Final schedule for 11th annual 'ähts: The Boston Arts Festival' announced

“ähts: the Boston Arts Festival” will be held at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park in the North End on Saturday, August 30 from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday, August 31 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.  
“ähts: The Boston Arts Festival” is presented in partnership with State Street.  
 

Saturday, August 30th:  
12:00 - 12:45 Chu Ling Dance
Chu Ling, a choreographer from China, is the founder and director of the Chu Ling Dance Academy. She has also taught and performed at many other institutions in the Greater Boston area, including Wellesley College, Boston University, and Harvard University.  
 

1:00 - 1:45 City Stage Co.
City Stage Co. sends original, participatory plays to reach family audiences in the neighborhoods where they live. At ähts, City Stage Co. will perform folk tales with a 30-minute show dramatizing three traditional tales from European, Chinese, and Native American cultures.  
 

2:00 - 2:45 OrigiNation
Founded in 1994 by Artistic Director Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga, OrigiNation, Incorporated is a non-profit organization that produces innovative and dynamic performing arts programs which motivate, challenge, and inspire youth. OrigiNation offers dance, theater arts, and African history education, focusing efforts on providing services to young people from Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan. 
OrigiNation will feature four professional youth dance companies—NIA Dance Troupe, Girlz of IMANI, IMANI Jr and Aleye Boyz Troupe— presenting a mix of dance styles from African to Modern Contemporary to Hip Hop, with audience participation. 
 

3:00 - 3:45 Los Rumberso de Boston 
Los Rumberso de Boston is a trio of Mexican Bostonians, including guitarists Lito de la Isla and Angel Cespedes and percussionist Paul Sefchovich. The 2013 Boston Music Award winners combine a host of Latin influences with traditional styles in blues, flamenco, rock, dance, funk and reggae.  
 

4:00 - 4:45 J Hoard and the Greenhouse People
J Hoard and the Greenhouse People was formed to popularize a movement into soul pleasing, awakening, connecting music. The group is made of skillful, intelligent musicians who play with a mission to connect to anyone interested in listening. 
 

5:00 - 5:45 Thalia Zedek Band
Thalia Zedek is a Boston singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull Come, Uzi, and Dangerous Birds. Zedek now leads the Thalia Zedek Band, which has released four albums on Thrill Jockey Records.  
 

6:00 - 6:45 Nick Flynn reciting his poetry
Nick Flynn’s most recent book, The Reenactments, which Kirkus calls “a truly insightful, original work,” completes a trilogy begun with Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. His previous book, The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands, was a collection of poems linked to the second book of the trilogy, The Ticking is the Bomb, which the Los Angeles Times called a “disquieting masterpiece.” His poems, essays and non-fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review, National Public Radio’s This American Life, and The New York Times Book Review.  
 

7:00 - 8:00 Animal Hospital Ensemble
Animal Hospital is Kevin Micka’s one-man musical recording/performance entity. Formed at the tail-end of Micka’s time with Boston band The Common Cold, Animal Hospital, Kevin has consistently toured the United States, the U.K., and Europe.  
 

Sunday, August 31:  
12:00 -12:45 Cornell Coley
Born in Kingston, Jamaica of Cuban and Jamaican parents, Cornell Coley, M. Ed. is an arts educator with over 20 years of experience teaching around the world. He holds a B.A. from Tufts University, a M.Ed. from Cambridge College, studied cultural anthropology at UCLA and traveled to Ghana, Africa for one year to study dance. Cornell is an accomplished dancer and percussionist, performing at festivals world-wide. His percussion skills include drum kit, timbales, congas, bongos, talking drum, berimbau, cajon, and other Latin percussion. His dance specialties include Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, Congolese, Ghanaian and salsa. 

1:00 - 1:45 City Stage Co.
City Stage Co. sends original, participatory plays to reach family audiences in the neighborhoods where they live. At ähts, City Stage Co, will perform folk tales with a 30-minute show dramatizing three traditional tales from European, Chinese, and Native American cultures.  
 

2:00 - 2:45 Grey Season
Grey Season is a 5-piece folk-rock band based out of Boston.  Their debut EP "Troilus" was released in May 2013, and since then they have performed at a variety of venues throughout the Northeast, from radio stations, basements, pop-up markets, and conventions to galleries, bars, colleges, and concert venues. In January 2014, after a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, Grey Season recorded their first full-length LP, "Time Will Tell you Well." The album was released in April  and can be streamed on their bandcamp site. 
 

3:00 - 3:45 Isis Lune
Isis Lune is a Boston-based band featuring Ella Joy Meir on vocals and piano, Asher Kurtz on guitar, Ran Gil on keys, Aaron Liao on bass, and Tim Merle on drums.  
 

4:00 - 4:45 Inta Afrika  
Insta Afrika is a drum circle with group participation.  
 

5:00 - 7:00 The Moth
The Moth, as heard on NPR, is dedicated to promoting the art and craft of storytelling. The goal of The Moth is to present the finest storytellers among established and emerging writers, performers and artists, and to encourage storytelling among populations whose stories often go unheard. The Moth was the only New York-based arts organization to win a 2011 MacArthur Award for Creative & Effective Institutions (MACEI), for “sharing humanity’s stories one person at a time.” 
Public art events will run from 12 noon to 6 p.m. both days:   

• The ear1 project, which challenges viewers to explore ways to perceive the environment in alternative ways through music, technology, and artwork.
• A miniature contemporary art museum installation by artist Pat Falco exhibiting the work of over 25 local artists.
• Water Graffiti for Peace with artists Shaw Pong Liu, Mike Mei, and teen artist assistants will offer a guided public water calligraphy play area, introducing writing of Chinese characters and encouraging them to create their own symbol for peace. Artist Mike Mei will set up a table to record people's creations and also display some of his ink calligraphy artwork. 
• Sidewalk Chalk with Christian Guerra
• UP Truck with artist Cedric Douglas with screen printing t-shirts, live community painting, as well as the UP truck photo booth Live painting Percy Fortini-Wright live painting a Boston theme canvas.
• Diablo Glass will be performing glass blowing demonstrations. 
• Regina Schroeder from the Boston Paper Collective will be teaching how to make handmade paper. 
• Jennifer Zhang from Winchester School of Chinese Culture will be teaching the art of Origami. 

As always, the “ähts Village” of juried artists will offer an eclectic selection of local, handmade jewelry, crafts, and artwork for sale.  For the second year in a row, the City of Boston and Summer on the Waterfront are holding Boston Harbor fireworks at 9 p.m. on the Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend during ähts. Lead sponsor Boston Harbor Cruises and supporting sponsors the Boston Harbor Hotel, the Boston Globe, and the City of Boston are generously underwriting the event.  

Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park can be reached via the MBTA at Aquarium Station on the Blue line.