|
|
|
|
The Passim Folk Music and Cultural Center maintains a strong presence in the Cambridge community throughout the year. Passim marks the arrival of spring with a music stage at Harvard Square’s Mayfair festival. The Passim stage highlights a range of genres, from bluegrass to singer-songwriter to the bluesy Americana of Tim Gearan. The 2010 Mayfair stage featured The Last 55s, John Shade and the Neave String Quartet, Anne Heaton, Margaret Glaspy, Railbird, and the David Wax Museum.
In honor of the summer solstice in June, Passim transforms Palmer Street into a kids’ musical festival as part of Make Music Cambridge. Passim musicians play children’s songs throughout the day while kids create their own maracas and tambourines. At the instrument petting zoo, kids also have a chance to try their hand at different instruments and explore the insides of dismantled guitars and mandolins. The day concludes with an open mic just for kids, followed by the children’s noise parade, where they can display and play their newly crafted instruments.
During the summer, Passim presents a weekly concert series at Cambridge Center in Kendall Square. Every Wednesday, students, businesspeople, and local residents come together at lunchtime to enjoy the music of artists like Sarah Borges, Chad Perrone, and Amber Rubarth. Passim presents the series in collaboration with Boston Properties, Marriott, and the Cambridge Redevelopment Authority.
Passim also provides a music stage at Oktoberfest on Sunday of every Columbus Day weekend and presents established artists, including Anne Heaton and Meg Hutchinson, as well as other up and coming local musicians. The 2009 Passim Oktoberfest stage featured performances by Rose Polenzani, Rebecca Wudarski & Mia Friedman, Lake Street Dive, Emily Elbert, Margaret Glaspy, and the Broken Blossoms.
Passim often collaborates with the Harvard Square Business Association and the Harvard Coop to provide music for their events in Harvard Square. In Spring 2009, the Passim stage at the Taste of Cambridge featured the music of Sweet and Lowdown.
In addition to its outreach events around the city, Passim also opens its doors to the Cambridge community for personal celebrations, book release parties, and other special events. In Summer 2009, Harvard Square longtime resident Dennis Coveney married Kelly Dugas outside Cardullo’s and then continued the wedding celebrations with a reception at Club Passim. In September, Passim hosted the book release of Mo Lotman’s “Harvard Square: An Illustrated History,” an event that was attended by current residents, photographers from the different era covered by the book, others who contributed to the book, and many Harvard Square fans who were thrilled to see the area captured through a series of images. Later in September, Passim hosted the Harvard University Press reception as the culmination of its two-day symposium on the publication of “A New Literary History of America.”
|
|
