FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS CONTACT: Bronwyn Dannenfelser July 24, 2015 401-640-4038
[email protected] WATERFIRE PROVIDENCE ANNOUNCES DETAILS OF NEXT FULL LIGHTING: SATURDAY, AUGUST 1st Celebrate a night of Hep C Hope - C is for Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C Featuring performances by Festival Ballet Providence, Torch Processions, A Resource Fair, Rose Weaver and Greg Abate on the WaterFire Music Stage on Steeple Street, and many other special events. The Thirteenth annual origami crane folding continues with WaterFire sponsor Fidelity Investments. Visit WaterFire’s newest venue Gerbermuhle: Biergarten Unter den Weiden
PROVIDENCE, RI – (July 24, 2015) – WaterFire Providence, the award-winning sculpture by artist Barnaby Evans, announces the details of the next full lighting of the 2015 season, Saturday, August 1st. Celebrate C Is for Cure: RI Defeats Hep C supported by Gilead Sciences, Inc. This WaterFire lighting is also sponsored by Fidelity Investments. Festivities start on Saturday, August 1st, at 6:00 PM and the sunset time is 8:05 PM. A special WaterFire lighting ceremony featuring Festival Ballet Providence, and Mixed Magic Theatre’s Exult Choir will begin at approximately 7:00PM, the fires will be lit shortly after sunset and will burn until midnight. WaterFire is thrilled to join in a public awareness campaign about Hep C as part of Dr. Lynn E. Taylor’s larger RI Defeats Hep C campaign. “We are organizing a statewide campaign to eliminate Hep C in RI. With the powerful new medicines we now have available and the cooperative networks for care in RI organized by the RI Department of Health we have a chance to greatly improve the health of all Rhode Islanders impacted by this disease. Working with WaterFire we are bringing more attention to this silent epidemic, providing up to date health information, and providing free Hep C screening. We are doing this in coordination with the World Health Organization’s World Hepatitis Day.” Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative medicines in areas of unmet medical need. “At Gilead, we are inspired by the opportunity to address unmet medical needs for people living with life-threatening diseases. We are proud to sponsor WaterFire Providence and light a fire in recognition of the more than 3 million Americans living with hepatitis C.”
Longtime WaterFire sponsor Fidelity Investments continues to bring the message of hope to the shores of the river. “We are celebrating a 13-year sponsor partnership with WaterFire by distributing Japanese origami cranes hand-folded by Fidelity employees to all WaterFire guests. These cranes are a symbol of peace, fidelity and longevity. Be sure to visit the Fidelity crane tent near the World War monument in Memorial Park where you will learn the art of origami and fold your own crane! Check out the illuminated blue neon cranes displayed at the installation” –John Muggeridge, vice president of public affairs, Fidelity Investments. WaterFire Providence and RI Defeats Hep C have created numerous events for the community to bring greater awareness about Hep C, present updated health resources, and bring more attention to this silent epidemic. A population at particular risk are baby-boomers, with 1 in 30 individuals infected with Hep C, although most are not aware that they have the disease. Special events include: •
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Beginning at 6:00 PM and running throughout the night until 11:30 PM, there will be a Hep C Information, Resource Fair and WaterFire Music Stage brougnt to you by HepcHope.com on Steeple Street. The resource fair will provide hepatis C information and free Hep C screenings for adults. There will also be information tents including Hep C Hope, the Rhode Island Blood Center, the Rhode Island Organ Donor Awareness Coalition, Brown Medical School, and AARP. Free screening for Hep C is available for everyone 18 and older on Steeple Street. The WaterFire lighting will be kicked off with a WaterFire Prometheia Torch Ceremony at Waterplace Basin honoring medical and public health officials, Hep C Heroes, and organizations on the front line of curing Hep C. This will start at 8:15 PM in Waterplace Basin. Our special guest lighter is Dr. Scott Holmberg, MD, MPH, the Chief of the Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Division of Viral Hepatitis (DVH), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The RI State House will be illuminated in yellow from July 27th thru August 3rd to bring more attention to Hep C. 600 Yellow carnations will be distributed with information about Hep C and with a website address for more information. The Exult Choir of the Mixed Magic Theatre will be performing on the Basin stage before lighting. Festival Ballet Providence Summer Dance Intensive (FBP SDI) senior program students will perform in a free and open concert as part of the August 1st full lighting of WaterFire. Dr. Lynn E. Taylor will be featured on WaterFire’s radio program “WaterFire Ignites RI” on Talk & Business WPRV 790 AM on Wednesday, July 29rd from 4:00 to 5:00 pm talking about Hep C and her RI Defeats Hep C program.
