Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts Launches 8/3 in Detroit

On August 3, 2013, Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts, an outdoor celebration of site-specific performance and installation art, will fill the courtyards, sidewalks, storefronts and gardens in and around Artist Village Detroit (17340 Lahser, Detroit, MI 48219) with engaging site-specific work from 2:00-9:00 p.m. Sidewalk celebrates the architecture, culture and artistry of Detroit places through site-specific performance and installation.

Sidewalk's mission is to promote visual and performing arts in Detroit by transforming public, unique and under-used property into non-traditional performance venues. Sidewalk stimulates pedestrian traffic and engagement in unique Metro-Detroit places by repurposing space for live visual and performing arts. Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts is an annual event that promotes place-making and creative use of space in Detroit.

Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts will be the first festival of its kind in Detroit to focus exclusively on the prolific work of site-specific performing artists. Detroit is internationally renowned for its unique architecture and rich artist heritage. Sidewalk will present the work of a diverse collection of dance companies, theater troupes, musicians, and visual artists who are making non-traditional and avant-garde work specifically informed by the landscape and culture of the city. Performing artists will create work inspired by the layout of Artist Village, including the outdoor sculpture, garden, sidewalks, and store-fronts. Artists will interact with the landscape and incorporate existing structures as part of performance.

These artists, the vast majority of whom are local, include names both familiar and new to Detroiters. Highlights include Kresge Award winners Hardcore Detroit and Passalaqua celebrating hip hop; Parangoles Playhouse, a tribute to Brazilian and urban wearable art installed in the "Art Alley;" movement and poetry collaboration between poetess Jessica Care Moore and modern Dance Company Jungle Statement; pop-up Shakespeare performances from Magenta Giraffe Theater Company; and experimental jazz and movement from James Cornish and Lisa LaMarre.

The full schedule is as follows:

Temple of Music

3:00 Detroit Slam Team (spoken word)
4:00 Sky Covington
5:00 Tunde Olaniran
6:00 Cold Men Young
7:00 Sin Hielo
8:00 Passalaqua

Blue Dance Court
3:00 Alnur Dance
3:30 Heritage Works: Poetic Percussions
4:00 Kristi Faulkner Dance
4:30 Dawn Xiana Moon and Lee Na-Moo: East and West
5:00 Jungle Statement Dance Company: Urban Fight Song
5:30 Ms. Chantal (aerial dance/fire eating)
6:00 Big Red Wall: Why It Gotta Be Black
7:00 Hardcore Detroit (dance)
8:00 LaMarre + Dancers with James Cornish Jazz: In the Outside
8:45 ArtLab J: Without You

Art Alley

All day: Erika Villarreal Bunce: Parangoles Playshop and Dance Party
3:00 Flint Dance Collaborative: Cityscape Alive
3:30 Detroit Slam Team (spoken word)
4:00 Maya + Quaint Stovall: Dance of the Chip Bagger
4:30 Alexa Dexa + Muralist Kevin McCoy (music/visual art)
5:30 Natasha K. Foreman (performance art/dance): I Stay
6:30 Radical Child (performance art/dance): Are You Radical
7:00 Madelyn Porter (theatre): Homeless Hero
7:30 Jessica Care Moore (spoken word/dance)

Experimental Garden

3:00 A Host of People (theatre): The Harrowing
4:00 Detroit Theater Company (theatre): Pearls of Wisdom
4:30 Heritage Works(Senegalese/Modern Dance): Poetic Percussions
5:00 A Host of People (theatre): The Harrowing
5:30 Radical Child (performance art/dance): Are You Radical

Intimate Court

3:00 Detroit Theater Company (theatre): Pearls of Wisdom
4:00 - 8:00 Upended Teacups (performance art): We
8:00 thingNY : that Patriots

Chazz's Space

3:00 - 5:00 Visual Art Workshops

Theater Traditionale

Spread NY (all day)
4:00 Experimental Performance + Community Panel

Pop-up performances by Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company will take place throughout the day in various spaces.

"Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts is a celebration of Detroit's independent and alternative arts scene," says founder and curator Ryan Myers-Johnson. "We're activating curious and unique spaces in Detroit through modern performance. Sidewalk is about getting into our environment, celebrating the landscape and culture of our great city. It's about creating artistic bridges across neighborhoods and arts communities."

More information about Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts is available at www.sidewalkdetroit.com

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