has created 40 dances and 10 evening length works. Her choreography has been seen throughout NYC and Internationally she has taught and performed in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Austria, France, Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia, India, Serbia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Slovenia, Sweden Guatemala, Cuba and Canada.
www.DanceEntropy.org

MARTHA EDDY – GLOBAL WATER DANCES NY / Marymount Manhattan College Martha Eddy, CMA, RSMT uses body consciousness to enhance our capacity to protect water and the planet. She is a co-founder of the biennial worldwide environmental dance event www.GlobalWaterDances.org that brought 120 sites registered (and growing) on 6 continents. GWD 2021 is June 8-13. Martha created Moving For Life in NYC, which offers free movement and wellness classes in libraries, centers and hospitals in all five boroughs and throughout the world. Current online attract older adults, and people of all ages in treatment or recovery from cancer or other chronic diseases. Martha leads movement choirs for conferences and brings Global Water Dances to environmental justice actions that focus on local or global issues. She is author of Mindful Movement. DrMarthaEddy.com

DE COLORES GARDEN
@ 8th Street btw. Aves B & C
PERFORMANCE & GARDENER – Bio-Swale Serenade by Elizabeth Ruf
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Bio-Swale

ELIZABETH RUF MALDONADO is a director, actor, writer, educator, and maker of socially engaged performances across the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. With Karl Bateman she is a co-founder of the guitar-and-vocal duo the Head Peddlers. Her work is frequently seen at Theater for the New City (TNC) and in NYC Community Gardens. She is a professor at Boricua College. She holds a Ph.D. in Theater from Columbia University and wrote her dissertation on the theater of Cuba, where she lived for a year. She recently acted as music director and choreographer of “Live Free or Die” from Michael Shenker’s masterwork, A Squatter’s Opera, performed at TNC. A member of the former ABC Garden and Co-founder of De Colores Community Yard on East 8th Street, she has been collaborating with Earth Celebrations as the Community Spirit, Iris the Rainbow, and other roles since the early 1990s and is the mother of one of the Butterfly Children. https://www.facebook.com/elizabethlesnyc

CARMEN’S GARDEN
@ Ave C btw. 8th & 7th St.
GARDENER CEREMONY: Sustainable Garden by Carolyn Ratcliffe
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Permeable Paths

GREEN OASIS GARDEN
@ 8th Street btw. Aves C & D
PERFORMANCE – Butoh – Dance of the Pollinators – Betty T. Kao – 8th Ocean Body
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Pollinator Rain Garden

BETTY T. KAO is an artist and writer, with a background in environmental sciences, integrating these mediums as tools for storytelling. 8th Ocean Body is her collaboration, exploring the integration of science, heritage, mysticism, anthropomorphic objects, and social change. Kao’s work reflects the collective subconscious and the mythos we create. Her art installations and performances have been featured in spaces including La Mama, Catharsis DC, BAX, Bowery Poetry Club, World Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science, and The Museum of Art and Design. She has a BA in environmental studies and visual arts. Kao is an alumni of The Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics.Instagram @Be8th_Ocean
https://www.facebook.com/8thOceanBody

EL JARDIN DEL PARAISO
@ 4th Street btw. Aves C & D
Wellness Ceremony – Lifestyles of Bioremediation, Symbiosis, Regenerative Culture, and Wellness
PERFORMANCE – Theresa Byrnes – Holistic Healing & Wellness Ceremony presented by Grace Exhibition Space
Song for the Healing of the Earth by Marta Vi
GARDEN – CLIMATE SOLUTION – Holistic Healing & Wellness

GRACE EXHIBITION SPACE: Grace Exhibition Space in the East Village is devoted exclusively to Performance Art. We offer an opportunity to experience visceral and challenging works by the current generation of international performance artists whether emerging, mid-career or established. Our events are presented on the floor, not on a stage, dissolving the boundary between artist and viewer. This is how performance art is meant to be experienced and our mission is the glorification of performance art. https://www.grace-exhibition-space.com/index.php

Vision 2020 LES : GES & Perma-Culture. An exploration of the intersections of Performance Art and Perma-Culture: Promoting lasting natural habitats through our community of performance artists and community activists. Supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council

