In addition to three days of annual art and music, the festival is responsible for most of the art adorning buildings in Kingston.
After going mostly online for 2020, the O+ Festival plans to return to Kingston for in-person events October 8-10, 2021.
The festival will emphasize outdoor venues and public art and follow the updated public health guidance in place at that time around masking, social distance and capacity. Thanks to donations from supporters, the festival will be free to the public.
“The Festival celebrates life, through the exchange of art, music and wellness, while holding space for the complexity that comes with the collective, and personal, trauma of the past year,” reads a release announcing this year’s event. “It offers joy and connection which are, like oxygen, essential to our ability to thrive as a community.”
“We look forward to a Festival this October. This year, more than ever before, we need space to collectively heal and experience joy again,” said Holly Kelly, O+ Executive Director.
The theme of the 2021 Festival is Oxygen. O+ Art director Lindsey Wolkowicz reflects that “Oxygen is essential. It connects all living organisms through a cycle of exchange and function of our bodies that, for many of us, is automatic or even taken for granted.” Wolkowicz continues, “In countless ways, we have been made aware of our breath through compounding crises over the last year. But breathing in oxygen is also at the center of healing, balance, self-empowerment and our shared humanity.”
O Positive Festival (O+) began as a grassroots movement that re-envisioned art, music, and wellness in the community. For 12 years, O+ has enabled thousands of artists and musicians from around the world to create and perform in exchange for health and wellness services. Based in Kingston, O+ has presented festivals in seven cities, including Chicago, Haverhill, North Adams, Petaluma, Poughkeepsie and San Francisco. www.opositivefestival.org