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Spaces and places for art
Davis Square dances to ArtBeat
BY NINA MACLAUGHLIN

Davis Square became a stop on the expanded Red Line in 1985. One year later, the Somerville Arts Council (SAC) started ArtBeat, a two-day, multi-media, multi-performance, multi-generational Davis Square–wide arts festival. But even as rents spiral ever upward in the reputed haven of hip, arts budgets shrivel. For SAC, the money is down about 35 percent from last year, but ArtBeat’s organizers contend that the 17th installment of the festival this Friday and Saturday won’t suffer for it and might even benefit. " When times are tough, " says SAC program manager Rachel Strutt, " it forces you to become more creative. You have to do more with less. " Having a small staff (SAC has two full-time staff members) and a lack of funds, she adds, means that ArtBeat isn’t " as streamlined or produced as other festivals, and that’s the beauty of it. "

ArtBeat’s theme this year is " Spaces/Places, " and its focus is twofold. In one way, explains SAC executive director Gregory Jenkins, the theme speaks to Somerville’s " dearth of studio space for artists " and explores alternative studio spaces with a group of " plein air " painters setting up easels in Davis Square, as well as through outdoor dance performances by Hoi Polloi and Deborah Butler. " Spaces/Places " also points to the Somerville community’s immigrant population. " The question is, " Jenkins says, " how immigrant communities, both old and new, bring their cultures to the physical landscape and cultural landscape of Somerville. " The performers reflect the local/global scope: the country-crooning Darlings, the Brazilian group Banda Ponto Com, Haitians Chita-sou-do’m, Luna Puppet Theater, and the handful of other groups and performers presenting music, dance, and theater from Tibet, Japan, and Cuba are all Somerville-based. Boston beloveds Kay Hanley and Frank Morey will also take the stages. " It’s a great showcase for the cultural scene in Somerville, " says Strutt.

And though the arrival of Starbucks signals that tides are turning toward the mainstream for the once-bohemian square, this affair continues to be quirky. " We definitely make an effort to keep ArtBeat offbeat, " says Strutt. Besides a range of bands, dance groups, and theater troupes, this year’s edition will feature an art café (where a wait staff nourish you with pieces of art), collaborative comic-book illustration at the Interactive Comix table, and a multi-cultural tapestry using a human loom. And look for the whistle-twirling lifeguards keeping the peace on the Davis Square traffic island. ArtBeat will close with a Pajama Soul Dance Party complete with " disturbing stuffed-animal " decorations, hula-hoop and sleepwear contests, and a slew of PJ-clad partygoers pajammin’ to soul spun by DJ Ms. Firecracker. " We’re just trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got, " says Jenkins. " We’re just trying to work hard to make something good happen. "

ArtBeat runs July 18 and 19 in and around Davis Square. On Friday at 6 p.m., Banda Ponto Com, Chita-sou-do’m, Apollo Sunshine, and Hoi Polloi will take the Seven Hills Park stage. The Spaces/Places Film Fest starts at 9:30 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square. Saturday starting at noon on the Seven Hills Park stage, CuruBandé, Frank Morey, Moussa Traore, the Darlings, the Rosebuds, and Kay Hanley will perform; meanwhile Tibetan Song and Dance, the Blind King, Jared Mason, and Slim Jim & the Mad Cows will appear starting at 1 p.m. on the Elm Street stage. A dance showcase at the Somerville Theatre at 12:30 p.m. will feature Bennett Dance, Lasandhi Dance Theater, Meghan McLyman Dance, and Snappy Dance Theater. Jimmy Tingle’s Off Broadway Theatre, 255 Elm Street, will host the Luna Puppet Theater, Rough & Tumble Theatre, and Lenguaviva starting at 1 p.m. Starting at 12:30 p.m. on the Elm Street plaza, Class Act will present political satire and Deborah Butler will offer a butoh dance performance. The Pajama Soul Dance Party runs from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Davis Square VFW, 371 Summer Street. For more information visit www.somervilleartscouncil.org, or call (617) 625-6600.


Issue Date: July 18 - 24, 2003
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