WESLEYAN’S CENTER FOR THE ARTS PRESENTS THE
Feet to the Fire Festival
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An Eco-Arts Festival at Middletown’s Veterans Park Explores the Impact of Climate Change

Middletown, Conn., March 25, 2008—Each of us has an impact on the world around us—we leave footprints that are currently changing the planet. How can we become more aware of our environmental impact and imagine a sustainable future? On Saturday, May 10, Wesleyan University engages the arts to explore the possibilities through the Feet to the Fire Festival at Middletown’s Veterans Park. Feet to the Fire is an eco-arts festival for the whole family featuring music, dance and theater performances, interactive exhibits and a farmers market with food from Connecticut vendors. Exhibits coordinated by the Jonah Center for Earth and Art will highlight energy conservation, sustainability and resilient communities.

Ann Carlson, an award-winning choreographer, launches a new series of works, Planet Next, for the Festival. Planet Next is comprised of art events that envision life on a future earth. From earth-clad bands to sinking choirs, Ms. Carlson will stage an event full of surprise, humor and unexpected depth.

The Festival takes place on Saturday, May 10 from noon to 5pm, rain or shine. Admission is free. The event is located at Veterans Memorial Park in Middletown, located just off Newfield Street (Route 3). In the spirit of the Festival, the organizers encourage you to consider your environmental footprint as you plan your trip to the festival. For travel alternatives, more information and directions visit www.wesleyan.edu/feetttothefire or call 860-685-3355.

The event will also feature:
A sculpture garden, labyrinth, theater, dance, music, poetry, art and performances by:

Art Farm’s Circus for a Fragile Planet · Marion Belanger · Tom Callinan · Electric Junkyard Gamelan · Green Street Arts Center · Independent Day School · Kalimba Liberian Group · Geoff Kaufman · Jesse Karlsberg · The Middletuners · Mixashawn · Noah Baerman Trio · Oddfellows Playhouse · RJ and the On-the-Spot Jug Band · Susan Romano · Sirius Coyote · Toussaint Liberator · performances by Wesleyan students and much more.

About Feet to the Fire
The Festival is a part of Feet to the Fire: Exploring Global Climate Change from Science to Art, an eighteen-month project which includes research opportunities for a team of students and faculty to explore first-hand the effects of global warming, fieldwork studies in art and science, performances, pedagogical exchanges in existing courses, commissioning of artists, and convening of experts. The project is funded in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Wesleyan’s grant is one of only eight grants given to challenge campus-based performing arts presenters to integrate their programs more organically within the academic environment.

About Ann Carlson
Ann Carlson’s work borrows from the practices of choreography, visual arts, time-based performance, public and conceptual art, while taking the form of solo theatrical pieces, compositions for dance companies, gallery based performance/installation and large-scale site-specific works. Carlson has received over thirty commissions to create new work, seen throughout the U.S., in Europe, and Mexico. Most recently Carlson has been building vocal scores and earth works with day laborers. Awards include a 2006 Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, Harvard University; and a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship. Carlson was the first choreographer to receive the Cal Arts/Alpert Award.

The Festival is co-sponsored by Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts and Environmental Studies Program, the Jonah Center for Earth and Art and the City of Middletown, in collaboration with the Center for Creative Research and the Green Street Arts Center.

The Center for the Arts (www.wesleyan.edu/cfa) is an 11-building complex on the Wesleyan campus that houses the departments of art and art history, music, theater and dance. It serves as a cultural center for the region, the state and New England. The CFA includes the 400-seat Theater, the 260-seat Cinema, the World Music Hall (a non-Western performance space), the 414-seat Crowell Concert Hall and the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery.

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Visit the CFA's Website: http://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/