Urbano Project and Egleston Square Main Streets are excited to announce the inaugural Egleston Winter Festival: Lighting the Commons, a day-long arts festival to be held on Saturday, December 12 from 2 to 7 pm in Egleston Square. This intergenerational community festival will feature the “lighting of the tree” with Mayor Marty Walsh at dusk.
The festival is also the culmination of Urbano Project’s fall semester and its ongoing creative engagement with the Egleston Square community. The festival features art installations, exhibitions and performances by Urbano Project’s artists (teachers and students) including: light installations, video projections, murals, poetry readings and public performances. The festival will also feature a live musical performance by BLKBX and SAMO, a series of storefront video projections by City Journalists led by Lina Maria Giraldo, and a collaborative installation by multi-media artist CHiKA with youth artists from Urbano Project.
“One of our goals at Urbano is to create social change through the arts, using the development of artistic mastery and place-based education to build skills that will empower our students to actually transform their communities in a positive way,” says Urbano Executive Director Stella Aguirre McGregor. “I can think of no better opportunity for our students than to be able to share some of the fruits of our most recent project, The Commons, with the neighborhood that inspired it.”
Schedule of event for Egleston Winter Festival:
2:00 PM – Searching Lines, Sculptural & Light Installation, Egleston Public Library (2044 Columbus Ave) and Peace Garden Lending Library (3129 Washington St.)
2:30 PM – Boylston St. Mural Initiative, New mural unveiling at corner of Boylston St. & Brookside Ave.
3:00 PM – Public Art Take Back, Community game and clean up through movement at Stone Garden (corner of Washington St. & Columbus Ave.)
4:00 PM – City Journalists, video installations, ¬Jackson Glass (3195 Washington St.), Bravo Pharmacy (3158 Washington St), Caribbean Consultant (3133 Washington St.) and Egleston Y (3135 Washington St.)
4:15 PM – CHiKA, Mappathon© installation, outside Egleston Y (3135 Washington St.)
4:30 PM – BLKBX and SAMO, Live musical performance and video installation, Peace Garden (3129 Washington St.)
4:45 PM – Ross Miller and Urbano Fellows, Light Installation, Peace Garden (3129 Washington St.)
5:00 PM – Egleston Square tree lighting by Mayor Walsh, Peace Garden (3129 Washington St.)
5:30 PM – The Flip, Spoken word performance, Video Underground (3203 Washington St.)
About Urbano Project:
At Urbano Project urban teens from across Boston and professional artists collaborate across neighborhoods and disciplines to make contemporary art for social change. Urbano’s core programs support Boston Public School students and recent graduates to become civically-engaged artists and leaders for a more equitable and sustainable Boston. More information at www.urbanoproject.org
Support for Urbano Project is provided by Barr Foundation, Klarman Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Mass Cultural Council, Boston Cultural Council, BPS Arts Expansion Initiative, and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Additional support for Lina Maria Giraldo’s City Journalists is provided by NEFA through the Creative City program. Support for Boylston Street Mural Project is provided by JPNDC and Boston Beer Company.
About Egleston Square Main Streets
Founded in 1996, Egleston Square Main Street’s mission is to build the Egleston Square community, strengthen its business district and revitalize its public spaces through partnership with local merchants, residents and community groups. More information at http://eglestonsquare.org.