THERESA BYRNES Theresa Byrnes’s 36 year, multi-disciplinary career as a painter and performance artist traces a journey toward biodegradable art making. Byrnes examines the moment of action, of impact in painting, finding mastery of freedom in its purist state, in the mistake. She steps into marking a splash, daub or spill and invokes a relentless drive to break through and inhale the unexpected. Instagram @TheresaByrnes Facebook.com/theresabyrnes

MARTA VI is a self taught artist through living, since the 80’s. I work with all medias, growing up in an environment where everything was recycled made me develop skills that gave me the perspective I have today. I like to work with natural and recyclable materials to create new pieces in an effort to help solve the waste problem. As a singer, I like to improvise, working with my surroundings and emotions. And in that line I explore the lights and shades of emotion through voice and sounds.

PARQUE DE TRANQUILIDAD
@ 4th Street btw. Aves C & D
PERFORMANCE & GARDENER – Marcia Newfield – Poem for Elizabeth St Garden
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Carbon Sequestration

6TH STREET AVENUE B COMMUNITY GARDEN
@ 6th Street btw. Aves A & B (SW corner)
PERFORMANCE – “Water Song” Singer: Lee Taylor
GARDENER – Amy Bercov
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Water Harvesting Pond & Rain Barrel

LEE TAYLOR is a singer/songwriter based in New York City. Writing and performing in a wholly unique style, Lee dazzles audiences with her blues, jazz, pop and gospel. Her voice has been described as “distinctive” by legendary bassist Darryl Jones (The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis), “uncommon” by The Memphis Commercial Appeal, and as “a voice to cut diamonds” by The Canberra Times. www.loveleetaylor.com | nibiwalk.org

2:30 EARTH SCHOOL (PS364)
@ 6th Street btw. Aves B & C Ave B (SE corner)
PERFORMANCE – Nate & Hila – Green Roofs Song
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Green Roof

EARTH SCHOOL 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. https://sites.google.com/a/theearthschool.org/theearthschool/

6BC BOTANICAL GARDEN
@ 6th Street btw. Aves B & C
PERFORMANCE – Our Community Garden – Jenny Amanda Hurwitz
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Botanical Diversity

JENNY AMANDA HURWITZ (with SAMIROSE and TALBOT “TOP”KATZ) has been writing, strumming & singing her politically progressive/feminist Subversive Pop songs for decades. Today she may be joined by husband Talbot Katz, who has been active in New York City Friends of Clearwater for decades and who writes, sings and plays a mean bass; and daughter SamiRose Katz who is very concerned about the animals of this earth, creates videos, and writes and sings songs in her own right. Check out some informal videos of Jenny, SamiRose & Talbot’s work at the YouTube Channel: Jenny Amanda Hurwitz – and by searching on YouTube for: Jenny Amanda Hurwitz at PeoplesMusicNetwork. We are also on Facebook and so is PMN. Contact at: subvpop7@gmail.com

6TH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER
@ 6th St btw. Aves B & C
– Children’s Bee Roof Farm Ceremony & Zero Waste Performance
STEWARD of SUSTAINABILITY – Howard Brandstien
CLIMATE SOLUTION – Rooftop Bee Farm, Zero Waste & CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)

SIXTH STREET COMMUNITY CENTER
Located in a lovingly restored former synagogue in the heart of the Lower East Side, also known as Loisaida. the Sixth Street Community Center has been working to empower the community through grassroots organizing since 1978. We offer a variety of programs and events including free arts, writing and gardening after school and summer programs for local youth; affordable adult workshops, donation-based yoga, zumba, and dance classes; a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA); poetry and open mic nights; and much, much more. Whether you’re interested in learning more about what we have to offer, hoping to join the CSA, or hungering for a fresh, organic juice on-site at our Organic Soul Café, our doors are always open. We are located at 638 E Sixth Street. Just stop by! http://www.sixthstreetcenter.org/

EAST RIVER PARK SITE 1
@ Waterfront Near 6th Street Bridge Area
PERFORMANCE – River Revival – Artichoke Dance Company
STEWARDS OF THE EAST RIVER PARK – East River Park Action Poem – Eileen Myles

