South Street Seaport June 15th-18th

[jugglerjosh]

The South Street Seaport here in NYC is going to have a Festival and Fundraiser for it's street performing program on June 18th.

The festival has picked up sponsorship from an umbrella group, the Lower Manhattan Marketing Association (LOMA) for the event.

The festival will feature acts on the roster, past successful acts and other community arts programs in the downtown area.

There is further information on the festival at:

http://communityartsadvocates.org/s...reetseaport.htm

Auditions for the program are held every April at the South Street Seaport.

If you would like to volunteer for the organization of the festival, contact:

Josh Weiner
jugglrjosh@aol.com

Sincerely, Josh

[jugglerjosh]

Update

There was a LOMA meeting last week, and the good news is that the umbrella group and the South Street Seaport are going to be paying stipends to the acts during the festival on June 17th and 18th.

The auditions for the Seaport will be on April 19th, 2005.

I'll be judging from 5-7pm.

Sincerely, Josh Weiner

[jugglerjosh]

Busker's Fare

To Whom it May Concern,

The Busker's Ball is this Friday and Saturday, June 17th and 18th 2005 at the South Street Seaport. It will feature the 2005 roster and several returning acts including Cindy Marvell of Lazer Vaudeville, Ned Gelfars, Comedy Juggler, and A Capella Group Spank.

There will be a kickoff breakfast at Il Porto, a South Street Seaport restaurant.

The Seaport is also opening it's Busker's Hall of Fame in New York. The Hall of Fame will highlight Street Performers from the program and in New York City. There will be two inductees each year. The First two inductees are Josh Weiner, your truly, and Nancy Lyon, Mime, Face Painter and Balloon artist.

The festival is part of the River To River Festival under the LOMA umbrella, and stipends will be given to each performer for their sets.

The festival will also highlight some out of town acts, that were crowd favorites at the Busker's Ball at the World Trade Center in the 1990's. Big Nazo is among the several international acts.

Preparations for next year include a 501c3 application so that the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs can be an eligible sponsor. Len Detler said that then his offices would have jurisdiction and could also serve as a support network and liasons for the variety of artists that the Street Performer Progam has in their group.

If you are in NYC, the events are at the South Street Seaport at various locations all day Friday and Saturday.

Thanks again for your support of the South Street Seaport Performers.

Sincerely, Josh Weiner

[USA BREAK DANCERS]

Hey Josh,

what happen you forgot about us? We would have loved to help you out this year. New York city is our home town we would have loved to be a part of this years event at the seaport. I contacted you several times and asked you to count us in we even spoke face to face and you said "that shoudn't be a problem" and then told me you would email me or call me as soon as you found out more details on the event. I think our group is a qualified street act out of New York City and should have been included in this years roster and if not us at least annother Break Dance group.
I can think of at least 2 other Break Dance groups out of New York City who could have worked your festival. A Break Dance show is a part of New York city life why would you not make that a prioraty act on your list, it's a part of New York's culture it's what tourist inspect to see on the street's., What's up with that?

[jugglerjosh]

First Annual Busker's Fare June 17th and 18th

To the USA Breakdancers,

The Busker's Fare was organized under the main sponsor LOMA (Lower Manhattan Marketing Association) under the River to River Festival.

Mr. Ted Killmer, who was the main organizer of the Busker's Ball at the World Trade Center in the 1990's was their liason.

Additional work was offered for all the downtown sites of the larger festivals in manhattan by sending promotionals to Mr. Killmer at the South Street Seaport offices for LOMA to consider on a site by site basis.

As there decisions were being made over the last few months, LOMA was deciding to work with successful acts from the 1990's that were crowd favorites.

Many of these acts were from other cities and countries around the world.

My role changed as I insisted that the local talent be considered instead. I mentioned successful acts from the South Street Seaport in the past, who were also there at the WTC but the LOMA officials felt that the International Acts were the way to go.

At several meetings we discussed this discrepancy, with funding going to these out of town acts instead of the local artists, and I spoke as local advocate. LOMA was handling all advertising, and in working with management agreed to a stipend for all the performers at the South Street Seaport Festival.

During the last few weeks of this organizing, I was taken "out of the loop" on many of the final preparations.

I was personally dissappointed at the River to River advertising of the Festival, which if you pick up a copy, mentions the local talent in passing, but names these International Acts that are not in the South Street Seaport Street Peerformer Program.

Returning acts included Cindy, Ned and others, but when I inquired about other passible acts that would also work and that I needed to contact, I was told not to do so and that scheduling for this year was set and would not be changed.

Interested performers at the 2005 annual meeting, and the acts that sent information to the offices and stayed in touch with management were given spots in the festival. Yogi Lazer, Contortionist, and Shakespeare, A breakdancer, were included in the festival. The 2005 roster includes a few breakdance troups.

I'll be filing a not-for-profit 501c3 form for the festival next year. Len Detler at NYC DCA mentioned that agencies such as his can better serve the artists and put them in touch with supportive communities to further there work in their specific discipline or craft, but that this form is a prerequisite.

I hope you are not turned away from working with the South Street Seaport Street Performing Program in the Future.

I will continue to advocate on behalf of all of the performers in the program to see that they are included in the Busker's Fare, a festival that is meant Celebrate our work and unique contribution to Downtown NYC.

Sincerely, Josh Weiner

[USA BREAK DANCERS]

Josh Thanks for the reply and i'm sorry that it's like that I thought you had more control of who could perform at this years event since you advertised on P-net. As far as any Break dance group performing at this years festival may be true the problem is were they official or did they crash the party? The reason why i'm asking is because I did not see any Break dance groups advertised this year. I contacted you in more then enough time to add us to the roster officialy and promote us just like all the other acts were promoted at the festival this year.