The poster for the 2018 LoKo Arts Festival at SUNY Potsdam can be seen here.
SUNY Potsdam’s seventh annual LoKo Arts Festival will take arts immersion to a whole new level this year.
Attendees will have the chance to: transform their own old clothes into beautiful handmade paper in hands-on workshops, meditate to an electronic music soundscape coupled with live improvisation, connect with total strangers in an interactive art photography project, and learn storytelling strategies from award-winning writers—among the 50+ performances, workshops, readings, exhibitions and presentations to choose from.
The 2018 LoKo Arts Festival will run from Friday, April 27 to Sunday, May 6, with a diverse array of offerings to ensure there is something for everyone to enjoy. All events are free and open to the public, and parking permits are not required during the festival.
This year’s guest artist line-up includes visual artist Amanda Lovelee, the city artist for St. Paul, Minn.; the contemporary dance company, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists; the trained geologist and clay artist Steve Hilton, and the spoken word artist and Poetry Slam champion Gabriel Ramirez, among many others.
The LoKo Writers Series will welcome up-and-coming authors Rion Amilcar Scott, whose short story collection “Insurrections” won the 2017 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, and Adrian Matejka, a past finalist for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. Adirondack poet and Ausable Press founder Chase Twichell and the poet and critic Sandra Simonds will also speak during the festival.
Workshops on digital rendering for anime, comics and cosplay will be complemented by presentations on storytelling in comic books by Vita Ayala ’10, who writes for DC Comics and Black Mask Studios.
The Academic Quad will serve as the backdrop for daily Art in the Quad presentations during lunch breaks between classes, and will also host the popular Festival of Lights, which features illuminated sculptures, wearable art and interactive displays created by students. This year’s Festival of Light will be held, rain or shine, on Wednesday, May 2, at dusk, and will include a laser light show created by the Physics and Engineering Club.
SUNY Potsdam students have organized a number of events this year, including a revue of “The Golden Age of Broadway,” with scenes from some of the most beloved musicals, such as “My Fair Lady,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “Carousel.” Genevieve Ruhland ’18 will lead a performance of John Luther Adams’ immersive outdoor contemporary percussion piece, “Inuksuit,” to open the festival. Student groups such as 18 & Up Improv and Voices of Victory Gospel Choir will also perform during the festival, and works by graduating seniors will be featured in the annual Bachelor of Fine Arts Show in the Gibson Gallery and in a reading showcase for the creative writing BFA program.
Student and faculty dancers will take center stage in pieces choreographed by professors during the Faculty Dance Concert, and graduating seniors will present original works of their own in the Senior Choreographers’ Concert.
The culminating concert at The Crane School of Music will feature the Crane Chorus and Crane Symphony Orchestra, presenting works by Sergei Prokofiev and Ralph Vaughan Williams, under the baton of Maestro Antony Walker, the 2018 Dorothy Albrecht Gregory Visiting Conductor. They will be joined by Suzanne Kantorski (soprano), Suzanne Hendrix (mezzo-soprano) and Jonathan Stinson (baritone).
Kathryn Kofoed Lougheed ’54 and Donald Lougheed (Hon. ’54) founded the LoKo Arts Festival in 2012, to bring the campus festival tradition back to Kathy’s alma mater.
SUNY Potsdam will celebrate the Lougheeds during the festival they founded, on Friday, May 4 at 3 p.m., as the College renames its library building in their honor. In recognition of the couple’s historic gift in support of applied learning, the College will dedicate the Lougheed Learning Commons in a ceremony featuring live music, refreshments and tours.
“Being ‘LoKo’ for the arts means that we are passionate about the culture of creativity on our campus, and that we embrace the diversity of expression that is embodied here at SUNY Potsdam,” President Kristin G. Esterberg said. “We are so thankful to the Lougheeds for making this incredible festival possible, both for our campus and the entire North Country community.”
To see the full jam-packed schedule of events, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko. Printed schedules are also available across campus and in the community.
You can also stay up-to-date with the free LoKo Arts Festival mobile app. Just download the Guidebook app in the Apple App Store or Google Play store, and then open the app and search for “LoKo.” The interactive app has the full schedule, artist bios, festival updates and more.
North Country Public Radio is the media sponsor for the 2018 LoKo Arts Festival at SUNY Potsdam.
For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko.
Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of only three arts campuses in the entire SUNY system. SUNY Potsdam’s arts curriculum offers the full palette: music, theatre, dance, fine arts and creative writing. No matter the discipline, people from all backgrounds can find their creative compass at Potsdam, with myriad arts immersion experiences available for both campus and community.
Arts & Culture