East River Park ACTION is a grassroots community group determined to avert an environmental disaster that is the East Side Coastal Resiliency plan that will demolish East River Park starting in the fall of 2020. Formed less than a year ago by Pat Arnow and other neighborhood residents, more than a thousand people have signed on to demand a flood control plan that provides immediate interim flood control and a long-term plan that will retain existing parkland and biodiversity. https://eastriverparkaction.org/

LYNN NEUMAN – ARTICHOKE DANCE COMPANY – Artichoke Dance Company, directed by Lynn Neuman, works at the intersections of performance innovation, environmental activism, education, community building and civic engagement. The company is known for onsite performances and hands on upcycling workshops, particularly trashion, fashion made from trash. Recent commissions include the Soraya, connecting California State University to Los Angeles River revitalization, the National Gallery of Art for Voices of the Ocean project, and Waterfront Alliance to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Erie Canal. The Gowanus Canal, New York City’s first named superfund site, is a focus of Artichoke’s local work with biannual festivals occurring along the canal. Ms. Neuman is a national leading eco-artist and the only choreographer to be awarded a Marion International Fellowship. Lynn is also an Association of Performing Arts Professionals Leadership Fellow and was featured in Dance Magazine for her ecological activist work. www.artichokedance.org @ArtichokeDance

EAST RIVER PARK SITE 2
@ Circular Maze (Labyrinth Pavement Painting by Diana Carulli near Houston Street)
East River Park Coalition: www.facebook.com/erpcoalition
PERFORMANCE – Death & Rebirth of a River – Octavia Dance Cup
Choreography: Laura Ward
Dancers: Cassie Roberts Rossi, Fiona Oba, Natalia Wodnicka, Eva Janiszewski, Juliette Janiszewski, Laura V Ward
STEWARDS OF THE RIVER PARK – East River Park Coalition- Labyrinth Artist, Diana Carulli
VISUAL ART – Pre York River Blankets & East River Dance – Cal Fish with Kate Williams

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. https://octaviacup.weebly.com/

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. www.facebook.com/erpcoalition

CAL FISH AND KATE WILLIAMS, On top of a series of soft sculpture blankets informed by ecologies along the Pre York or Hudson River, Cal and Kate dance through a 4.5 hour performance that uses kinesthetic sound sculpture, collaborative choreography, and East River Park. Cal Fish (they/them) is a cross disciplinary artist based in Brooklyn and manages the Living Gallery. Kate Williams (she/her) is a Brooklyn based choreographer and mover. @cal._.fish www.calfish.land

EAST RIVER PARK SITE 3
@ Waterfront Under the Williamsburg Bridge
PERFORMANCE – Dance “East Side Coastal Resiliency” with Infinite Movement.
Director: Shaheeda Yasmin Smith
STEWARDS OF THE RIVER – Waterfront Alliance

SHAHEEDA YASMEEN SMITH ( Infinite Movement)has been empowering youth and families through the arts and wellness for twenty years in NYC for twenty years. Book and street smart, she attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, attended City College of New York, is a certified dance and movement therapist and is now pursuing her Masters in Social work at Fordham University. She has dedicated her life to teach, mentor, connect and organize around social issues. Her experience with LES settlement houses and GOLES aides in moving the needle of injustice through the arts and activism. As the CEO and founder of Infinite Movement, her mission is to alleviate the negative effects of trauma and social injustice through the arts and wellness to underserved communities and families. IMI customizes programming to support the needs of all genders and generations,to propel community voice and create change. https://www.facebook.com/InfiniteMovement/

EAST RIVER PARK SITE 4
@ Seal Park near Grand St
PERFORMANCE – Plastic Harvest – Choreographed by Jody Sperling
STEWARDS OF THE RIVER – Lower East Side Ecology Center – Melinda Billings

A NYC-based dancer-choreographer, JODY SPERLING is the Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance. She has created 45+ works and is considered the preeminent exponent of the style of modern-dance pioneer Loïe Fuller (1862-1928). Sperling earned a World Choreography Award nomination for her work on the French feature film “The Dancer” (2016 Cannes Film Festival). In 2014, Sperling participated in a polar science mission–as the first choreographer-in-residence aboard a US Coast Guard icebreaker–and danced on Arctic sea ice. Currently, she is developing a performance practice called eco-kinetics that cultivates the relationship between the dancing body and the environment.

