Easthampton’s annual free block party and outdoor street festival, Cultural Chaos, returns for its sixth year this Saturday, bringing with it everything from local food vendors to circus performers and live music as well as a celebration of the city’s cultural and business district along Cottage Street from noon until 5 p.m.
Pasqualina Azzarello, city arts coordinator for Easthampton City Arts, said that this year’s Cultural Chaos includes performance artists, Caravan Puppets, paddle boats on Nashawannuck pond and newer Easthampton restaurants joining the festival, including Daily Operation and The Water’s Fine.
“It’s really an opportunity to celebrate Easthampton,” she said, adding that more than 10,000 people attended Cultural Chaos last year. “Easthampton is evolving before our eyes and Cultural Chaos continues to grow each and every year drawing people from far and wide. It’s an exciting opportunity to continue the tradition of Cultural Chaos that so many of our local residents enjoy.”
Performers slated to play at this year’s festival include indie rock band Moxie, folk/ American/ pop group Eavesdrop, New Orleans-influenced funk band Krewe Las Gras, flamenco and jazz duo Crimson Canary, large ensemble Afrobeat group Shokazoba, as well as nylon-stringed Spanish guitarist Tony Silva and children’s musical performer Snackbeard, a melodic pirate with a handcrafted beard made of various snack foods.
Not only will there be a plethora of local musical talent on display, but the event will include circus performers and stilt walkers from SHOW Circus Studio in Easthampton as well as face painting, family-friendly act, and a new theme for this year’s Cultural Chaos: “See, hear, and taste the joy of Easthampton,” Azzarello explained.
“Looking at how Cultural Chaos has grown is a real indication of the ways in which the arts and cultural communities here in Easthampton continues to grow, evolve and thrive,” she said.
The seeds of Cultural Chaos sprouted from a 2008 master plan by the city, which included an arts and cultural chapter, Azzarello said. The plan to create Cultural Chaos led to establishing Cottage Street as a designated cultural district by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
“Part of the intention was to also create an opportunity to draw people who maybe have never visited Easthampton before and to really showcase and celebrate and elevate so much of what’s going on in Easthampton each and every day,” she said, adding that Easthampton is home to hundreds of local artists and artisans.
Now, the city of Easthampton is looking beyond it’s 2008 city master plan through its Futures Project, which is a collaboration between Easthampton City Arts, the city’s Planning Department, and Dpict, a facilitation firm, that includes a series of facilitated community workshops aimed at charting the course of Easthampton’s future through collaborative community discussions.
The final workshop will take place in the Eastworks ballroom on June 22 and will focus on prioritized action for the future of arts and culture in Easthampton through structured design work and setting goals and strategies. Followed by that, there will be a community celebration on Sept. 21 to share the outcomes of the public workshops and to commit to “weaving together a future we all want,” according to the city’s website.
Azzarello said one topic that has been part of the discussions for the Futures Project has been gentrification in Easthampton, specifically looking at ways to make sure that local artists and residents can continue to call Easthampton their home.
“While there are these patterns socially and throughout the community, we are exploring different models of how to engage and we are exploring different models in how we can work together to create a future here that is accessible, affordable, and sustainable to all,” she said.
Sita Magnuson, founder of Dpict, who is also a resident of Easthampton, said much of what has been discussed throughout the workshop series has been in regards to the development of the city.
“As the city is changing and more development is coming in, what does arts and culture look like? How are we supporting artists here? But that’s bleeding into a lot of other things like housing and economic development. So, the goal here is to use that as a lens to a much wider conversation around the future of Easthampton.”
Chris Goudreau can be reached at cgoudreau@valleyadvocate.com.
For more information about Cultural Chaos visit easthamptoncityarts.com/event/cultural-chaos-2019. More information about Easthampton’s Futures Project can be found at easthamptoncityarts.com/easthampton-futures-project.