TURNERS FALLS — The Radical Interconnectedness Festival, scheduled April 26 and 27 in Turners Falls, is set to include performances and exhibitions depicting the perspectives of marginalized groups in western Massachusetts.
The festival will take place at a variety of locations all within walking distance, including the Discovery Center and the Shea Theater, as well as storefronts and repurposed churches.
“My intention for offering commissions to artists to create this work is to give them a platform to be heard, to be listened to, to tell their story, to be understood, and to make that human connection,” festival organizer and Eggtooth Productions Artistic Director Linda McInerney said.
Pieces range from song, dance and theater to artistic and photographic installations, seeking to shed light into the experiences of marginalized communities.
Among performances on offer is a spoken word event by members of Voices Carry, part of the Greenfield non-profit Voices From Inside. The organization holds writing workshops for women who have experienced incarceration and drug addiction.
“This festival is an opportunity for our community to explore the ways in which we are connected rather than the way we are different,” Voices Carry Director Gretchen Krull said.
Local artist Katherine Adler will also perform at the festival. The piece consists of more than 20 personal meditations with accompanying soundtracks spanning 30 hours.
“Festivals of this nature are … a great way to test the pulse of the local artistic community. With artists working in different mediums, stages of their careers, and topics of interest, the audience has a chance to see a truer reflection of their own communities at large,” Adler said.
After the festival, there will be an opportunity to talk with the artists and humanist scholars April 28 at the Greenfield Community College Cohn Family Dining Commons.
“The conversation at GCC on Sunday gives people an opportunity to have that human connection,” McInerney said. “It may, in a sort of funny way, be the most important element.”
For more information, visit eggtooth.org/experience-now.