Kidoinfo, one of our media sponsors, is giving out some free tickets to Bright Night.
Enter their contest at http://www.kidoinfo.com
If you don’t know about kidoinfo, they are a great resource for parents and people with kids– lots of great info and intel on what to do with kids and families in the Providence area.
Posted in Uncategorized
WaterFire, Bright Night to Light Up New Year’s Eve
Two Providence arts organizations come together to ring in 2010 with circles of fire at Waterplace Basin, a Venetian masquerade, and a full-stage magic show
Watch on
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous WaterFire donor, Providence will enjoy another brightly lit and spectacular New Year’s Eve on the 15th Anniversary of WaterFire.
“As we prepare to ring in the New Year we are optimistic about the future and thankful for life’s many blessings,” said Mayor Cicilline. “Providence is especially thankful for the generosity exhibited by a long-time WaterFire donor, and the contributions of Local 1033, in coming together to support this very important event for the city. This is the kind of partnership between the arts and community that makes the Creative Capital such a unique 
and wonderful place.”
Executive Director of WaterFire Providence Barnaby Evans said, “Like every other arts group we are struggling financially, but our mission is to use the arts to enliven the City of Providence. We felt we had to keep the fires burning to make it a bright New Year’s Eve. I am delighted our staff, volunteers, and donors have stepped forward to make a lighting on our 15th anniversary possible. And we are tremendously pleased we could help Bright Night and its wonderful artists as well.”
“We’re so thrilled to be working with WaterFire on their fifteenth anniversary celebration” said Adam Gertsacov, Festival Director of Bright Night Providence, “and of course immensely grateful for this donation. This has been a tough year. It’s really making a big difference for us to ensure that this New Year’s Eve remains Bright.”
Bright Night announces headlinersPosted in Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 15, 2009
PRESS CONTACT:
John Crisafulli
(401) 255-3739
john@waterfire.org
PROVIDENCE – The fires will burn brightly this New Year’s Eve thanks to a generous gift from a longtime donor to WaterFire. WaterFire was first lit on New Year’s Eve in Waterplace Basin exactly fifteen years ago, so when WaterFire heard that Bright Night Providence was struggling and that the city might be dark on New Year’s Eve, they asked a long-time donor to help both WaterFire and Bright Night. WaterFire is pleased to join with Bright Night and Mayor David N. Cicilline to announce they will share this anonymous gift with Bright Night Providence to ensure that the Capital City is alive with light, art, and community this New Year’s Eve. Join WaterFire in Waterplace Basin at Waterplace Park at 5:30 p.m. on December 31st to kick off the evenings’ events! Enjoy the fires and then explore all the great performances that Bright Night is offering.
WaterFire to light Waterplace Basin and Memorial Park
The circle of fires in Waterplace Basin will burn from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. and the 12 fires in Memorial Park will burn until after midnight. Please join us in Memorial Park for the stroke of midnight and a group singing of Auld Lange Syne and Happy Birthday to WaterFire, to start off the New Year!
Executive Director of WaterFire Providence Barnaby Evans said, “Like every other arts group we are struggling financially, but our mission is to use the arts to enliven the City of Providence. We felt we had to keep the fires burning to make it a bright New Year’s Eve. I am delighted our staff, volunteers, and donors have stepped forward to make a lighting on our 15th anniversary possible. And we are tremendously pleased we could help Bright Night and its wonderful artists as well.”
Bright Night announces headliners
“We’re so thrilled to be working with WaterFire on their fifteenth anniversary celebration” said Adam Gertsacov, Festival Director of Bright Night Providence, “and of course immensely grateful for this donation. This has been a tough year. It’s really making a big difference for us to ensure that this New Year’s Eve remains Bright.”
Bright Night Providence is Rhode Island’s Largest New Year’s Eve Celebration. Begun in 2003 when First Night Providence announced it could not go forward, this artist-run festival creates a family-friendly and fun atmosphere to ring in the New Year, with a focus on showcasing local artists and performers.
