NYC’s River To River Festival Coming

Today Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) unveils the 2015 edition of the annual River To River Festival, Downtown NYC’s completely free summer arts festival. This 14th edition takes place June 18–28 and presents a diverse collection of music, dance, theatre and visual art by both renowned and breakout artists from NYC and beyond. The Festival seeks to provide world-class, free summer entertainment and to inspire residents, workers and visitors in the neighborhoods south of Chambers Street by connecting them to the creative process, unique places and each other. For audiences of few to crowds of thousands, River To River provides an intense and rewarding way to experience and discover Lower Manhattan’s waterfronts, parks, plazas and history. This year, the Festival kicks off on June 18 with the R2R Bash, featuring performances by acclaimed East African vocalist Somi. The 2015 R2R Bash is co-sponsored by Conrad New York, Goldman Sachs and the area’s restaurants and retailers. See below for full Festival schedule.

Much more than just a series of free events, River To River serves as a platform for the arts sector in both nurturing new ideas and extending the life of existing work by inviting artists to create site-responsive versions of premiere performances that translate pieces to public space and alternative sites in new and unexpected ways. Additionally, the spectrum of work represents all stages of the creative process and audiences are encouraged to get closer to artists and their practice through open studios, artist talks and social events.

“We are so excited to present this, the 14th annual River To River Festival, at sites across Lower Manhattan and Governors Island,” says Sam Miller, LMCC President. “We hope the spirit and the free format of the Festival creates a level of openness and flexibility that allow audiences to relax; we hope the rich and varied locations enable a psychic shift to take place. It may not even be clear why, but walking from this park to that pier, or taking a boat from this island to that island has the power to transform experiences of the everyday. Seeing a performance on the edge of the water or with the downtown skyline as a backdrop changes the experience of it. One of the benefits of experiencing art is that you get dislocated from the familiar. We hope to help audiences live that for eleven days in Lower Manhattan.”

Sites for the 2015 festival include: North End Way, Winter Garden at Brookfield Place, Rockefeller Park, Wagner Park, Federal Hall, Governors Island, Seaport District, Vbar Seaport, Pier 15, 28 Liberty Plaza (formerly known as Chase Manhattan Plaza), as well as 14 museums and cultural institutions in Lower Manhattan.

R2R 2015: Sound

As always, music in all its forms is a major part of River To River 2015. On June 21 the beloved Bang on a Can Marathon returns to the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place for a 10-hour super-mix of boundary-busting music from around the corner and around the world. This year’s Marathon, co-presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Arts Brookfield, includes music by Anna Clyne, Julian Day, Lanie Fefferman, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Paul Kerekes, David Lang, Lao Luo, Ivo Papasov, Tristan Perich, Pixies, Todd Reynolds, Somei Satoh, Liza White, Kendall Williams and Julia Wolfe and performances by Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crossfire Steel Orchestra Inc, Vicky Chow, Nels Cline, Corey Dargel, Dither, Gong Linna, Grand Band, Tomoko Kuroki, So Percussion, Bobby Previte and Third Angle New Music, to name a few. Bang on a Can’s social engagement wing Found Sound Nation will also host its Street Studio—a mobile recording studio equipped for passersby and Marathon musicians alike to spontaneously create and record original music.

On June 23, River To River 2015 hosts the first of two concerts co-presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and New Amsterdam Presents: Russian-American composer (and member of Nothankyou and Dirty Projectors) Olga Bell. Bell will perform her dreamy and surreal KRAI, which premiered to a sold-out Walker Art Center in February and was released as an album by New Amsterdam Records and One Little Indian. Scored for cello, electric guitar, bass pitched drums, mallet percussion and electronics, KRAI features a vocal ensemble of six Olgas—four female and two “male”—and projections by video artist Alejandro Crawford (of MGMT).

Brooklyn-based, Grammy-winning vocal project Roomful of Teeth performs the second New Amsterdam Presents co-bill on June 24. The eight-voice ensemble will perform Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Ritornello, Wally Gunn’s The Ascendant and selections from their upcoming album, Render, out April 28 on New Amsterdam Records.

