Salem Festivals – Page 19 – Salem Main Streets

What is Art? Salem Arts Festival Provides Answers

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May 312015

Is art “either a plagiarist or a revolutionary” (as artist Paul Gauguin once stated) or is it “filling a space in a beautiful way” (artist Georgia O’Keeffe)? Art is many things to many people. You will experience that next weekend (June 5-7) when the 7th annual Salem Arts Festival rolls out across Salem Ma.

Let’s go to an unbiased source, the Oxford Dictionary, where art is defined as “The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing, or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”

Then add dance, theatre, film, music, photography, and even knitting. Now you have the palette from which the Salem Arts Festival is drawn.

The SAF seeks & presents art and performance for the sophisticated art patron as well as for the art novice. And this especially includes interactive activities for children. This is a family-friendly event which annually attracts 5000 attendees.

The Salem Arts Festival schedule includes The Gallery, performances, Street Fair, and art-making activities all to be found within easy walking distance of each other at Old Town Hall, Derby Square, Front Street, and Artists’ Row.

What is your definition of art? Will it alter or be reinforced after attending the Salem Arts Festival?

The SAF promotes the arts in downtown Salem through this festival for residents and visitors by providing opportunities to highlight the existing artist community and encouraging general community participation in the arts.

The Salem Arts Festival is organized by Salem Main Streets and a collaboration of Salem organizations which provide support for the festival, including the City of Salem, Salem State University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Arts Association and Creative Salem.

Photo Credit – Social Palates

Volunteers Needed for Salem Arts Festival

Salem Event, Salem Festivals, SMS News, Volunteer Opportunities 2 Responses »

May 232015

Inclusion. That is one of the things we strive for in events taking place in Salem. For example, last year you may have attended the Salem Arts Festival for the first time or for the 6th. This year, you can be a part of it as a volunteer.

Volunteers are being sought to assist with set ups, break downs, greetings, handing out brochures, assisting at performance stages and other duties as needed. The Salem Arts Festival takes place June 5-7.

Over 5,000 people attended last year’s family-friendly Festival which transformed downtown Salem, MA into an opportunity for the arts community to showcase a wide range of talents: painting, photography, sculpture, dance, music, writing, film, new media, performance, theatre, poetry, and more!

Volunteering is a great way to meet the artists and interact with fellow supporters of the arts.

Just as an FYI, there is also research pointing to volunteering as a provider of individual health benefits in addition to social ones. “The Health Benefits of Volunteering: A Review of Recent Research,” by the Corporation for National & Community Service established “a strong relationship between volunteering and health: those who volunteer have lower mortality rates, greater functional ability, and lower rates of depression later in life than those who do not volunteer.”

Help the community and you help yourself.

The Salem Arts Festival needs assistance in the following areas.

Friday, June 5
Gallery Installation
10 am to 2 pm. Seeking shifts of 2 hours, as many as possible.

Opening reception set-up
4 to 6pm. Seeking 4 volunteers.

Gallery sitters & greeters
6 to 9pm. Seeking 4 volunteers to gallery sit during the opening reception and help direct guests.

Opening reception clean-up
8:30 to 10 pm. Seeking 4 volunteers.

Saturday, June 6
General set-up
9:30 to 11am. Seeking 6 volunteers. Duties include hanging signs and putting out A-frame signs, setting up info tables, preparing the gallery, assisting at performance stages, and assisting street fair vendors.

Greeters (outdoors)
10:30am to 6pm (broken into four shifts of 10:30am to 12:30pm, 12:30 to 2:30pm, 2:30 to 4:30pm, and 4:30 to 6pm). Seeking 4 volunteers per shift. Duties will include handing out arts festival programs and assisting guests with directions, etc. Greeters will be stationed at specific locations.

Gallery sitters/greeters
Indoor Gallery. 10:30am to 6pm (broken into four shifts of 10:30am to 12:30pm, 12:30 to 2:30pm, 2:30 to 4:30pm, and 4:30 to 6pm). Seeking 2 volunteers per shift. Duties will include greeting guests, directing them to other activities, offering other general directions and keeping an eye on the work in the gallery during gallery hours.

Information table
Derby Square. 10:30am to 6pm (broken into four shifts of 10:30am to 12:30pm, 12:30 to 2:30pm, 2:30 to 4:30pm, and 4:30 to 6pm). Seeking 2 volunteers per shift. Duties will include handing out programs and other literature as well as directing people to Arts Festival events or around Salem. Volunteers at this table will also assist in the sales of merchandise for any SAF performers.

Performance stage help
11am to 6 pm, Derby Square and Artists’ Row. Duties will include helping bands get on and off these stages as quickly as possible and include moving some equipment. Seeking 2 volunteers to commit for the full day.

General breakdown
5:30 to 7/7:30pm. Seeking 4 volunteers. Duties include taking down signs, picking up A-frame signs, tidying up gallery, bringing in information table, helping out at performance stages to close them up for the night.

Sunday, June 7
General set up
9:30 to 11am. Seeking 6 volunteers. Duties include putting up signs, setting up info tables, preparing gallery, assisting at performance stages, and assisting street fair vendors.

Greeters (outdoors)
10:30am to 6pm (broken into four shifts of 10:30am to 12:30pm, 12:30 to 2:30pm, 2:30 to 4:30pm, and 4:30 to 6pm). Seeking 4 volunteers per shift Duties will include handing out arts festival programs and assisting guests with directions, etc. Greeters will be stationed at specific locations.

General breakdown
5:30 to 7/7:30pm. Looking for 6 volunteers. Duties include taking down signs, picking up A-frame signs, cleaning up gallery, assisting with art pick-up, striking information table, helping out at performance stages to close them out for the festival, gathering any festival related things that are outdoors, packing up any festival materials. Breakdown will include some jobs that require the ability to lift.