This year’s festival will feature over 150 performers in 15 venues throughout downtown Providence. Highlights include IllusionQuest, a full-stage magic and illusion spectacular featuring master illusionist David Garrity, local legends Big Nazo Puppets, Grammy-winner Bill Harley, Jazz saxophonist Greg Abate, the RI Children’s Chorus, blues band Black and White and a host of other performers.
Tickets for Bright Night Providence are $10 if purchased before 12/24/09, $15 beginning December 25. Schedules, tickets, and more information are available online at https://www.brightnight.org or by calling 401-621-6123.
“Providence is fortunate to have two great arts organizations–Bright Night and WaterFire–that will join together on New Year’s Eve to light up the city,” said Mayor David N. Cicilline. “Grammy Award-winning musicians, illusionists, Big Nazo puppets and many more exciting entertainers will contribute to in the inimitable energy and joy shared by our community on Bright Night.”
Eyes Wide Open Masquerade celebrates WaterFire’s 15th Anniversary
Also on New Year’s Eve, WaterFire will host a Venetian Masquerade Gala, Eyes Wide Open, celebrating fifteen years of WaterFire. This fundraising gala hosted by Barrett Bready and the WaterFire Board of Directors is going to be a sensational event in the historic Old Stone Bank Building on South Main Street. The evening will include a performance by Quixotic Fusion, a Kansas-City based ensemble of inventive, avant-garde musicians, dancers, aerialists and composers, some of whom will perform mid-air, while suspended from the Gold Dome. The event will also feature world renowned tenor Nathan Granner, one of the Three American Tenors, who will present a range of wonderful offerings. For more information please visit www.waterfire.org/newyears.
Posted in bright night, donation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PLEASE POST OR PRINT
KILL DATE 12/31/09
MEDIA CONTACT: ADAM GERTSACOV, 401-351-2596 adam@brightnight.org
PRESS PHOTOS AVAILABLE VIA EMAIL.
BRIGHT NIGHT 2010 PROMISES TO BE MAGICAL
Master Illusionist David Garrity will headline the seventh year of Bright Night Providence.
December 9, 2009, Providence, RI
This year, New Year’s Eve in Providence promises to be a magical evening. That’s because the headlining act for this year’s artist-run celebration Bright Night Providence will be master illusionist David Garrity in a show called IllusionQuest.
IllusionQuest is an exciting, full-stage, magic and illusion spectacular. Illusionist Garrity and his team magically appear, vanish, pass through solid objects and even float people from the audience.
Highlights from the performance include a comical illusion where David’s assistant ends up all twisted up; David also teaches a volunteer from the audience how to cut his assistant in half; and the finale features a breathtaking escape where David is chained to a table with 32 steel spikes suspended above him and he must escape before the spikes fall.
“We’re really excited to be presenting IllusionQuest this year,” says Adam Gertsacov, Festival Director of Bright Night Providence. “David is one of the top performers in his field, and he’s been wowing people in a variety of places, from Six Flags to Sweden, and lots of places in between. We’re happy to bring him to Providence. It’s the kind of family friendly show that’s got something for everybody. I really think he’s going to make more than a few people’s jaws drop in amazement.”
IllusionQuest will perform three shows in Providence as part of Bright Night. The shows will be performed at 6, 8, and 10 pm at the RI Convention Center. Your Bright Night ticket (a Tyvek wristband) will guarantee you admission to one of those three performances, plus more than 50 other performances at 12 other venues throughout the day and evening (on a space available basis).
Other artists on the Bright Night bill include local legends Big Nazo Puppets, bebop great Greg Abate, Grammy-winning storyteller/singer Bill Harley, a blues swing/dance party featuring the Black and White Blues Band, mentalist Rory Raven, storyteller Mark Binder, a special Bright Night Poetry Slam, and a host of other artists and events. A full schedule will be available in mid-December on the Bright Night website, https://www.brightnight.org.