Festival Ballet Providence: As part of the events of the C is For Cure: A WaterFire Lighting for RI Defeats Hep C, Festival Ballet Providence senior program students will dance in a free and open performance. The performance will begin around 7:30pm at the Waterplace Park stage, overlooking the breathtaking “basin” in the heart of downtown Providence, RI. The program will feature excerpts from The Firebird and Swan Lake, in addition to other works. A section of Mihailo Djuric’s staging of The Firebird is being specifically adapted for the unique venue. “This is a vision of mine I created many years ago,” said Djuric, Festival Ballet Providence’s artistic director.
The WaterFire Music Stage on Steeple Street Returns with an incredible line up of musicians as we celebrate RI Defeats Hep C: Located on Steeple Street the WaterFire Music Stage will be in full swing featuring some surprise guests and national and internationally renowned artists. WaterFire is proud to welcome Rose Weaver and the Dukes of Dixie to the stage from 7-9 PM and then followed by headliner and International Jazz Sensation Greg Abate along with the Greg Abate Quartet from 9-11:30 PM. •
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Rose Weaver is a sassy jazz singer and narrator, she has been a featured vocalist with the Marian Anderson String Quartet, The Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Conrad Janis and the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, she is currently the artist-in-residence at Brown University’s Rites and Reason Theatre, will be playing two sets at WaterFire with the Dukes of Dixie. Greg Abate is a jazz saxophonist, flutist, and composer continues as an International Jazz/Recording Artist with 225 days a year touring the globe. Greg is also an adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and is also a very active jazz clinician with co. sponsorship from the Conn-Selmer Instrument Co., conducting workshops and master classes through the U.S. and abroad. He will be accompanied by Mark Walker on drums, Todd Baker on bass, and Alain Mallet on piano.
Visit WaterFire Providence’s newest venue, Gerbermuhle: Biergarten Unter den Weiden in partnership with Trinity Brewhouse. In a friendly salute to our new international air partner, Frankfurt, Germany (with non-stop flights on Condor Air from T. F. Green Providence Airport), WaterFire has opened a beer garden on the Woonasquatucket in partnership with Trinity Brewhouse. The new beer garden with German beer and food focusing on Frankfurt specialties is located just upstream of Waterplace Basin in the heart of the downtown river park, under the willow trees at the foot of the IGT building. Forty five tables, specially made by WaterFire will mount on the river railing overlooking the double row of bonfires for your dining pleasure. Hours on WaterFire nights are 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM. WaterFire Arts Festival Plaza: Visit the WaterFire Arts Festival Plaza on Washington Street and the Washington Street Bridge. Starting at 6:00 PM, local artists and craftspeople will share their wares and fine works from photographs and sculptures, paintings and hand crafted ceramics, to jewelry and specialty textiles. WaterFire’s favorite characters are back! • •
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Visit the living statues in Memorial Park at the World War I monument. Ten31 Productions returns with their interactive living statues and gargoyles in Memorial Park shortly after lighting. Fire Dancers Benjamin Reynolds and Spogga Hash will dazzle the crowds during several performances throughout the evening at the confluence and on the wall of braziers in Memorial Park. Catch mime artist Michael Grando in costume as the Commedia dell’arte character Pierrot, as he cruises the river tossing carnations to visitors along the shore. Visit Andrew Anselmo, the Origami Master near the RISD Auditorium.
Nursing Placement the official first aid provider at WaterFire events will offer first aid care to the public at any time during the event. Additionally, the venue will serve as a meeting place for missing children and parents to reunite. The First Aid RV will be located on Washington Street and can be found on all WaterFire event maps. Nursing Placement will also be taking applications for new team members to help serve the RI population. Losing your charge after taking all of those pictures with your phone? Don’t worry! Visit the National Grid charging stations on College Street (at the intersection of College and Main Streets) and Canal Street to recharge your smartphone and other mobile devices during the lighting. --WaterFire Providence is an independent, non-profit arts organization whose mission is to inspire Providence and its visitors by revitalizing the urban experience, fostering community engagement, and creatively transforming WaterFire for all to enjoy. This powerful work of art is installed on the three rivers of downtown Providence as a moving symbol of Providence’s Renaissance. To learn more about WaterFire or make a donation visit waterfire.org or facebook.com/watefireprovidence. ###
