As part of the NYPL's Community Conversations project, we have been working with East Village  residents and organizations to put together an all-day Arts Festival at Tompkins Square Library on Wednesday, December 13. There will be all kinds of performances, workshops, and displays by local artists. Please take a look at the events listed below, and stop by to check them out! And, if you'd like to get involved, please come to our next Community Conversations meeting on Wednesday, December 6 at 3pm. 

A number of local businesses have generously donated items for raffles and giveaways, which will be happening throughout the day. Stop by to enter your name! Thanks to Veselka, Exit9 Gift Emporium, East Village Vintage Collective, Anthony Aiden Opticians, Random Accessories, and Say it with Buttons. 

11am-12:30pm and 6:00pm-7:30pm: 2 Minute Oral Histories. Stop by to share a snapshot of your story, to be included in our L.E.S. Oral History Project archive. 

11am-12pm and 3pm-4pm: Alexandra Reese, who is a children and family videographer in New York City, will showcase her work (children's  floor, ) and make photos/videos of the Festival.

11:30am-12:30pm: Interactive arts and play stations for toddlers in the basement community room.

12pm-1:45pm: How to Haiku: A Workshop. Writing haiku poems is fun.  Get started or sharpen your haiku skills.  Indoor discussion followed by outdoor poetry composition. This workshop will be held in our second floor community room. Registration opens Wednesday, November 22. Led by Jeffrey Rabkin. 

12pm-3pm: Information on Art and Preservation Projects in East Village.  Representatives of Art Loisaida Foundation, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and LES Preservation Initiative will share some information about preservation and art projects in the neighborhood, as well as have a display with newsletters, postcards, brochures and books (first floor reading room).

1pm-1:45pm: Acoustic Guitar Performance by Joseph Parisi. The guitarist/composer will perform his own compositions for solo guitar from “Guitar Blossoms,” “Guitar Gumbo” and others in the first floor reading room. 

1pm-4pm: Dakota from The Fourth Arts Block NYC (FAB) will have a booth showing community galleries and cultural institutions. 

2pm-2:30pm: Death by Shakespeare.  The Tompkins Square Library Shakespeare group will read scenes of dreadful and pitiable deaths from Shakespeare in our first floor reading room. 

2pm-3pm: Jewelry Making: A Workshop:  Led by award winning local jewelry artist Joan Reinmuth, this class will apply complex ideas by using up cycled elements simple tools and techniques. Bring your own lost broken jewelry pieces or dig through Joan's curious collection. Registration opens Wednesday, November 22. Second floor community room. 

2pm-5pm: Anthony Reuter from NYC Parks Green Thumb will have  table, sharing information about community gardens and a micro-greens growing activity. 

3pm-5pm: Improvisational Composers Ensemble. The Improvisational Composers Ensemble is a vehicle for music 
that features improvisation as a major compositional element.  The performance will be held in the first floor reading room. 

3:30pm-4pm: "Like Me" A performance piece by Anne Moss and Geneva Jenkins. "Like me" presents conflict between an old-fashioned stickler for correctness and a young social media addict. Performed in the basement community room. 

4pm-4:45pm: Amirov Dance Theater presents The Making of A Babushka,  a comic piece rooted in dance and theater that examines cultural stereotypes false, through the eyes of a Russian emigrant. 

4pm-5pm: Interactive arts and play stations for children of all ages in the second floor children's room. 

4pm-5pm: 3D Doodling for Tweens and Teens.  3Doodler is a 3D doodling pen that allows you to create objects from drawing in the air or on surfaces. Come and join us as we create physical structures from 3Doodler pens. 

5pm-5:45pm: Poetry Reading: The Students of 6th Street Youth Program. The students of Sixth Street Youth Program, ranging in age from 6-13, will share from their collection of poems written this fall, exploring identity, emotions, dreams and social issues in the second floor children's room. 

5:00pm-5:45pm: 16mm Film Screening. We'll be screening two short 16mm films from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts reserve film and video collection, both filmed on the Lower East Side, in our basement community room.  The Heart of Loisaida (1979; 30 min.) Producers, directors: Bienvenida Matias and Marci Reaven. Shows efforts on New York's Lower East Side to revive abandoned buildings through the work and persistence of the local, predominantly Latino residents. A la Guerra (1979; 10 min.) Producer, director: Thomas Sigel. Actor/poet Bimbo Rivas presents an ode to the struggle against assimilation being waged by the Puerto Rican community of New York's Lower East Side.

6pm-6:45pm: Poetry Reading - NYU's Minetta Review.  Minetta Review, NYU’s oldest literary and arts publication, will celebrate the completion of their Fall 2017 issue with a selection of readings from students and local writers. This reading will take place on our second floor.

6pm-6:45pm: Musical Performance: Avon Faire. Avon Faire is a female singing group from New York City, featuring 3-part harmony vocal arrangements of Traditional Celtic & UK Folk songs.  The performance will be held in the basement community room. 

6pm-7pm: "Ubuhlalu" South African Beading Workshop with teaching artist Zola Dube, in the second floor community room.  Each participant will create a basic wire and seed bead bracelet, as well as view a mini photographic exhibition that supports cultural and philosophical location of beadwork. Registration begins Wednesday, November 22. 

7pm-7:45pm: Musical Performance: Broadway Show Tunes and Standards performed by Jackie Schiffer and Danielle Errico. Join us for an evening of music with Broadway show tunes, favorites from the Great American songbook, and familiar Disney hits that we all love! 

7pm-7:45pm: East Village author Alan Kaufman will read from his memoir, Jew Boy, in the first floor reading room. Called “a classic” by the San Francisco Chronicle and “a remarkable document” by Publishers Weekly JEW BOY has just been reissued by Cornell University Press. Kaufman will also read from his other memoir, DRUNKEN ANGEL (“Kaufman's memoir will violently grab your attention”, Publishers Weekly) in which he portrays his rise from homelessness in Tompkins Square Park to sobriety and literary attainment.

7pm-7:45pm:  A Spoken Word Performance. Armand Ruhlman, Marcy J. Gordon, and Dean Loren will present their excerpts from various works of fiction.

7pm-7:45pm: The Art of Love and Cooking with book authors Nancy Addison and MaryAnn De Leo. 

All Day: Visual Arts displays from local artists, including: 

Aga Holda

John C Fields

Darleen Rubin

J. Owen Zurhellen

Laura Goggin

Alexandra Reese

Cliff Fyman

Bonnie Rosenstock

Mark Panzarino

Jenn Cacciola

Bridget Badore (Portraits of the 14th Street Y)

Lynne Cooper

Heather Rogan

Iris

The Students of the Sixth Street Youth Program

Tompkins Square Library Acrylics Painting Group