Tickets to Bright Night are available online at www.ArtTixRI.com, and in person at all BankRI locations, all OOP! stores, and at the EastSide Marketplace.
For more information about tickets call 401-621-6123 or visit https://www.brightnight.org
Tickets are $10 each if purchased on or before December 24. Starting December 25, tickets are $15 each or a family fourpack for $50. There are a limited amount of tickets, so purchase early to insure getting your choice of times for the IllusionQuest show.
Donation and corporate sponsorship opportunities are still available. To donate to Bright Night’s GIVE $20, TELL 10 campaign, visit http://donate.brightnight.org
To find out more about Bright Night Providence, visit https://www.brightnight.org.
To find out more about David Garrity’s IllusionQuest, visit http://www.magicalartist.com.
Posted in Uncategorized
If we’re looking for low-cost options for this year’s Bright Night Providence, I’ll bet the White House party crashers, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, would make an appearance. (Though they might be more likely to come if they’re not invited.)
I’m guessing Sarah Palin would come to “Rogue Island” for the state’s largest New Year’s Eve celebration if we give her a chance to peddle her new book, “Going Rogue.” (My favorite part is when she misattributes a quote from American Indian activist John Wooden Legs to former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.)
And if we can work something out with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, perhaps disbarred Providence lawyer John M. Cicilline, the imprisoned brother of Mayor David N. Cicilline, could sit on a stool, play the ukulele and set off sparklers. (Sentenced to 18 months after pleading guilty to conspiring to shake down drug-dealer clients, he is scheduled to be released to a halfway house on Dec. 29, so maybe his performance could count as community service.)
Of course, I’m joking. (Everyone knows Cicilline can’t play the ukulele.)
I’m actually a big fan of Bright Night. We brought our kids downtown last year despite frigid temperatures, 8 inches of snow and 25-mph winds, and since so many people stayed home, we had great seats at the Providence College/St. John’s basketball game. We wandered over to the Convention Center to see the Nerveless Nocks Daredevil Thrill Show. And later, we saw a performer that we referred to as the “existential clown.” (She had a trombone and talked about the apocalypse.)
So I was sorry to hear that Bright Night Providence is slashing expenses and making an emergency appeal for donations. The city usually provides Bright Night with $20,000, but amid this year’s fiscal crisis, the city has committed to providing just $5,000 in city services and no cash. The festival has applied for a grant from the Providence Tourism Council, which in the past has provided $25,000 for a fireworks display. But since the festival won’t have fireworks this year, it’s unclear if it can get the grant.
I understand why the city is cutting its contribution. The state unemployment rate stands at 12.9 percent (the third-highest rate in the country). And this year the city raised property taxes even as it slashed millions of dollars from the city budget, froze wages and axed jobs.
You’d have to be an existential clown to spend $20,000 in taxpayer money on New Year’s Eve fun. Still, Bright Night does provide a civic beacon, a magnet that draws thousands of families together to see musicians, magicians, actors, dancers, singers, acrobats, clowns, puppeteers and storytellers.
So I hope businesses and everyday residents heed the call of festival director Adam G. Gertsacov, who hopes 2,010 people will donate $20 and pass on the appeal to 10 other people. (Go to www.brightnight.org.)
Gertsacov noted that local artists launched Bright Night Providence seven years ago after First Night Providence faltered. He said the event boosts the local economy, bringing up to 20,000 people downtown, and 90 percent of the performers come from the Rhode Island area. Most importantly, the event offers a chance to “come out and celebrate the New Year in a family-friendly way and celebrate Rhode Island’s most important cultural asset, which is its artists,” he said.
