The Wassaic Project, an artist-run multidisciplinary arts organization located in a renovated mill in the hamlet of Wassaic, New York, is pleased to announce the third iteration of the Wassaic Project Summer Festival, a free multi-disciplinary celebration of art, music, and community from August 5-7, 2011. This year’s Festival will feature over 100 artists, 25 bands, poetry readings, dance performances, film screenings, and more.

Housed in and around historic buildings in Wassaic, NY, The Wassaic Project’s annual Summer Festival aims to present art in a venue that challenges the white walls of traditional art spaces, focusing instead on site-sensitive installations and performances. As visitors climb through the vertical levels of the Project’s historic wooden mill-cum-exhibition space, they are able to explore the work of over 100 emerging contemporary artists, whose bold and intricate installations, paintings, sculptures and videos respond beautifully to the unique architecture that houses them. In 2010 over 4,000 festivalgoers shared in the three-day celebration. The 2011 Summer Festival, which promises to be even bigger, offers a unique weekend-long opportunity for the general public, as well as artists of all mediums, to come together, exchange ideas, learn new things, and engage in a thriving arts community—free of cost.

This year’s Visual Artists will include our 2011 Artists in Residence: Disorientalism (Katherine Behar & Mariann Kim), Guy Ben-Ari, Caitlin Berrigan, Ben Bigelow, Jade Boyd, Dana Bunker, Caroline Burghardt, Dan Carlson, Christian Chapman, Ryan Frank, Patrick Gantert, Ghost of a Dream, Daniel Glendening, David Grainger, Jeila Gueramian, Ben Judd, River Jukes-Hudson, Sarah Hardesty, Jen Kelly, Karl LaRocca, Amanda Lechner, JW LEE, Cristobal Mendoza and Annica Cuppetelli, Masako Miki, Clare Parry, Sarah Nicole Phillips, Francis Rabkin, Corina Reynolds, Kristen Schiele, Tomie Seo, Alia Shawkat, Dave Sinaguglia, Millee Tibbs and Michael Woody, Breanne Trammell, Chloe Watson, Brindalyn Webster, James Weingrod, Nicole White, Leah Wolff, & Jing Yu, and more. The Music Lineup features over 25 bands, including This Frontier Needs Heroes, Patrick Cleandenim, Acrylics, Diamond Doves, Backwords, Ghost/Light, Electric Junkyard, Caged Animals, Free Blood, and more. The Film Program, produced by Liliana Greenfield-Sanders, will include The Strange Ones (directed by Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein), The Substitute (directed by Talya Lavie), Patrol (directed by John Patton Ford), and The Poodle Trainer (directed by Vance Malone), among others. The Dance Program, choreographed by the legendary Charmaine Warren (NYU/Tisch, The Ailey School) and the Wassaic Project Dance Committee, will feature performances by an all-star cast that includes Malinda Ray Allen, Jamel Gaines (Creative Outlet Dance Theater), Vincent Hardy, Helen Heinaman (Viewpointe), Maré Hieronimus, Earl Moseley (Institute for the Arts), Becky Sellinger, and Antonia Urzua. The performances will embrace the unique structure and environment of the Maxon Mills as the dancers interact with the art installations and audiences inside and outside the exhibition spaces.

ABOUT THE WASSAIC PROJECT

The Wassaic Project is an artist-run sustainable, multidisciplinary arts organization that focuses on community engagement and facilitates artists and participants to exhibit, discuss, and connect with art, each other, our unique site, and the surrounding community.

We seek to make connections between artists of all disciplines. We facilitate interaction and collaboration among artists and the public by utilizing our historic location to create new ways of working in the arts and to inspire new ways of seeing art. The Wassaic Project’s activities include an annual summer festival, a year-round artist residency, studio visits/critiques for artists involved with the organization by guest curators and visiting artists, artist workshops with community members, published catalogs, and fundraising exhibitions in Wassaic and New York City. Our programs intend to generate dialogue and collaboration across geographic, ideological and disciplinary boundaries.

GETTING THERE:

Maxon Mills and The Luther Barn are located within walking distance from Metro North’s Wassaic station. For schedules and fares, visit the MTA’s website at http://mta.info/index.html.

For more information on the Wassaic Project’s Summer Festival and its year-round programming, visit www.wassaicproject.org.