Steward of the River – THE LOWER EAST SIDE ECOLOGY CENTER is a non-profit organization working toward a more sustainable New York City by providing community-based recycling and composting programs, developing local stewardship of green space, and increasing community awareness, involvement and youth development through environmental education programs. Also known as Outstanding Renewal Enterprises, Inc., we were founded in 1987. The Ecology Center offers services and education for a range of environmental subjects: organics collection/composting, electronic waste recycling, and stewardship of public green spaces. Lesecologycenter.org

EAST RIVER PARK SITE 5
@ WATERFRONT – Near amphitheater at Cherry Street
PERFORMANCES – East River Park Homage: River Cleansing and Closing Ceremony
Shakti – Dance by Lynn Needle – Art of Motion
Bio-Remediation Sculpture Offering by Dee Maucher – MOS Collective
STEWARDS OF THE EAST RIVER PARK – Gaia Institute- Paul Mankeiwicz & Friends of Corlears Hook Park – Donald Harley
20 Climate Solutions Song – Nate & Hila

LYNN NEEDLE (AOM/AOMDT) , RYT/500 Founder/Artistic Director of Art of Motion, Inc. – a non-profit and home to The Art of Motion Dance Theatre has toured to six out of seven continents and almost all United States as a former soloist with the Nikolais Dance Theatre. A recipient of numerous awards and grants including an Andrew W. Mellon CEF Grant for her artistry and teaching at The Universidad de Colima, Lynn’s work celebrating Legend, Myth & Nature has been presented internationally in site-specific venues. AOMDT.org

DEE DEE MAUCHER – MoS COLLECTIVE
DEE DEE is an investigator solutionist at the Masters of Succession Collective (MoS), where we invent lifestyles that leave a better trace and a spiral of serendipities — instead of degradation. As a multidisciplinary artist, last year she exhibited MoS Collective’s regenerative pathfinding work as a pedagogy called “Microbes to Metropolis”. It is a 6-step experiential process with art, performative expression, imaginative activities & hands on maker space for bioremediation. Also, MoS is home of the EM-1 beneficial mud balls. (EM-1 is an effective microorganism inoculant that cleans water) with science consultant, Shig Matsukawa. Dee Dee has introduced the mudballs at a TedX talk, taught mycoremediation at NYU Gallatin, Parsons/New School, LES grade schools and 7 Figments with the collective. As a Creative Director for corporate clients, Dee Dee has designed ecological lifestyle systems complete with branding: such as a living tree house at Sony music, a revitalization plan for Lake Anne Village, “restorative eco systems” for merchants & 6th St Community Center. She “accumulates” to grow and to make sculptures & costumes restorative. As a performance maker, she embodies movement stories through Butoh, with Maureen Fleming she studied. She is passionate about helping people manifest their creative regenerative projects. In succession we become in relationship as symbiotic networks that lengthen healthy supply chains and resource flows so we can be a better circular spiraling co-creation w the forces of nature not against them. She has a PDC from the Center for Bioregional Living, BFA Syracuse Ad Design & Media arts. Currently, MoS Collective needs your help to activate YOUR diverse lifestyle offering that will set in motion an abundance cascade for our outside and virtual plazas. She is partnering with Earth Celebrations’ Ecological City to accumulate, make, grow and install this bioremediating floating sculpture (BFS), consultation by Paul Mankiewicz, Ph.D., a restorative culture activity. A lifestyle design that creates the by-product of the beneficial succession of air, water, soil and selves. Moscollective.net @mos_collective

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. Thegaiainstitute.org

Visual Artist Bios 2021

ECOLOGICAL CITY: Art & Climate Solutions POP-UP PAGEANT is produced and directed as a collaborative community-based ecological arts project by Felicia Young, the Founder/Executive Director of Earth Celebrations.

EARTH CELEBRATIONS 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 engagement, diverse sector partnerships and action for ecological, policy and social change.

