HarborArts Festival Forecasts a Splash

Matt J. Pollock wants you to “East Your Art Out!” That’s the slogan for HarborArts Festival 2013, an annual festival of which Pollock is executive director. This year’s festival commemorates the 2010 opening of Boston’s only sculpture park and one of Boston’s largest collections of modern public art, the Shipyard Gallery, with live music, food, and crafts. It will take place on Saturday from 12-7 p.m. with a musical line-up that includes Chris Kaz and the Rotations, Paul and Garo of the Four Elements, and DJ IllDub.

The festival is an annual event at the HarborArts Shipyard Gallery, located in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina, curated in partnership with the UrbanArts Institute of MassArt, and juried by Randi Hopkins, curator at the Institute for Contemporary Art. HarborArts Inc., founded by Steve Israel, is a charitable organization that uses art to raise awareness about the need to protect oceans and waterways.

Pollock says he expects thousands of attendees if the weather cooperates. “We’re planning our biggest and best festival yet,” he says. The event will continue regardless of weather conditions on Saturday. “If it rains put on your raincoat, get your umbrella, come on down to the HarborArts Festival,” he says.

The festival was initially intended to celebrate the close of Shipyard Gallery’s exhibit, "OccupyING the Present,” which features outdoor sculptures by the local artists' group Studios Without Walls.  Visitors can see the exhibit through October 15.

Admission is free and visitors will have the opportunity to buy items from local restaurants, vendors, and artists. There will also be face painting and opportunities for children to make art. Transportation to the shipyard is part of the fun, as City Water Taxi trips will be discounted to half price for the event.

“There’s more interactivity this year,” Pollock says. “There’s a mosaic workshop and a yoga workshop. There’s a community sculpture project.” Though the event is relatively new, Pollock is optimistic that the tradition will continue. “If we continue to get support from the community we’d like bigger bands, more art, more vendors. We’re hopeful we’re going to keep growing every year,” he says.

—Staff writer Aaron H. Aceves can be reached at aaronaceves@thecrimson.com.