“We make people happy,” Gertsacov said. “And we don’t want the city to go dark on New Year’s Eve.”
efitzpat@projo.com
1:08 PM Thu, Dec 03, 2009 | Permalink
Philip Marcelo
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Bright Night Providence, an arts-oriented festival that is billed as the state’s largest New Year’s Eve celebration, is cutting expenses and making emergency appeals for major donations after losing city funding, according to Festival Director Adam G. Gertsacov.
The city normally covers about one-third of the festival’s $120,000 to $125,000 budget, said Gertsacov. But city Director of Art, Culture and Tourism Lynne McCormack has told Gertsacov that the city will be unable to come up with its $20,000 allocation for the festival.
The Providence Tourism Council, a city board that is financed by proceeds from the hotel tax, normally contributes an additional $25,000, but the festival’s request for funding has not yet been approved, said Gertsacov.
“The mayor has been one of strongest supporters to date,” Gertsacov said Thursday. “But this year the state budget crisis has affected the city, and it is unable to provide the support it has given us in previous years. This has put the festival in peril.”
Gertsacov says the festival is still moving forward, but “cutting costs like crazy.”
It has launched a grass roots campaign to get 2,010 people to give $20 and pass on the appeal to ten other people. Gertsacov says that artists have agreed to take a pay cut in order to assure that the festival has the same number of performers as in year’s past. He says he is also making “emergency proposals to corporate donors.”
Started in 2003 by a group of local artists and performers, Bright Night Providence was the successor to the city’s long-running First Night Providence event.
Last year, it featured 150 performers at 22 downtown venues from noon to midnight, including poetry, magic, music, skating, storytelling and dancing.
Channel 10 covered our money woes.
But they didn’t mention our website–or how people can donate.
This year, though, the festival, which has drawn as many as 20,000 people to downtown Providence, has had its brush with the dark side of the economy.
“Mayor Cicilline and the city of Providence have been one of strongest supporters to date,” said Festival Director Adam G. Gertsacov. “But this year the state budget crisis has effected them, and therefore us, and the city is unable to provide the support they have given us in previous years. This has put the festival in peril.”
“The City recognizes the intrinsic value that Bright Night provides to our community. Over the past six years we have invested over 100 thousand dollars and provided extensive technical support. Bright Night provides our city’s artists with important work opportunities and our city’s residents access to arts experiences. We are committed to continuing to work with the organization but the success of Bright Night requires a committment from the entire community especially during these economic times,” said Lynne McCormack, Director of Art, Culture + Tourism.
Rather than cancel the festivities, the artists and performers of Bright Night are making the risky decision to go forward anyway. And they’re not raising the ticket prices either. Tickets will be available for $10 and $15, depending on when you buy them, just as they were last year.
“We are committed to making this an affordable festival”, says Gertsacov.
So how are they going to make up the short fall?
“We’re starting a grass roots 20/10 campaign to get 2010 people to give $20 and then tell 10 people. We’re making emergency proposals to corporate donors. And we’re cutting costs like crazy (even though we’ve already been operating on a shoestring.) And nearly every artist I’ve talked to has agreed to take a paycut in order to make sure the festival happens.”
Gertsacov adds ” It is a risky proposition, but life is about risk. And after speaking with a number of the performers, it seemed clear that this option is preferable to just letting the city go dark on New Year’s Eve”.
It’s the performers of Bright Night. who are taking the real risk, says Gertsacov. “Our contract has a disaster/bonus clause that states that if there’s a financial disaster, that the artist fee may be cut in order that everybody gets paid something.” adds Gertsacov. “Over the last six years, we’ve paid out over $35,000 in artist bonuses, and never had to invoke the disaster clause, even after last year’s snow storm. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to make it through this year too.”
“This is one of my favorite events to perform at,” said Providence author and storyteller Mark Binder, who has performed at Bright Night for the last six years. “I bring my family and get to share my work with people who are always appreciative. Maybe I won’t get paid for my work this year, but I look at it as a contribution to my community.”
—–
To find out more about Bright Night Providence, please visit their website at https://www.brightnight.org.