Finally, in the Seaport District on the cobblestones at Fulton and Water Streets, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council & Live Sounds co-present Venezuelan psychedelic music masters Los Crema Paraiso, Klezmer punk rockers Golem and West African fusion band Benyoro in concert on June 27 from 5–9pm.

R2R 2015: Movement & Theatre

Once again River To River 2015 offers opportunities to experience a broad range of new and recent work from a host of notable dancers and choreographers (often in unexpected locations), as well as venerable works by the likes of Twyla Tharp and the Trisha Brown Dance Company re-visited and re-imagined for new settings. Of the Festival’s dance offerings The New York Times noted, “You never feel quite the same way about a public place once you’ve seen dance happening in it,” and went on to say that River To River, “might change the way you see dance.”

Beginning June 19–20, a canary torsi presents Court/Garden inside historic Federal Hall. The three-act spectacle of dance and live music performance is inspired by the imperial ballets of Louis XIV’s French Court, the spectatorship of the proscenium stage and the presentation of video feeds as cultural, social and political frames of experience.

June 19, 21, 22 Souleymane Badolo presents a new solo piece that aims to cross boundaries and highlight the similarities of what we all experience—family, friends, work, prayer, sadness, joy etc. Dance My Life, on Pier 15.

On June 20, Twyla Tharp’s ensemble—currently celebrating 50 years of Tharp’s choreography—will perform her seminal 1970 work The One Hundreds in Rockefeller Park. This performance is co-presented by The Joyce Theater. This truly participatory event will feature 100 “community member” dancers joining the professional dancers to repeat the 100 11-second phrases of movement.

Trisha Brown Dance Company makes its triumphant return to River To River on June 21 with site-specific work, Trisha Brown: In Plain Site. Specifically adapted for this performance at Wagner Park, the performance provides a new lens to look at Brown’s vast repertoire, demystifying the complexity of dance through special dialogue and audience intimacy. The audience will be encouraged to follow the performance through the park as it unfolds.

The sixth installment of Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey’s eight-part dance series, The Set Up, takes place on June 24–26 with 70-year-old master Saya Lei (aka U Than Aung) as its focus and inspiration, and an original sound score by Jonathan Bepler.

On June 22–24, Eiko Otake presents the next iteration of her ongoing solo project, A Body in Places, which began as part of River To River 2014 and continued inside Philadelphia’s 30th Street Train Station later in the year. The location for River To River 2015 is still to be determined, but will further Eiko’s exploration of non-traditional venues through solitude, intimacy and gaze.

June 24, 26, 27 brings performances of Michelle Boulé’s quantum-physics-inspired White, adapted for an as-yet-undetermined location; Sarah Michelson then performs 3 after 4, experiment 4 June 25–26, also at a location to be announced.

The tenth installment of Catherine Galasso’s Fall of the Rebel Angels series of site-specific performance “studies”, Fall of the Rebel Angels: X comes to a house in Nolan Park on Governors Island June 26–28. The piece is an evening-length interdisciplinary work loosely inspired by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.

Also June 26–28 is Emmanuelle Huynh—Company Mua’s Cribles/Wild Governors, a “May Pole” performed by NYC-based dancers to Inannis Xenakis’ Persephassa for six percussionists at the Parade Ground on Governors Island.

John Kelly’s Re-Conceived Love of a Poet

John Kelly’s interdisciplinary theatrical performance Love of a Poet received an Obie Award and many accolades for its 1990 premiere at Lower Manhattan’s Battery Maritime Building, the current terminal for ferries to and from Governors Island. For River To River 2015, Kelly will re-conceive the acclaimed work for in the lower level of the Arts Center at Governors Island, debuting the new edition on June 25 with an open dress rehearsal to give audiences insight into his creative process. The work will then be performed June 26–28 with the original 1990 black-and-white 16mm film sequences by Anthony Chase and a completely new set/installation by artist Jarrod Beck.

R2R 2015: Visual Art & Open Studios + Contextual Activities

Visual art installations, exhibitions and visits to the studios where artists are currently in residence with LMCC are important and unique aspects of River To River.

