Dance Theater Etcetera's 16th Annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival - June 5th and 6th

Dance Theatre Etcetera’s 16^th Annual Red Hook

Waterfront Arts Festival Arrives June 5^th & 6^th, 2009

Destination Red Hook: We Got What You Need

Brooklyn, NY – (April 24, 2009) Red Hook is the next destination neighborhood in NYC, but not for cheap Swedish meatballs or the newest big box giant. “Destination Red Hook: We Got What You Need,” the theme for this year’s version of the area’s annual summer kick-off, recognizes and celebrates the ‘hood’s many hidden gems. Come to the FREE Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival at Louis J. Valentino, Jr. Park & Pier Friday, June 5^th (6pm-9pm) and Saturday, June 6^th (11am-7pm) to see what (and who) makes this unique waterfront neighborhood tick.

The Festival opens Friday at 6pm with a Youth Kick-Off Event & community sunset picnic with performances by RIOT ACT! Police-Teen Theater Project and South Brooklyn Community High School’s TheaterWorks program. Eat food from local community farm Added Value, prepared by students in SBCHS’s Cook for Life program, as you enjoy a sunset serenade from The Famous Accordion Orchestra. At 8pm the 5^th Annual Red Hook Youth Film Fest begins, screening award-winning films from Brooklyn’s brightest young stars.

Saturday’s Mainstage events begin at 11:00 am. This year the Festival goes local with a loco lineup of sizzling hot artists who have made their names around the globe before coming back home to the BK: tapping, rapping lyricist Joseph Webb (Bring in ‘Da Noise…) and his band Joseph; local favorites, The Red Hook Ramblers; Dr. Drum & Bomba-Yo; and dynamo DJ Chela (lauded as “the hottest female DJ in the country”).

Powerhouse professional companies PurElements: An Evolution in Dance and JoiLynn Productions rep the best the borough has to offer in dynamic movement and dance, while youth groups from around the city strut their stuff to keep up. The day ends with a sunset salsa party to the big band groove of the incomparable Willie Alvarez y Tromborí.

This year’s Red Hook Fest will stress the importance of community unity in the tough economic times we face. Dance Theatre Etcetera, the organization behind the Festival, will jam-pack the park with local resources from community partners: information about job training, health services, smarter banking, and much, much more.

The festival, as always, is FREE to the public, and will also feature kayaking in New York Harbor with The Red Hook Boaters, the best local food, and a host of other family-friendly activities.

# # #

The 16^th Annual Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival

FREE

June 5, 2009 (6pm-9pm) & June 6, 2009 (11am-7pm) Rain date June 7

Louis J. Valentino, Jr. Park & Pier (Coffey St. & Ferris St., Brooklyn, NY 11231)

For more information visit www.redhookfest.org or email jon@dtetc.org (718-643-6790)

For a photo gallery with hi-res images of last year’s festival and this year’s professional artists,

visit www.dtetc.org/gallery.html