Warwick to host Summer Arts Festival July 9-18

WARWICK-The 5th Warwick Summer Arts Festival, a 10-day celebration of the arts, will take place July 9-18 throughout the Town of Warwick. Concerts will include the puppet/theater company Arm-of-the-Sea, the Afro-pop, world-beat band Femme Nameless, activist/singer/songwriter Holly Near, and a family concert with the beloved singer/songwriter Tom Chapin following the 4th Annual Art Parade down Main Street in the Village of Warwick on July 18. In addition, Warwick Windows will, once again, grace the storefronts with a visual arts display throughout the Festival; The Artists Studio Tour will be presented on the 2nd weekend; a mini-film festival premieres at the Warwick Community Center; and the healing arts of Warwick will be represented during an evening walking tour and a day of demonstrations at Stanley Deming Park. This year's Warwick Summer Arts Festival opens on July 9 from 5-8 p.m. at the Gallery at Port of Call in the Village of Warwick. The storefronts of the Village and the Gallery will display the work of over 40 visual artists including work from the Artists Studio Tour. Jazz singer Judi Silvano and her company Moving Together will perform at around 7:30 p.m. Arm-of-the-Sea Theater returns to Warwick in an original production "To Defy the Beast." Inspired by Barbara Ehrenreich's book Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War, this puppet/theater pageant is written and designed by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden and features the music of Thomas Workman and the six member Big Sky Ensemble. The performance includes larger than life puppets, an original score and a cast that includes Warwick community members. The show is not recommended for children under eight as it can be a bit scary. The performance will take place at Town Park on Union Corners Road on Saturday, July 10, at 8 p.m. On Scheuermann Farms in the Black Dirt of Pine Island, afro-pop, world-beat, all-girl band "Femme Nameless" will throw a "dance to the setting sun then under the stars while eating ice cream" party. "Femme Nameless" was named by New York's Village Voice as a "must see" band. The ensemble is made up of some of the finest up-and-coming musicians in New York City including founder Toli Nameless, a graduate of the New School Jazz Conservatory. The group sound is inspired by various forms of world music and incorporates a message of unity for all people. On July 12, 13 and 14, The Warwick Valley Community Center presents A Mini Film Fest of documentary films. Six films will be shown over the three evenings. On Monday, July 12 filmmaker/director/choreographer Tamar Rogaff will present two films documenting performance works that she created. Demeters Daughters, chronicling the story of six teenage girls from New York's Lower Eastside, and Summer in Ivye, the film about a performance Rogaff created in Belarus that tells the story of love and loss in the woods where 2,500 victims of the holocaust lay buried. Also on Monday, the Festival premieres the documentary Girls and More, the first in a series of films about adolescent girls by filmmaker Susan MacMillan and therapist Judith Kuppersmith. On Tuesday, former Warwickian Ann Macksoud and her producing partner John Ankele present two films. The Global Banquet Politics of Food examines how the corporate globalization of food threatens the livelihoods of small farmers in the U.S. and in developing countries. Arms for the Poor reveals the murky world of our weapons-export business building a dramatic case against the military-industrial complex. The Film Fest concludes on Wednesday evening with a film by Brett Morgan, On the Ropes, an intimate, gripping documentary that follows three aspiring young boxers from the tough streets of Brooklyn. Winner of the Special Jury Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, the film reflects the complexity of lives lived in poverty and the flaws of the criminal justice system. "To Dust…A Community Song" is an original work created for the Festival featuring the work of Linda Mensch, choreographer and artistic director of the Moving Company Modern Dance Center, dressage rider Ute Frevert, the return of the Children's Festival Chorus under the direction of David Crone, poets Donna Spector Donna Reis, Mary Makofske, Elaine Knight and Lois Karlin, and singers Jody and James Weatherstone, Robert Vincent Smith and Henry James Smith. The evening-length work, directed by Elizabeth Reese, was inspired by the setting, a riding arena, and the word "Dust" and all that it implies from the miniscule to the celestial. The evening will end with a drumming circle and all are invited to bring an instrument. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. Winslow Therapeutic Riding Center, 328 17A. Singer/songwriter/activist Holly Near will perform on Saturday evening at Stanley-Deming Park at 7:30 p.m. with pianist John Bucchino. Near is one of those rare performers who is equally at ease singing in a church, at a rally, or from the stage of Carnegie Hall. A skilled stylist, her voice comfortably embraces country, folk, jazz, and musical theater; this versatility enhances her work as a political singer. She has collaborated with an astounding array of artists including Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Arlo Guthrie, Mercedes Sosa, Bernice Johnson Reagan, Bonnie Raitt, and Chris Williamson. Near has released more than 20 recordings including her most recent CD"Edge." The Closing Celebration includes a parade followed by a family concert by Tom Chapin in an uplifting finale to a whirlwind week. Chapin returns to Warwick by popular demand. Anyone who has seen Tom Chapin perform knows what Billboard Magazine means when they say he is "one of those natural-born entertainers who, with nothing more than guitar in hand, can totally captivate." His musicianship, great songwriting and personal warmth shine through whether he's performing in a major concert hall, an outdoor festival, in front of a symphony orchestra or in an intimate coffeehouse. Tom's concerts span generations and stereotypes. He says: "Mine is not a traditional music, but it comes from a tradition. My musical heroes are people like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie who wrote and sang real songs for real people; for everyone, old, young, and in between." All are welcome to join in the Annual Art Parade down Main Street. Show up at 6 p.m. at Lewis Park in the center of the Village of Warwick and join in the march down Main Street. "Wear art, carry art, be art!" is the parade's motto. The parade steps off at 6:30 and the concert follows at 7 p.m. Expanding from the performing arts, the Festival is including both the visual arts and the healing arts in its offerings. On Thursday, July 15, the Festival is sponsoring a Healing Arts Walkabout in the Village of Warwick. Participants are invited to visit five studios in the Village of Warwick and learn about the work of over 20 practitioners.