M E D I A  A D V I S O R Y

May 23, 2018 – Richmond, Virginia The Festival of the River is a three-day celebration of Music, Art, andEnvironment taking place on Brown’s Island June 8 -10, 2018. We are pleased to announce that in addition to performances, ICA artist activities, and educational offerings, Art on Wheels will lead a community picnic during the Festival on Sunday, June 10th culminating with an art installation using donated blankets. Partnering with the Visual Arts Center and the Children’s Museum of Richmond, the goal is to use blankets to create a mosaic “quilt” image of the mighty James River. Prior to the picnic, Host of Sparrows Aerial Circus will kick off Sunday’s programming at 11:15am with a performance set to the music of Glass Twin. The Richmond Symphony will perform during the picnic on Sunday afternoon starting at 1:00pm featuring John Stafford Smith’s The Star Spangled Banner, Alan Silvestri’s Captain America Theme, George Bizet’s Suite No. 1 from Carmen, and more!

We invite you to join us for the community picnic and the concert by bringing a blanket to donate and a picnic lunch; food trucks will also be available! Outside drinks must be sealed. If you do not have a blanket that you can part with, you can make a simple no sew fleece tie blanket in under an hour for $20 (click here for tutorial: http://artonwheelsva.org/community-picnic/).
As guests arrive we will direct picnickers to set up their blankets in a specific area to create
the image. Picnickers will be encouraged to strike up conversations with those sitting around them to bridge gaps and build community. During the performance we will take aerial photographs to capture images of the mosaic. After the performance ends, blankets will be collected and donated to organizations serving those in need.

Who: Art on Wheels, Richmond Symphony, Visual Arts Center of Richmond and Children’s Museum of Richmond
What: Community Picnic, Blanket Drive and James River Blanket Mosaic
Where: Festival of the River, Brown’s Island
When: Sunday, June 10th starting at 12pm

How it works:

• Bring a blanket and a picnic lunch to Festival of the River, Sunday June 10th at 12pm                      • Or, make an easy no sew fleece tie blanket for $20
• As you arrive, we will direct you to set up your blanket in a specific area
• Enjoy a picnic while engaging with others around you
• An aerial photograph will be taken of the installation creating an image of our beloved James
River
• Leave the blanket behind. They will be collected and donated to area homeless service
organizations.

Blanket Drive Beneficiaries: Virginia Supportive Housing, Caritas, Better Housing Coalition, Housing Families First, Doorways, YWCA, SPCA.

Accessibility is a main goal of the Festival. While Saturday and Sunday will be ticketed, we ask participants to pay what they can/wish, as they are able. For tickets: www.festivaloftheriver.org. The Festival of the River will include contemporary art installations, performances under the Symphony’s “Big Tent,”cleanups along and around the River, and family-friendly environmental education activities including Back to the Bay in celebration of Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week. This one-time festival will feature artists like Rhiannon Giddens, No BS! Brass Band, Savion Glover, Paul Rucker, Marinella Senatore, and Hope Ginsburg, and will showcase the very best of the James River, Chesapeake Bay, and the Richmond Region.

The Festival planning committee includes over 30 partner organizations (see full list after schedule of activities) steered by a coalition between the City of Richmond, Venture Richmond, the Richmond Symphony, VCU Institute for Contemporary Art, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, 1708 Gallery, James River Association, and Capital Region Collaborative.

The Festival is made possible through generous support received to date from the City of Richmond, E. Rhodes and Leona B.Carpenter Foundation, Richard S. Reynolds Foundation, SunTrust Bank, League of American Orchestras, National Endowment for the Arts, Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Windsor Foundation Trust, Loveland Distributing, Stone Brewing and Lyft.

Lyft, the fastest growing rideshare platform in the US, is proud to be the Official Rideshare Partner of Festival of the River. In this capacity, Lyft will be offering discounted rides for attendees to / from the event with promo code FEST18 and will also have a dedicated pick-up / drop-off point for passengers at 700 Tredegar Street.

The current schedule of activities is as follows:
Friday, June 8, 2018 ($10/ticket)
6:00pm – 9:30pm
Tickets: https://www.myticketstobuy.com/event/1277
• Friday Cheers with Rhiannon Giddens and No BS! Brass in performances with the Richmond Symphony

Saturday, June 9, 2018
2:00pm – 9:00pm
River Cleanup registration at 11:00am
Tickets and information: www.festivaloftheriver.org
• Morning activities including region-wide cleanups along the James River and Chesapeake Bay Watershed
• Back to the Bay, family-friendly and educational activities in celebration of Chesapeake Bay Awareness Week
• Performances by contemporary artists Hope Ginsburg, Paul Rucker, and Marinella Senatore are presented as part of VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art’s opening exhibition Declaration, in collaboration with the Richmond Symphony and Sound Arts Richmond
• Performances under the “Big Tent” throughout the day including tap-dancing phenomenon Savion Glover
performing with the Richmond Symphony

Sunday, June 10, 2018
11:00am – 3:00pm
Tickets: www.festivaloftheriver.org
• Performances by Host of Sparrows Aerial Circus and Glass Twin
• Community picnic to create a ‘Richmond Community Member Quilt’ with Art on Wheels on Brown’s Island
• Family concert by the Richmond Symphony

Other activities and artists to be announced. Stay Tuned!

Current Festival of the River Partners Include:
1708 Gallery
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
American Civil War Museum
Art on Wheels
AWARE
Blue Sky Fund
Capital Region Collaborative
Capital Trees
City of Richmond – Department of Public Utilities
City of Richmond – Department of Public Works
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City of Richmond
– Public Art Commission
Chesapeake Bay Commission
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Children’s Museum of Richmond
Host of Sparrows Aerial Circus
James River Advisory Council
James River Association
James River Outdoor Coalition
James River Parks System
Junior League of Richmond
Keep Henrico Beautiful
Keep Virginia Beautiful
L.L. Bean Outdoor Discovery School
Maymont Foundation
Middle James Roundtable
Pamunkey Indian Museum & Cultural Center
Peak Experiences
Reedville Fisherman’s Museum
REI
Richmond Aubudon Society
Richmond BridgePark Foundation
Richmond Region Tourism
Richmond Riverfront Plan
Richmond Symphony
Sound Arts Richmond
Studio Two Three
Tricycle Gardens
The Valentine
Venture Richmond
Virginia Canals and Navigation Society
VCU
– Institute for Contemporary Art
VCU
– Life Sciences Outreach
Virginia Conservation Network
Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
Virginia Department of Forestry
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Virginia State Parks
Visual Arts Center
Vogt Oyster Co./Big Island Aquaculture
WCVE / The Community Idea Stations

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Contacts:

Erin Frye: Marketing and PR Manager

p. 804.788.4717 ext. 121

e. efrye@richmondsymphony.com

Scott Dodson: Director of Advancement and Patron Communications

p. 804.788.4717 ext. 120

e. sdodson@richmondsymphony.com