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KILL DATE 12/31/2007
PRESS CONTACT: ADAM GERTSACOV 401-351-2596 adam@brightnight.org
PROVIDENCE BRIGHT AGAIN FOR NEW YEAR’S EVE
Mayor David N. Cicilline and Bright Night Providence Festival Director Adam Gertsacov announce Bright Night Providence, the artist-run New Year’s Eve celebration now in its fifth year.
PROVIDENCE, RI.,December 21,2007 – Bright Night Providence, the artist-run New Year’s celebration now in its fifth year, will continue to keep New Year ‘s Eve bright in Providence. This year the arts festival will feature performances from 12 noon to 12 midnight, including a Kid’s Fun Fair at the Providence Convention Center, a swing dance party (also at the Convention Center), the high energy drum and dance spectacular SLAMM at the Providence Performing Arts Center, admission to a PC Friars game at the Dunk for the first 3000 ticket-holders, and over 150 performers at venues around the city, and two spectacular display of fireworks sponsored by the Providence Tourism Council 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 more, and offer even more to our audiences. We’re now in our fifth year, and I’m amazed at how quickly its gone by, and how much fun its been. Each year we get to entertain, astonish, and celebrate with our audiences, and to showcase a little more of Rhode Island’s most important cultural asset- its artists.”
“Bright Night Providence is truly an exciting, fun-filled New Year’s Eve celebration that brings premier performances to our city and showcases the tremendous talent of the artists and performers who live and work in our city,” said Mayor Cicilline. The artist-run celebration has a number of sponsors and partners, including the Providence Tourism Council, the City of Providence, the Providence Foundation, the State of Rhode Island, Open MRI of New England, AAA, Cameron & Mittleman, the Providence Renaissance Hotel, Motif Magazine, the PC Friars, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, NBC-10, Coast 93.3, and others.
Activities this year will include performances by Carmine Appice’s SLAMM!, a high energy drum and dance spectacular in which rock icon Appice (drummer for Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, & Jeff Beck) and his handpicked crew will drum on just about anything they can get their hands on, including garbage cans, dixie cups, oil drums, and even drums : a special kids event from 1-5 pm at the RI Convention Center, featuring Bill Harley, Keith Munslow, Marvin Novogrodski, and Val Tutson; the twenty fifth anniversary of Pendragon, the local Celtic group, the 20th anniversary of Big Nazo Puppets, and performances by Greg Abate, classical pianist Cecile Grobe, the Bright Night Poetry Slam, bellydance troupe Scherezade’s Sisters, the Ocean State Children’s Chorus, The Trinity Zoo, the Rhode Island Children’s Chorus, Improv Jones, Womanspiritrising, Fusionworks Dance Company, the Chinese Folk Art Society, Carolyn Dutra Dancers, the Gnomes, Trouz Bras, Inca Son, Fishel Bresler, juggler Greg Frisbee, storyteller Jackson Gillman, magician Peter Gross, Mark Binder & the Wippets, Black and White Blues band, and scores of other performers. Performances will run from 12 noon to 12 midnight at a number of venues throughout downtown Providence. A complete schedule is available online at their website https://www.brightnight.org, as well as at every venue on the day of the performance
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, RI Convention Center, 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. It has since grown— last year’s festival drew over 20,000 people to downtown Providence.
The festival’s director, Adam Gertsacov, is an actor, director, and clown. He wears many hats, including that of a flea circus impresario, a published 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.
The festival is sponsored in part by the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island, as well as a number of corporate and individual donors.
For more information about sponsorship, history, and activities, please visit the website https://www.brightnight.org
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