Bright Night Providence

Our latest t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other memorabilia are now available via cafepress.com.

Profits from the shirts will be used to support Bright Night Providence artists.

Call for Artists and Volunteers: Bright Night Providence 2007

Bright Night Providence is Rhode Island’s largest New Year’s Eve Celebration. It is an artist-run arts oriented New Year’s Eve Celebration that features some of Rhode Island’s best musicians, actors, singers, dancers, storytellers, acrobats, magicians, and clowns. Last year, over 50 groups performed, featuring over 150 performers on 23 stages, and over 20,000 people enjoyed one of our events.

If you are interested in being part of the wonderful fun that is Bright Night, visit www.brightnight.org to find out more about the opportunities available. At the current time, we are seeking volunteers to help plan and execute the festival, volunteers for the night of the event to make sure the festival runs smoothly, and donors to help fill our coffers and make sure that the festival can occur. We are also taking applications from performers and groups to fill our stages.

Be part of Providence’s Artist Renaissance. Get involved today!

For more information, visit www.brightnight.org or call Festival Director Adam Gertsacov at 401-351-2596.

Bright Night Providence 2006 had a lot of accomplishments. The third year of the artist-run arts oriented New Year’s Eve Celebration featured two fireworks displays, a special edition of Waterfire, over 75 performances of local stars, and one bonafide marriage proposal. Yes, that’s right. A marriage proposal.

Writes John Thibeault of Taunton, MA:

We had a room at the Biltmore and I was going to wait until the opening fireworks. I was looking from our room window for a good spot to pop the question. I saw that there was an area where I could set up the camera, then run across the street, get down on one knee and propose, all the while getting a picture of the moment. I couldn’t wait until the fireworks, so we went downstairs in the snow, to the area that I had seen from our room. I was about to set the camera up, when a teenager was walking by. I asked him if he could take our picture. I ran across the street, got down on my knee and then I heard the kid say, ‘Oh my God!!!’ As you can see from the picture, Melissa was surprised. Then we enjoyed the rest of Bright Night as a newly engaged couple and ended the evening with an incredible fireworks display.

The couple is planning to be married in October 2006 in Rockville Centre, New York.

On behalf of all of the artists, volunteers, and audience members of our festival, we wish the couple the very best, and hope that their wedding day will be a Bright Night indeed.

Mark Binder, one of Bright Night’s storytellers, posted this podcast from his performance last night.

Getting Baked with Grandma
Recorded Live at Bright Night Providence.
AS220 New Years Eve, 2005

If you are a Bright Night Ticket holder, you can get half-price parking at the Rhode Island Convention Center!

Here’s How:

1) Park in the Convention Center sometime before 5:30 pm on Saturday, December 31. Don’t forget to take your time-stamped ticket.

2) Go to the Providence Performing Arts Center (220 Weybosset St) between 12 noon & 10 pm)

3) Ask for your Parking “Chaser Ticket” You must have a Bright Night wristband.

4) Enjoy the festival!

5) Present both of your tickets to the attendant when you leave the garage (which is open 24/7)

6) Pay $4 instead of the normal price of $8.

Not sure where everything is? See a map of the festival

These are changes to the schedule that have occurred after 12/18/2005.

Checking the Accuweather forecast (and hopefully not jinxing it), they’ve said that they expect pretty good weather for New Year’s Eve in Providence.

High of 53!

Third Annual Bright Night Providence Celebration to feature two Fireworks Displays, a WaterFire, Chainsaw Juggling Ballet, & over 140 performers.

PROVIDENCE, RI.,December 19,2005 – Bright Night Providence, the artist-run New Year’s celebration now in its third year, will continue to keep New Year ‘s Eve bright in Providence. This year the festival will feature expanded children’s activities, a WaterFire, and two spectacular display of fireworks to start the New Year with a bang.

I’m very excited about this year,” says Adam Gertsacov, director of the festival, “Each year our festival has been able to grow a little. Being able to provide a family fireworks display, and additional afternoon kids’ activities is great for us, great for our audience, and great for the city.” The dual fireworks display is being sponsored by the Providence Tourism Council, Mohegan Sun, and Bluechip Properties, the developers of One Ten Luxury Residences. Other major sponsors include Sandler Sales Institute (Sales PHD), Open MRI of New England, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and the City of Providence.

“Bright Night Providence is one of the most vibrant arts organizations in the city” says Providence Mayor David Cicilline, “Adam and the artists are doing a great job. We’re happy to do what we can to support their efforts.”