The Arts Center at Governors Island will once again come alive, with open hours each day of the festival. LMCC will present an exhibition titled (Counter)Public: Art, Intervention & Performance In Lower Manhattan from 1978–1993 focusing on cross disciplinary practices and NYC based artists making work during this critical time including Keith Haring, John Kelly, Eiko & Koma, REPOhistory and others. Also returning this year is the Creative Insider’s Guide to Lower Manhattan. Sponsored by Launch LM, this guide is a digital map juxtaposing the histories of Lower Manhattan’s iconic architecture and design and the personal tales of groundbreaking artists who have worked in the area. There will be photographs, videos and other ephemera included in the exhibition that are also featured online as part of the Creative Insider’s Guide.

The public will have the opportunity to visit the studios of 20 LMCC artists-in-residence in the Arts Center at Governors Island and hear artist talks with several River To River choreographers. Both of these kinds of Open Studio events provide “behind the scenes” access to artists and their process.

R2R 2015: Social Activities

In addition to the kick-off event (the R2R Bash), R2R Living Rooms return this year with after-hours parties and programming that gives audiences the opportunity to come together with friends, fellow audience members, artists and performers to socialize, dance, discuss and absorb the River To River offerings they’ve experienced during the day. Both events will be held at Vbar Seaport; please see below for details.

RIVER TO RIVER 2015 FULL SCHEDULE:

Dates, times and locations subject to change—be sure to check www.RiverToRiverNYC.com for up-to-date information. Please note that all events are free, but due to limited capacity some require advance RSVPs. All RSVPs open in June.

R2R BASH

June 18, 5–7pm

North End Way (Battery Park City)

Co-sponsored by Conrad New York, Goldman Sachs and the area’s restaurants and retailers Tags: Food, Music, Social

Join River To River artists, partners and friends for a “block party” style event on North End Way to help kick off the 14th annual Festival! Enjoy discounts at area restaurants and retailers, performances by acclaimed East African vocalist Somi and activities for the whole family. 

(COUNTER)PUBLIC: ART, INTERVENTION & PERFORMANCE IN LOWER MANHATTAN FROM 1978–1993

June 18–June 28, 12–5pm

Governors Island: Arts Center

Tags: Photography, Film, Ephemera

The 1980s through the early 1990s represent a time of extremes—socially, politically and artistically. While not attempting to be a survey, Public Intervention & Performance in Lower Manhattan presents a snapshot of a time and place where a diverse group of artists were simultaneously making work. The exhibition looks at artists’ varied—but invariably strong—responses to the overall political climate, the HIV/AIDS crisis, civil rights violations, the changing public sphere and the impact of newly pervasive media through public art, intervention and performance specifically in Lower Manhattan. This time period saw the institutionally-supported erection of large-scale public sculpture like Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc and T.W.U. as well as the claiming and reclaiming of public space by artists like Keith Haring with his drawings and Jenny Holzer wheat pasting her Inflammatory Essays on the streets and in subways stations throughout Manhattan.

Curated by Alex Fialho & Melissa Levin.

SOULEYMANE BADOLO

DANCE MY LIFE

June 19, 21, 22 at 3pm

Pier 15

Tags: Dance, Music

Dance My Life is a new solo performance with live music celebrating family, friends and other “important things.”

A CANARY TORSI

COURT/GARDEN

June 19 at 8pm

June 20 at 3pm & 8pm

Federal Hall

Tags: Dance

A spectacle in three acts, Court/Garden is a dance and live music performance by a canary torsi. It takes as its inspiration the imperial ballets of Louis XIV’s French Court, the spectatorship of the proscenium stage and the presentation of video feeds as cultural, social and political frames of experience. The a canary torsi team will adapt the piece, which originally premiered at Danspace Project in 2014, for the public environment of Federal Hall for River To River 2015.

In advance of River To River, LMCC will present an Open Studio in-process showing with a canary torsi on May 23. See lmcc.net for details.

