Kaleidoscope fest takes art to the street
SLIPPERY ROCK — Kaleidoscope Arts Festival will take over Main Street with a wave of music this year.
The festival, which lasts from Wednesday through April 29, will be on Main Street for the first time on April 19.
The festival, in its seventh year, has traditionally been held on the Slippery Rock University campus. The change was planned to get the community more involved in the event, which is sponsored by the SRU Humanities, Fine and Performing Arts Department.
Opening festivities will be on Wednesday and include a campus barbeque and a 6 p.m. performance by the poetry-rock band Coyote Run.
Rachela Permenter, festival director, said she's especially excited to offer free music to the community on April 19 on Main Street.
Twenty-five bands will be performing on three different stages between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., with a free evening concert by Guaranteed Irish, a Pittsburgh band, said Permenter. That concert will be at 8 p.m. in the building across the street from North Country Brewing Co.
Several bands are from the local area and Pittsburgh, with some coming from as far as Tennessee and Washington, D.C., Permenter said. "We have more bands and more artists than we've ever had for the festival," she said.
More than 6,000 people attended last year's festival.
Other additions this year include a birthday dinner party for Shakespeare, a Japanese Taiko drummer concert and a battle of the bands.
Children's Day is always a popular event as well, with storytelling, arts and crafts, music, food and outdoor theater from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 26 on campus. All Children's Day activities are free, including an evening play, "After Ashley," to be performed at 8 p.m. in Miller Auditorium.
This year's Children's Day will feature the Zany Umbrella Circus, with an old-fashioned big top tent and a free show at 3 p.m., said Nora Ambrosio, event organizer.
The Pittsburgh-based circus uses art as a vehicle for promoting dialogue, teaching cooperation skills and encouraging children to use their imaginations to create artwork of their own. Performances include puppetry, music, storytelling and street theater, clowns riding bicycles, stilt walkers and tightrope climbers.
With that and other festival events, the planning committee tries to provide a variety of arts opportunities to the community.
"There's something for everyone," Ambrosio said. "We tried to create a very, very, broad program this year. We want to hit on everyone's interest and encourage them to see something new."
The Macoskey Center will also host an Earth Festival on April 19 with events for adults and children. Shuttle buses are available to transport people between the two festivals.
In addition, two SRU jazz combos will perform that day in free concerts at 4 and 8 p.m. on Main Street.
Information about all festival events is available at the Web site, www.sru.edu.