Please contact Kylie Sullivan at Salem Main Streets at kylie@salemmainstreets.org with your name and your date/time availability.

The Salem Arts Festival is organized by Salem Main Streets and a collaboration of Salem organizations which provide support for the festival, including the City of Salem, Salem State University Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem Arts Association and Creative Salem.

( Photo courtesy John Andrews of SocialPalatesPhotography )

A New Look for Salem Main Streets!

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May 202015

Salem Main Streets is pleased to announce a new brand and look! The local nonprofit, focused on the continued revitalization of downtown Salem, is updating its previous black and white logo of a building for a more modern, bold, and colorful vibrant look.

“When Salem Main Streets was first established in 2001, it was based on a traditional Main Streets model of historic preservation, so the building in our old logo made good sense,” says Kylie Sullivan, Executive Director of Salem Main Streets. “Salem Main Streets has evolved significantly since then. The current model is more dynamic, is more people-focused than building-focused, and, most importantly, is about creating a sense of place and identity. We needed a flexible new look to reflect that change.”

The logo and brand extension was created by local designer Elissa Von Letkemann. “Working with the Salem Main Streets staff and committee members on this was a fun challenge. The experience of being in downtown Salem is different for everyone, so the new logo had to communicate and support a sense of place while not focusing too heavily on any one aspect such as landmarks, restaurants, or otherwise.” Von Letkemann explains that the friendly, positive colors are meant as a nod to the culinary, historical, arts, and commercial destinations in town, while the map locator icon works double-duty as an exclamation point. Salem Main Streets’ materials and websites will be transitioning to the new brand over the next few days.

Salem Main Streets’ mission is the revitalization of downtown Salem as a vibrant, year-round, retail, dining, and cultural destination through business retention, recruitment, and the promotion of the downtown district. SMS produces and supports multiple community events and initiatives throughout the year, including the Salem Farmers’ Market, Salem Arts Festival, Salem’s So Sweet, and the October Information Booth. SMS operates thanks to the generosity and partnership of the City of Salem, the Salem Chamber of Commerce, Destination Salem, and many other local business sponsors and community volunteers.

The Salem Main Street Initiative is a preservation-based, volunteer driven strategy for commercial district revitalization. The Initiative is modeled on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s National Main Street Program. Main Streets works because it involves all interested stakeholders in the downtown and provides a comprehensive strategy of work, tailored to local needs and opportunities of the community.

PEM/PM Fosters Unconventional Gatherings for Creative Minds

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May 192015

Unconventional gatherings for creative minds is the best description thus far for what transpires in Salem Ma on the 3rd Thursday of each month when the Peabody/Essex Museum kicks open its doors to a party of entertainment & engagement (PEM/PM) beginning at 6pm. Coming up March 21st the event is simply called Run & Play. But believe us, there’s nothing simple about it.

Run with your imagination and play with what you find. Possibilities are limitless

Channel your inner child with the help of Project Adventure, Marbles: The Brain Store and the Salem YMCA. Play a game of foursquare and compete in a relay challenge, join Salem’s Wicked Running Club for its weekly No Rest for the Wicked 5K Fun Run, and then kick back and listen to music with a cool beverage.

As another example of imagination and playing with what you find, consider Stickwork artist Patrick Dougherty, who will be on hand for a meet & greet. What is Stickwork? It is something that has come to Salem. Listen to the thoughts of Dougherty leading up to the local project at the Crowninshield-Bentley House located at 126 Essex Street.

As always, cash bar and small plates by Hawthorne Hotel.

No admission charge for PEM members, Salem residents and Salem State students with an ID. Otherwise there is a $10 fee for non-members, payable at the door. For more details, go to pem.org or call 866-745-1876.

Salem Jazz & Soul Presents Berklee Yellowjackets in Salem

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May 072015

Weekends rate highly on the Salem Ma diversity meter. Pick any Saturday or Sunday and there is ALWAYS something going on— and usually different from the previous week. Music or Art or Theatre or Film. For example, The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival launches its 2015 SJSF/Berklee Summer Series with a concert featuring The Yellowjackets, a band made up of current Berklee College of Music students, this Saturday, May 9, in Derby Square, Salem ( Rain location: Opus, 87 Washington St., Salem).

The Berklee Yellowjackets Ensemble is a high-level student band led by professor Dave Weigert (playing drums). What makes this performance especially interesting is that this ensemble learns and plays the repertoire of the world-renowned Yellowjackets, one of the few jazz bands that has been together for more than 30 years. Those are big musical footsteps to keep time with!

According to the SJSF “The selected Yellowjackets repertoire that will be played is funk-oriented and groove-based, with beautiful, soaring and expressive melodies and rich harmonies. Audience members will be treated to an uplifting and inspiring performance.”

And, the concert is free.

The students are bassist Elin Margareta Sandberg (Sweden), tenor and alto saxophonist Andrew Denicola (Stamford, Conn.), guitarist Lior Tzemach (Ramat Gan, Israel) and piano synth player Zak Leever (San Francisco).

The free show will take place from 5 to 7 pm. and will feature an educational interview about music and the Berklee experience.

The Lobster Shanty restaurant will sponsor the performance. For more information, visit salemjazzsoul.org.

Three more SJSF/Berklee Summer Series concerts will take place this year: Marika Galea on June 13; Beneil Miller on July 11; and Chuks Okpu on Aug. 8.

The ninth-annual Salem Jazz and Soul Festival will follow during the weekend of Aug. 15-16, featuring 10 bands, a kids’ tent, music-education tent, artisan fair and 21-plus beer pavilion. There is no admission charge for the two-day concert.

The festival is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization that produces free concerts and raises money for music education causes on the North Shore.

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