FELICIA YOUNG, PRODUCER & DIRECTOR of the ECOLOGICAL CITY: Cultural & Climate Solutions, a collaborative community-based ecological arts project. She 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

MICHELE BRODY- ECOLOGICAL CITY VISUAL ART/COSTUME WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR will engage community participants through our workshop series building costumes and mobile sculptural artworks from organic and living materials. Michele has worked with Earth Celebrations leading our costume workshops series 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, Julio Valdez Project Space and internationally in Germany, Costa Rica and France. She has 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 and from the Bronx Council on the Arts for Community Arts programming in The Bronx, NY. Her public art installations include permanent faceted glass murals for the Allerton Ave Station with the MTA Arts for Transit Program and through the Public Arts for Public Schools Program sponsored by the DOE. She has a BA from Sarah Lawrence College 1989 and an MFA from the Arts Institute of Chicago in 1994. michelebrody.com

LUCRECIA NOVOA-ECOLOGICAL CITY PUPPET/SCULPTURE WORKSHOP INSTRUCTOR is a Visual artist and Cultural Educator. Founder and Director of “Mascara Viva”. (www.mascaraviva.com) She uses a combination of masks, costumes, storytelling and dance to interpret the folk traditions of many cultures. She is interested in bringing to life mythical and legendary beings. She completed her apprenticeship of Masks and Puppets in the Behind the Mask Studio at Cambridge, MA.(1997-2000) She studied Sculpture and Ceramic at Massachusetts College of Art (1990-1991) and Sculpture and textiles in the University of Chile.(1981- 1988)She have been working in different Schools and Senior Centers and performing her giant Puppets at the New York Botanical Garden in Bronx ( 2013- present). She has been exhibiting her work in different Galleries, participating in collaborative projects and commissions. She is a Board Advisor for Expressiones Cultural Center Inc, New London, CT and she participated as a Curator and Juror at XVIII Bienal Sculpture and Ceramic (2019). She is the Director of The Puppet Workshop for Earth Celebration – Ecological City since 2004 and she uses the Visual Arts to educate and make the people aware of the environmental problems and the need to collaborate as a community to take action for ecological and social change.

KATHERINE FREYGANG – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE – MOBILE MURALand climate solution banners 2020. Katherine Freygang studies and celebrates ecological relationships in art, events, exhibition design, architecture, and poetry. She works as an activist/educator in Connecticut and an artist/designer in New York; and is currently developing projects with Connecticut Innovations, Clean Water Action, Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design, Connecticut’s UCC Congregational Environmental Ministry Team, Cornwall Energy Task Force, and Earth Celebrations. katherinefreygang.com

DEE DEE MAUCHER- MOS COLLECTIVE -BIO REMEDIATION SCULPTURE: Artist/Environmental Educator with El Jardin del Paraiso Garden to convene with gardeners to design and develop a sculptural work incorporating the gardens’ natural materials and bio-remediation techniques of dirt fermented with effective microorganisms. The sculpture could dissolve in the river and serve to revitalize the polluted waterway. She has developed bio-remediation art projects and educational workshops engaging participants in the creation of “mudball” and “bio-spheres” made of dirt fermented with microorganisms that improve the health of soil and water. Her workshops have been presented through artist Mary Mattingly’s SWALE, New Museum, Waterfront Alliance, LUNGS Harvest Arts Festival and Harbor Lab and events throughout New York City. moscollective.net

KATHY CREUTZBURG:
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 permanent her sculptures, mosaics, and murals at Public School 61 in Manhattan 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.https://www.kathycreutzburg.com/

SPECIAL THANKS – Rosa Velez & Pedro Alomar – Workshop Art Assistants

PRODUCTION CREDITS 2021

DIRECTOR – Felicia Young (Founder/ Director of Earth Celebrations)

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR: Hannah Wargo

INTERNS: Camille Steve, Sophia Takvorian, Rebecca Schuman, Sam Dady, Krystal Andrade, Izzy Gonzalez, Rose Knopper, Sophie Labelle, Elizabeth Solarz, Josaleigh Powers, Stefan Schutzer, Josh Cromwell, Jackson Hyler, Lily Pinchbeck, Willa Broderick

ECOLOGICAL CITY – CLIMATE SOLUTIONS VISUALS & SPECIAL THANKS

CLIMATE SOLUTION COSTUMES: Michele Brody with Rosa & Pedro and Earth Celebrations’ volunteers.