TWYLA THARP

THE ONE HUNDREDS

June 20 at 7pm

Nelson A. Rockefeller Park (Battery Park City)

Co-presented with The Joyce Theater

Tags: Dance

Choreographer Twyla Tharp’s expansive career encompasses modern dance, ballet, Broadway, film and television—not to mention acclaimed work as an author. Her ensemble is currently celebrating 50 years of her choreography and will perform her seminal work, The One Hundreds (premiered August 1, 1970), in Rockefeller Park as part of River To River 2015.

The One Hundreds masterfully fuses math, movement and public participation. During Sandy Koufax’s legendary season, Tharp noticed that each baseball play took approximately 11 seconds and began crafting her own 11-second phrases. The first part of the piece features two dancers performing 100 of these phrases, without music, in perfect unison. Five dancers then join them and each performs 20 different phrases simultaneously. Finally, 100 “community members” join in, each performing one of the phrases and completing the material in 11 seconds.

BANG ON A CAN

ANNUAL BANG ON A CAN MARATHON

June 21 at 12–10pm

Winter Garden at Brookfield Place

Co-presented with Arts Brookfield

Tags: Music

Bang on a Can returns to the Winter Garden at Brookfield Place with its annual incomparable super-mix of boundary-busting music from around the corner and around the world! The 2015 Bang on a Can Marathon will feature 10 hours of rare performances by some of the most innovative musicians of our time side-by-side with some of today’s most pioneering young artists.

Featuring Music by: Anna Clyne, Julian Day, Lanie Fefferman, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, Jóhann Jóhannsson Paul Kerekes, David Lang, Lao Luo, Ivo Papasov, Tristan Perich, Pixies, Todd Reynolds, Somei Satoh, Liza White, Kendall Williams, Julia Wolfe and more.

Featuring Performances by: Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crossfire Steel Orchestra Inc, Vicky Chow, Nels Cline, Corey Dargel, Dither, Gong Linna, Grand Band, Tomoko Kuroki, So Percussion, Bobby Previte, Third Angle New Music and more.

PLUS Bang on a Can’s social engagement wing, Found Sound Nation, hosts its Street Studio—a mobile recording studio equipped for passersby and Marathon musicians alike to spontaneously create and record original music!

TRISHA BROWN DANCE COMPANY

TRISHA BROWN: IN PLAIN SITE: WAGNER PARK

June 21 at 4pm & 6pm

Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (Battery Park City)

Tags: Dance

In Trisha Brown: In Plain Site the audience experiences Brownʼs work from a fresh perspective with programs curated to spaces. Phrase material Brown used in her creative process, along with the Early Works and Equipment Pieces, is reframed and released from the proscenium, creating an intimate relationship with the audience. These assembled site-specific programs provide a new lens to look at Brown’s vast span of work, demystifying the complexity through special dialogue and audience intimacy.

EIKO OTAKE

A BODY IN PLACES

June 22–24

Location & performance times to be announced, see website for details

Tags: Dance

Eiko Otake presents the next iteration of her ongoing solo project, A Body in Places, which took place inside Philadelphia’s 30th Street Train Station in the fall of 2014. Central to the project is a drive to explore non-traditional venues and to respond to the innate characteristics of each specific place. At the core of each variant is Eiko alone exploring solitude, intimacy, gaze—and specifically how the fragility of the body within public places mutually affects and is affected by the gaze of passersby. Eiko began investigating her solo practice during River To River 2014 and LMCC plans to continue presenting her work in River To River 2016.

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUMS

June 23, 4–8pm

Various locations, see website for details.

Tags: Visual Art, Exhibitions, Historical Context, Cultural Ephemera

Enjoy free admission at 14 distinctive museums and historic sites in Lower Manhattan as part of the 2015 River To River Festival. Discover where New York City’s history and culture begin. Participants include: African Burial Ground National Monument, The Anne Frank Center USA, Federal Hall National Memorial, Fraunces Tavern® Museum, Museum of American Finance, Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, National Archives at New York City, National Museum of the American Indian—Smithsonian Institution, National September 11 Memorial Museum, 9/11 Tribute Center, Poets House, The Skyscraper Museum, South Street Seaport Museum and Wall Street Walks.

