Tuesday, August 18, 2009

This September the D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival celebrates it's 13th birthday.

With September 25 quickly approaching, the opportunity arises to look back on the changes that the Dumbo Arts Center has seen over the past thirteen years.

The first D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival in 1997 took advantage of Dumbo's unique qualities and its high concentration of artist studios. Open studios, live music and dance performances, and an art parade were components of the '97 Festival, which was produced by Dumbo residents, Joy Glidden and Tyson Daugherty. Artists organized creative ways to fund the Festival, such as hosting parties in the performance space with the DJ group "Organic Grooves." After the Festival's success the Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) was conceived to promote local Dumbo artists.

SECTION 33, DAC's first curated exhibition, was installed in September 1998 at the original location of 45 York Street. In 1999 DAC became a registered 501 (c) non-profit organization with Joy Glidden as Fine Arts Director, Rodney Trice as Applied Arts Director, and Margaret Champagne as Performing Arts Director. DAC is now located at 30 Washington Street, and Breda Kennedy, the current Executive Director, has helped the culture of DAC evolve with the neighborhood of Dumbo.

Elements of the 13th D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival reflect DAC's past, but many characteristics of the Festival are specific to 2009. New aspects include projects created by our new high school internship program and an iPhone application designed specifically for the Festival to feature festival projects, open studios, local businesses, and galleries.

Music performances were important in the 1999 Festival.

Image courtesty of DAC.

Doug Fishbone's Ten Thousand Bananas displayed on Washington Street in the 2002 Festival.

Image courtesty of DAC.

Jae Hi Ahn's Night in Bloom was in the Brooklyn Bridge Park during the 2006 Festival.

Image courtesty of the artist.

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