[Photo from 2013 via Bobby Williams]
This past Sunday, Howl! Festival officials said that the annual gathering in Tompkins Square Park had been indefinitely put on hold.
Howl! officials issued a media alert about the situation yesterday…
HOWL! Arts Inc. regrets to announce that due to unforeseen circumstances HOWL! Festival 2014 originally scheduled for May 30 through June 1 has been postponed. New dates will be announced as soon as available.
For more than a century, the East Village has been home to poets, jazz musicians, Vaudeville and Yiddish theatre, artists, rock stars, performance artists and diverse communities who have added their rich cultural heritage to the mix. Building on this tradition and inspired by long time East Village resident Allen Ginsberg’s epic poem, HOWL! Festival was founded in 2003 to lionize, preserve, and advance the art, history, culture, and counterculture unique to the East Village and Lower East Side.
“We're a small, all-volunteer organization and we’ve successfully produced the Festival in Tompkins Square Park for the last 12 years.” says HOWL! Board member Bob Holman. “This year the Parks Department permit application process was so complicated and difficult that when we had no conclusive answer by the beginning of April for our Festival in May, we knew we'd run out of time. It's sad is what it is: for the community, for families, and for local artists.”
Named the Village Voice’s Best Outdoor Festival 2011, HOWL! Festival is the quintessential community event dedicated to preserving the past and celebrating the contemporary culture of the East Village and Lower East Side. HOWL! Arts Inc. embraces poet Allen Ginsberg’s insightful, iconoclastic, and irreverent legacy to inspire and galvanize new artists and audiences. Presenting poetry, music, dance, theater, fine art, and intersections of popular culture and artistic expression, HOWL! Festival encourages the public to join in the creative process and to experience first hand the value of a creative life, the heritage of social justice, and the flourishing of diverse cultures that are the signatures of this vital community. For additional information please visit howlfestival.com
HOWL! programs include Art Around the Park, Kids Art Around the Park, the HOWL! Out Loud Kids Carnival and stages which present Ballet, Modern Dance, Tap, Latin Expression and more; Theater, Vaudeville, Performance Art, Poetry, Spoken Word, and Music of all genres.
HOWL! Festival is 100% free for and open to all in what the festival proudly dubs a cash-free zone.