CLIMATE SOLUTION PUPPETS: Lucrecia Novoa

BIO-REMEDIATION GAIA SCULPTURE: Dee Dee Maucher – MOS Collective and East Village Wellness Circle

BIO-ARTS: Zero Waste Daily Wear & Staff – Kathy Creutzburg with mycelium (fungi), seaweed and Kombucha Leather

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CLIMATE SOLUTIONS FLAG PROJECT, MOBILE MURAL, SDG MANDALA: Katherine Freygang – Artist-in-Residence.

Climate Solution Flags 2021 were created as a collaborative project in partnership with Lower East Side Ecology Center, Children’s Workshop School, PS 63-University Settlement After-School, Loisaida Inc. Center and Earth Celebrations volunteers and intern Sophia Takvorian.

Mobile Mural and Climate Flags are displayed on garden fences including:

6th Street Avenue B Garden

El Jardin del Paraiso (4th St btw. Aves C & D)

Green Oasis Garden (8th St. btw. Aves C & D)

9th St & Ave C Garden (NE corner)

La Plaza Cultural (9th St. Ave C -SW corner)

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COSTUME PERFORMERS: Elizabeth Solarz , Rosa Velez, Josaleigh Powers, Anastasia Artemiev, JoAnn Fynke, Kathy Creutzburg, Leana Rutt, Nadege Alexis, Inki Amu, Pedro Alomar, Nancy Bommer, Annette Rodriguez, Sami Ki, Vilma Gonzalez, Kristen de Groat, Camille Steve, Julia Vanwagnen, Lucrecia Novoa, Jerrord Ullyses, Stefan Schutzer, Ariella Hyman-Fessler, Cindy Luo, Olive Yu, Amanda Hamm, Carol Sterling, Natalie Durango, Susan Cusner, Marika Krupitsky, Lauren Naphtali, Izzy Gonzalez, Noel Sanchez, Ronit Delgado, Natalia Munoz, Carly Cabral, Becky Shuman, Robby Wilentz, Grace Vivieros, Thalia Sallas-Brookwell, Krystal Andrade, Olivia Marcella Ottaviano, Jheisy Urgilez, Rebekah Young, Amelia Osborne.

PUPPET PERFORMERS/MARSHALS: Richard Vazquez, Daniel Brothers, Joseph Ro, Dan Miner, Pasha Geystrin, Benjamin Shepard, Willa Folmar, Lane Kuska, Dakota James Stevens-Ortiz, Dayra Nouri, Jake Anders, Nicollette Barsamian, Ralphy Capone, Andrew Dougan, Aldair Medrano, Mario Banos.

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Rachel Elkind, Kristin Reimer, Jack Hyler, Brendon Cook, Ben-David Sigal, Erika Leo

VIDEOGRAPHERS: Joel Gold, Priya Subberwal, Rose Knopper, Ava Kasher, Josh Cromwell-livestream,

VOLUNTEER GROUPS:

SPECIAL THANKS – IN-KIND DONORS: Revolution Rickshaws, Two Boots Pizza, Trader Joe’s

PARTNERS: Earth Celebrations in partnership with – LUNGS (Loisaida United Neighborhood Gardens – representing 48 gardens). GOLES. Two Bridges Neighborhood Council.. NYC Community Garden District. Green Map. East 4th Street Block Association. Loisaida Inc. Center. Lower East Side Girls Club. Lower East Side Ecology Center. Solar One. Waterfront Alliance. East River Park Coalition. East River Alliance. East River Park Action. Friends of Corlears Hook Park. University Settlement (PS63). The Earth School (PS364). Sixth Street Community Center. Arts Loisaida. East Village Community Coalition. Infinite Movement. Grace Exhibition Space. Educational Alliance. Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space. Times Up. Masters Of Succession Collective. Gaia Institute. Global Water Dances. FABnyc. and New York University.

SPONSORS: Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Fund for the City of New York, Howard Bayne Fund, Bluestein Family Foundation, W Trust, Con Edison, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council – Creative Engagement is made possible in part with public funds supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. New York State Council on the Arts. New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.