A cornerstone of the Heineken City Arts Fest programming is The Ecstasy of Influence: An interdisciplinary poetry, music and visual art showcase at Town Hall. The event features readings by acclaimed Northwest poets Heather McHugh, Kary Wayson, Kate Lebo and Erika Wilder, new music by spunky bluegrass trio The Half Brothers, live painting by Chrom-A-Matic and hosted by Jennifer Borges Foster.
Heather McHugh is one of the most distinct and important voices in American poetry. Her words sing off the page and tickle the brain. This remarkable pairing of wit and hymn has transfixed audiences for decades, and in this reading we will celebrate the cerebral song of McHugh while taking a closer look at her influence on NW poetics. Heather will be joined by 3 of her most talented former and current students, Kary Wayson, Kate Lebo and Erika Wilder. We'll hear short readings from each of these young luminaries punctuated by songs based on McHugh's poems by spunky bluegrass trio The Half Brothers, followed by a reading from Heather McHugh herself. The event will be hosted by Jennifer Borges Foster. Chrom-A-Matic, a visual arts collective and on-the-spot painting troupe will be creating new paintings based on the poems and songs presented throughout the evening. These paintings will be auctioned off after the readings to benefit Heather McHugh's favorite charity, the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Individual performer bios below.
The Ecstasy of Influence takes place during Heineken City Arts Fest's opening night, Thursday October 20th -- doors at 7pm, show at 8pm -- and is all ages. Individual tickets for the event are $13adv/$15dos, available through Town Hall. Please note: Attendees who purchase festival wristbands will be admitted on a first come, first served basis.
About Heineken City Arts Fest wristbands: All access festival wristbands -- and staggered performance schedules -- allow festival attendees to see multiple bands and headliners in the same night. Wristbands get you into all shows. We stop a LITTLE short of "guarantee" because there are tiny venues like Rendezvous and the Comet can't quite fit y'all. But we've held many more seats back at every venue this year and only sell a limited number of wristbands to make sure all of our wristband buyers get in.
Heineken City Arts Fest is produced by City Arts, a multimedia company that produces a free monthly magazine that covers music, arts and urban life in the Puget Sound area as well as events throughout the year. The festival sold 23,000 tickets in its inaugural year, with featured performances from the likes of Belle and Sebastian, She & Him, Cat Power and more. Recent City Arts covers have featured Seattle artists Macklemore, Shabazz Palaces and Head & the Heart. Heineken City Arts Fest aims to provide a different festival experience that embraces the indoor, urban lifestyle synonymous with the 9 month NW rainy season and captures the curatorial aesthetic of the monthly magazine. City Arts Magazine is owned and operated by Encore Media Group, a family-owned, Northwest-based publishing company. More information at
www.cityartsonline.com.