OLGA BELL

KRAI

June 23 at 8:30pm

Pier 15

Co-presented with New Amsterdam Presents

Tags: Music

Premiered to a sold-out Walker Art Center in February and released as an album by New Amsterdam Records and One Little Indian in April, Russian-American composer (and member of Nothankyou and the Dirty Projectors) Olga Bell’s dreamy and surreal KRAI is scored for cello, electric guitar, bass, pitched drums, mallet percussion and electronics, and features a vocal ensemble of six Olgas—four female and two “male.”

Krai (край) is the Russian word for edge, limit, frontier or hinterland. Present-day Russia is divided into myriad “federal subjects,” including nine krais. In this capacity the term is a political designation, like “territory,” but for the earliest Russians these places represented both the promise and terror of the vast unknown. While much has been written about Russia’s major cities, Bell’s KRAI is concerned with the rest of the map: the wilderness, the towns, the inhabitants and their stories.

R2R LIVING ROOMS: CAN-D and DRELLA

June 23 at 9:30pm

June 28 at 6pm

Vbar Seaport

Tags: Music, Dance, Social

R2R Living Rooms give artists, partners and audiences an opportunity to come together, socialize, dance, experience after-hours programming and discuss/absorb the River To River offerings they’ve experienced during the day.

LMCC Workspace artists-in-residence Amy Khoshbin and Raja Feather Kelly reemerge as CAN-D (Amy) and DRELLA (Raja) to host and perform a fun evening of performance art influenced by media and celebrity culture that features rapping about pop-culture, performing contemporary dance and other surprises.

WALLY CARDONA, JENNIFER LACEY, JONATHAN BEPLER

THE SET UP: SAYA LEI

June 24 at 3pm

June 25–26 at 8:30pm

Location to be announced, see website for details

Tags: Dance

The Set Up is an eight-part dance series made by choreographers Wally Cardona and Jennifer Lacey and an international assembly of eight master dance-artists of a traditional form. This sixth installment of The Set Up began in Mandalay, Myanmar, with Saya Lei (aka U Than Aung), a 70-year-old master who has devoted his life to preserving the Mandalay-style of Burmese classical dance. Original sound score by Jonathan Bepler.

LMCC is a lead commissioner of The Set Up.

MICHELLE BOULÉ

WHITE

June 24 at 5pm

June 26 at 5:30pm

June 27 at 7pm

Location to be announced, see website for details

Tags: Dance

In White, Boulé borrows from quantum physics to investigate the non-localized resonance of movement and the ability of consciousness to collapse matter into momentary potential, exploring the invisible architectures created by movement and choreographic form. The dancers’ material bodies become tools for transmitting the immaterial (information that is beyond what is immediately perceivable through the 5 senses), and dance is treated like sound in its ability to travel across a space. All aspects of the work (hairdos, costumes, color, patterns, fractals and text) are carefully brought together to create a harmonic and resonant field.

ROOMFUL OF TEETH

RENDER & RITORNELLO

June 24 at 8pm

28 Liberty Plaza (formerly “Chase Manhattan Plaza”)

Co-presented with New Amsterdam Presents

Tags: Music

Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth is a Brooklyn-based, Grammy-winning vocal project dedicated to mining the expressive potential of the human voice. Through study with masters from non-classical traditions the world over, the eight-voice ensemble continually expands its vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an ongoing commissioning project, invites today’s brightest composers to create a new repertoire without borders.

For River To River 2015, the group will perform Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Ritornello, Wally Gunn’s The Ascendant and selections from their upcoming album, Render, out April 28 on New Amsterdam Records.

JOHN KELLY

LOVE OF A POET

June 25 at 4pm (open dress rehearsal)

June 26 at 4pm

June 27–28 at 2:00pm

Governors Island: Arts Center, Lower level

Tags: Performance, Theatre

John Kelly’s Love of a Poet received accolades and an Obie Award for its premiere in 1990 at Lower Manhattan’s Battery Maritime Building, the current terminal for ferries to and from Governors Island. For River To River 2015 Kelly is re-constructing the work for the Arts Center at Governors Island. The site-specific work incorporates Robert Schumann’s 1840 Dichterliebe song cycle, sung by Kelly in the countertenor register, and includes the original black-and-white 16mm film sequences by Anthony Chase as well as a completely new set/installation by artist Jarrod Beck.