To donate to Bright Night Providence, please visit http://www.donate.brightnight.org
To purchase tickets ($10 if purchased before December 24, $15 afterwards, visit https://www.brightnight.org or call Art-Tix 401-621-6123.
###
FAMILY OF MUSICIANS PLAYS A NEW TUNE- IT’S CALLED PHILANTHROPY
(May 29, 2009) PROVIDENCE, RI– Fishing With Finnegan, a local family musical act from Mapleville, RI, are learning how to play a whole new tune and it’s not “We’re In the Money.” The group, which plays original and traditional Irish music and is comprised of four siblings with the last name Ryan, have agreed to donate one third of all of their June CD sales to Bright Night Providence, Rhode Island’s non-profit artist-run New Year’s Eve celebration.
“We were raised that it’s important to give back to the community, and so that’s what we’re doing. This is clearly a great cause and, as Mom and Dad always remind us…charity begins at home,” says Mike Ryan, the eldest of the siblings. “We think that Bright Night is such a great event and we’re glad to help in whatever way we can.”
“It’s about keeping things local”, says Mary Ryan, coordinator of the group and life-long Rhode Islander. “Rhode Island is such a great place to be. We have a duty to make it the best we can. By supporting organizations like Bright Night Providence, we are building Rhode Island’s economy, supporting local artists, families and businesses and helping us to be a better state.”
“Their generosity is a lot of what Bright Night is all about, “ says Adam Gertsacov, festival director for Bright Night. “Every little bit helps. We’re now entering our seventh year, and it’s thanks to the generosity and community spirit of artists like the Ryan’s that we’ve managed to keep on coming back.”
Bright Night Providence started in 2003 when First Night Providence announced it couldn’t go forward. A group of RI artists, with Gertsacov at the fore, have been producing the festival since then. The festival focuses on local artists- over 90% of the 150 performers that performed last year were from Rhode Island.
Fishing With Finnegan have been playing their family brand of Celtic, Irish, Scottish, English and American music since 2006. They are the recent nominees for the Best Celtic Act of the Year and Best New Act of the Year by Motif Magazine’s 2009 Awards contest, and they were awarded Best New Americana Act for 2009.
Their self-titled CD Fishing With Finnegan features 12 tracks of traditional and original Gaelic music and is available via the mail, and at all of their performances. Sample tracks are available on their website (listed below)
To purchase a CD and help Bright Night Providence send a check or money order for $15.00 U.S. (plus $1.90 for domestic shipping, or $4.00 international) to:
Fishing With Finnegan
P.O. Box 346
Mapleville, RI 02839
$5 of your sale will be donated to Bright Night at the end of the month.
http://www.fishingwithfinnegan.com
To find out more about Bright Night Providence, visit their website https://www.brightnight.org
Sample Tracks from the Album Fishing With Finnegan
Haul Away, Joe (live)
Em Set (live)
General Taylor (live)
Wild Rover (live)
Flower of Maherally
Posted in bright night
Yes To Running! Bill Harley Live
Bill Harley
[Round River Records]
Bill Harley, a regular Bright Night Performer won a Grammy award last night. That makes his second award in 3 years!
“Go find this guy! Harley has the heart of a child and a love of life we can all share.” — LA Parent
* This live double CD captures the essence of Grammy Award winner Bill Harley’s vibrant, hilarious, tender, and wise songwriting and storytelling.
* Back to school stories provide an irreverent and true look at elementary school days.
* Live versions of fan favorite songs and stories.
“Harley’s witty ebullient performance will have listeners young and old laughing out loud.” — Publishers Weekly
“When national treasure Bill Harley releases a new kids’ album, it’s good reason to celebrate.” — Family Fun
“Bill Harley’s never forgotten the day-to-day reality of being a kid, and it’s one of his greatest assets.” — Billboard
CONGRATULATIONS BILL!
Posted in Uncategorized