Corporate sponsors are also pleased with the work of the Providence run festival. Says Mitchell Etess, President and CEO of Mohegan Sun, “I commend Bright Night organizers for their continued commitment to making New Year’s Eve fun for everyone young and old. Mohegan Sun is glad to be able to support the artists’ efforts to bring fireworks to the Providence skyllne.” Eamon O’Marah, Managing Partner of BlueChip Properties LLC, the developers of One Ten Luxury Residences in downtown Providence , echoed those sentiments. “BlueChip Properties is proud to be a new sponsor of the Bright Night fireworks, and we applaud the work of the many artists who make Bright Night a world class New Year’s Eve Celebration.”

Activities this year will include performances by Guinness record-holding jugglers The Passing Zone, who will juggle bowling balls, thighmasters, and running chainsaws for three shows at PPAC; a special edition of WaterFire (sponsored by BellaVista restaurant), and performances, art displays, and art workshops by over 140 performers throughout downtown Providence. Some of those artists & performers include Bill Harley, Big Nazo Puppets, the Lucky Band, Fusionworks Dance Company, Joan Merwyn Physical Theatre, the American Story Theatre, East West Black Belt Academy, Val Tutson, the Lucky Band, Michael Bresler, Mark Binder, the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, Davey the Clown, Marvelous Marvin Novogrodski, the Ocean State Children’s Chorus, the Narragansett Bay Chorus, Carolyn Martino, Lon Cerel, Chris Carbone, and scores of others.

Tickets to Bright Night are $10 in advance, $15 day of the event, and available online at https://www.brightnight.org, over the phone at 401-621-6123 (ArtTixRI), and available at all BankRI locations, OOP! stores, and the East Side Marketplace. Day of event tickets will be also sold at Providence Performing Arts Center, ArtTixRI Office, RISD Museum, the Providence Children’s Museum, and several other venues.

About Bright Night

Bright Night was founded in 2003 after Providence’s long-running New Year’s Eve festival, First Night, was cancelled. Organized in less than three months, the event drew over 12,000 people to downtown Providence, making Bright Night the largest New Year’s Eve party in the state. The festival features local artists and performers at venues throughout downtown Providence, and provides a fun, vibrant, and family friendly atmosphere for the people of Rhode Island.

The festival’s director, Adam Gertsacov, is an actor, director, and clown based in Providence, RI. He wears many hats, including that of a flea circus impresario, a local author, the esteemed hat of the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt, Maryland, and many others. He became the Festival director of Bright Night Providence in 2003 when a group of local artists (himself included) didn’t want to see the city go dark on New Year’s Eve.

We’ve got Bright Night T-shirts, sweatshirts, and other memorabilia available through cafepress.com Show your support for the festival in style.

Profits from the shirts will be used to support Bright Night Providence artists.

Sensational Jugglers The Passing Zone to Perform
for Bright Night Providence

PROVIDENCE, RI., 12/3/05
This year Bright Night Providence, the artist-run New Year’s Eve Festival now in its third year, will feature two men with rather unusual credentials. Yes, they have 5 Guinness world records between them, have shared the stage with such celebrities as George Carlin, Penn & Teller, Bob Hope, and Tony Bennett, and have been featured on film and television, but their real claim to fame is their remarkable ability to juggle and manipulate three running chain saws. Yes, real, running, gas-powered chain saws.

The men are Owen Morse and Jon Wee, and they have been performing their blend of juggling comedy together as The Passing Zone for over 17 years. “We met at a juggling convention in 1986”, says Wee, “and neither of us wanted to get a real job.” The duo have been juggling together ever since.

“The Passing Zone is one of the top juggling acts in the country” says Adam Gertsacov, director of the festival. “I met them this summer in Boulder Colorado when we were performing at the same festival. They were a big hit in Boulder. What I thought was so amazing about their act is that not only are they phenomenal jugglers, they are also incredibly funny. And when I saw their finale (a chainsaw-juggling ballet), I knew that The Passing Zone was something that would really rock Providence.”

“Their eyes lit up when I told them about our homegrown New Year’s Eve festival,” Gertsacov adds, “They were really excited about the artist-run aspect of Bright Night. “

“We are really looking forward to our shows in Providence,” says Morse. “Bright Night seems like a great way for people to get out and have fun, and our show is perfect for people of all ages.”

The Passing Zone will perform three shows in Providence as part of Bright Night. In addition to the chainsaws, they will also juggle bowling balls, Chia pets, Garden Weasels, Thighmasters, and just about anything else they can throw. The shows will be performed at 6, 8, and 10 pm. Your Bright Night ticket (a Tyvek wristband) will guarantee you admission to one of those performances, plus more than 50 other performances at 17 other venues throughout the day (on a space available basis) For a complete schedule of performances, visit https://www.brightnight.org

Tickets to Bright Night will be available in early December at www.ArtTixRI.com, and available 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
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To find out more about the Passing Zone, visit http://www.passingzone.com.