Thanks for passing this along to others: PRESS RELEASE Date: April 14, 2009 Earth Day Ithaca Celebrates ART for a Just & Sustainable Community On Saturday, April 25th, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance invites community members of all ages to ART FOR A JUST & SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY, the theme for Art in the Heart of the City 2009 and the DIA’s contribution to Ithaca’s Earth Day ’09 celebration. The event opens with a 12:00 Noon Parade for the Earth on the Ithaca Commons, followed at 1 pm by a Forum on Exploring Directions for the Arts in Downtown Ithaca in the Tompkins County Library Borg- Warner Room. Everyone is invited to gather for the Parade at 11:00 a.m. Face painting, banners, some costumes and special posters honoring the Four Elements (water, air, earth, fire) will be available, but additional costumes – especially animals and fairies – are welcome. Community organizations are encouraged to bring banners and wear costumes conveying their own Earth-related messages. The Parade will start from the Bernie Milton Pavilion at 12:00 noon. The Exploring Directions Forum continues the exploration of a role for the arts in future downtown development which was launched last fall, as part of the DIA’s 2008 Art in the Heart of the City public art program. Alastair Noble, internationally-renowned artist and former Cornell faculty member, will open with an overview of how artists working in public spaces are engaging sustainability themes. Kathy Bruce, whose bamboo and morning glory Graces were featured in Art in the Heart of the City 2008, will then draw on her own work to show how one artist might interpret Ithaca’s 2009 theme of Art for a Just & Sustainable Community. The Forum will conclude with an exploration of possibilities for creating a dynamic future for the arts in downtown Ithaca. Specifically, panelists and participants will be asked to consider three key questions:
How should the arts factor into thinking about re-doing the Ithaca Commons? What might ‘iconic art’ for downtown Ithaca look like? How can the Downtown Ithaca Alliance engage local artists and the broader community in making public art a more prominent part of downtown life? Further information [email protected] (607) 339-9472 LEVEL GREEN - fostering sustainable community through collaborative initiatives in hospitality, education and the arts, in the 150 year-old democratic spirit of the Danish Folk School. 1519 Slaterville Road, Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 339-9472 _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
