Community/Traditional Arts

Bangor's "Arts on the Green" back for second year

	Photo courtesy of Bangor Arts on the Green

Community arts festival preludes the National Folk Festival

After making its debut last spring, Bangor's Arts on the Green will be charging into its second year in 2004. The community arts festival was born last year as something of a prelude to the National Folk Festival taking center stage in August. Susan Jonason, executive director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, says the intent of the festival in parks near the downtown Bangor City Library is not so much to give visual artists and performers a chance to sell what they do, but to give people a chance to make art. The festival is a collaboration between the Bangor Arts and Cultural Council and the Bangor Downtown Center Corporation.

Though the festival is not exclusively aimed at teens, Bangor youth participated heavily in last year's event. They were involved in juggling performances and art workshops in addition to helping keep the festival running. Jonason says the festival benefited not only the youth, but Bangor residents of all ages. "It exposes them to art. It gets them involved in art, and shows them it is right here in their own back yard," she says.

In addition to visual arts, last year's festival featured musicians, including bagpipers, a swing band, fiddle music and steel drums. One bit of serendipity from last year will likely be repeated this year. When one of the festival's presenters was forced to cancel, a festival coordinator pulled out a large sheet of paper and turned some of the small children loose with markers to create their own graffiti from whatever entered their imaginations.

Jonason was obviously pleased by the reception the festival got last year. Excited participants stopped her to say they wished the festival would run every week. It is estimated 1,500 people participated in the 2003 Arts on the Green. Is Jonason expecting bigger and better crowds this year? "Yes!" she exclaims.

This year's Arts on the Green will take place Saturday, June 5, 2004, in Bangor.