POETS HOUSE 23RD ANNUAL SHOWCASE

June 25, exhibition at 6pm, readings at 7pm

Co-presented with and taking place at Poets House

Tags: Literature, Writing, Exhibition, Readings

Poets House presents the 23rd annual Poets House Showcase, a free exhibit featuring all of the new poetry books and poetry-related texts published in the United States in a single year from over 650 commercial, university and independent presses. This diverse and inclusive exhibition will be on view throughout the summer.

SARAH MICHELSON

3 AFTER 4, EXPERIMENT 4

June 25–26 at 7pm

Location to be announced, see website for details

Tags: Dance

3 after 4, experiment 4 is a continuation of Michelson’s award-winning works that have been performed in venerable institutions including the Whitney Museum, MoMA, Walker Arts Center and more. Michelson continues her exploration and questioning of what dance is, how to create a dance and the history of dance form. Her performance is often intensely physical and develops from a rigorous formal structure.

CATHERINE GALASSO

FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS: X

June 26 at 1pm

June 27–28 at 5pm

Governors Island: Nolan Park, House #19

Tags: Dance

Fall of the Rebel Angels: X is an evening-length interdisciplinary work for five performers loosely inspired by the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. Using Rubens’ paintings as thematic scaffolding, the project investigates visceral physicality, sensuality and the spectacular.

Begun in 2012, Fall of the Rebel Angels is an ongoing series of performance “studies,” with each chapter created for different casts and different sites. This approach mirrors Rubens’ own process: for every painting he would sketch several “studies” in pen and ink or charcoal. X is the tenth iteration of Fall of the Rebel Angels, and will combine content generated for previous studies with new scenes inspired by the Nolan Park former military housing units on Governors Island.

EMMANUELLE HUYNH—COMPANY MUA

CRIBLES/WILD GOVERNORS

June 26 at 3:00pm

June 27–28 at 3:30pm

Governors Island: Parade Ground

Tags: Dance

Cribles/Wild, originally premiered outdoors in 2010, is a “May Pole” dance with ten local choreographed dancers exploring the round—a simple, archaic form that so often serves as a vehicle for celebrations, rites and rituals. Performed to Iannis Xenakis’ Persephassa for six percussionists, the piece makes powerful use of the composers’ spatial architectures and ultimately wonders whether we can see music and hear dance.

OPEN STUDIOS WITH PROCESS SPACE ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE

June 27, 1–3pm

Governors Island: Arts Center

Tags: Visual Art, Performance, Literature, In-process

Join LMCC and River To River for Open Studios with Process Space artists-in-residence at Governors Island. Visit with visual and performing artists and writers who have been working in the Arts Center at Governors Island since March. The weekend will feature behind-the-scenes access to 20 multi-disciplinary artists’ studios.

OPEN STUDIOS DISCUSSION

WITH EIKO & EMMANUELLE HUYNH

June 28, 1–2pm

Governors Island: Arts Center

Tags: Artist talk, Dance

A discussion between two internationally lauded choreographers in anticipation of their upcoming collaboration. Eiko and Emmanuelle may discuss individuals who have influenced their work, their respective current challenges and inspirations and identities as Vietnamese/French and Japanese/American women, as well as their personal transformations and approaches to performing, choreographing, and teaching dance.

OPEN STUDIOS DISCUSSION

WITH WALLY CARDONA, JONATHAN BEPLER & CHIKAKO YAMAUCHI

June 28, 2–3pm 

Governors Island: Arts Center

Tags: Artist talk, Dance

A discussion exploring how Cardona and Bepler’s creative processes and motivations led to the protocols used in the cross-cultural installments of The Set Up and how both hold space for the ambiguities and discoveries inherent in working with differing cultural imprints and placements. As an independent researcher, Yamauchi is participating in the process of “discussing/doing/dancing” and examining how the The Set Up and its creators are “undoing tendencies toward certainty in art.”

BENYORO, LOS CREMA PARAISO & GOLEM

MUSIC FROM MALI, VENEZUELA, THE BALKANS + BEYOND  

June 27, 5–9pm

Fulton Street at Water Street, Seaport District

Co-presented with Live Sounds

Tags: Music

This concert in the Seaport brings together some of New York’s finest artists with roots around the world and around the corner. Come hear sounds of the City from Mali to Venezuela to the Balkans and beyond mixing modern and traditional music in surprising, danceable ways.

Brooklyn born and raised music curator Isabel Soffer of Live Sounds has been at the forefront of the global music scene in the U.S. since its formative years. Immersed in music that is deeply based in tradition but travels in innovative directions, she digs deep to find border-crossing artists that stay true to their roots.

Klezmer influenced punk/rock band Golem is known for its virtuosic musicianship, theatricality, humor and fearless wild energy, combined with a boundless love of tradition. Golem is clearly “not your grandparents’ klezmer.” (NPR)

The wickedly fun Los Crema Paraiso, named after a beloved Caracas’ ice cream parlor, is a Venezuelan power trio made up of drummer Neil Ochoa (Si Se), guitarist José Luis Pardo (DJ Afro, Los Amigos Invisibles) and bassist Alvaro Benavides (Pedrito Martinez), that melds Venezuelan traditional music into a psychedelic mix of jazz, rock, funk, latin grooves and electronica.

In the Bamana language of Mali, Benyoro means meeting place, and that’s exactly what this group is. It’s about the meeting of traditional and modern instruments, Malian and American musicians, centuries-old songs and modern arrangements. The band’s unique sound packs dance floors wherever they go, celebrating the communal and universal nature of West African sounds.

ABOUT LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL (LMCC)

Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources and support, to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Lower Manhattan and beyond. In 2015, LMCC will award over $500,000 in grants, provide 500 individuals with professional development skills and access to business leaders and arts professionals, place 100 individuals and arts groups in studio residency programs, as well as present over 60 days of free cultural experiences for the public to enjoy. The combination of LMCC’s investment in individual artists and small arts groups, its robust network of partners in the public and private sectors and its integrated approach to fostering local neighborhood efforts, aims to spark public imagination as well as inspire personal attachment and investment in NYC’s communities.

LMCC’s public engagement initiatives demonstrate the role artists play in communities by connecting the Lower Manhattan public to creative practices, ideas, art forms and other audience members seeking similar experiences. Through the presentation and commissioning of performances, talks, exhibitions, studio visits, open rehearsals, readings and participatory events across Lower Manhattan, LMCC aims to inspire the public to think critically about the world around them and increase the attachment that participants feel toward the place where the activity is taking place as well as to their fellow attendees. For audiences of one to 1,000 made up of individuals with a wide-range of interests and experience with the arts, Open Studios, River To River, Arts East River Waterfront and Exhibitions / Installations in the Arts Center at Governors Island and other locations all shine a light on neighborhoods where artists are at work.

RIVER TO RIVER FOUNDING PARTNERS

River To River was founded in 2002 by American Express, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Alliance for Downtown New York, Arts Brookfield, Battery Park City Authority, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and South Street Seaport.

2015 RIVER TO RIVER PRESENTING PARTNERS

Arts Brookfield

The Joyce Theater

Live Sounds

New Amsterdam Presents

Night at the Museums (multiple venues, see event listing for details)

Poets House

2015 RIVER TO RIVER FUNDING

Leadership Support provided by: Alliance for Downtown New York, American Express, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,

Westfield World Trade Center, and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Lead Media Partners: THIRTEEN, WABC-TV, WNYC and WQXR.

Sustaining Support provided by: Howard Gilman Foundation and The Howard Hughes Corporation.

Major Support provided by: CBRE, Century 21 Department Store, Conrad New York, Goldman Sachs, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Friends of the Festival: Battery Park City Authority, Fosun Property Holdings, LMHQ, Merchants Hospitality, TheaterMania, The Trust for Governors Island, and Vbar Seaport.

Additional support provided by: Ameriprise Financial, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Con Edison, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, National Parks Service, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, NYC Department of Transportation, and Trinity Wall Street.

www.RiverToRiverNYC.com