The Linda Plaut Newton Festival of the Arts is this weekend, July 22-24, offering a wide variety of arts, culture, and music ranging from baroque to blues, R&B to classical guitar, and jazz to opera. There will be 20+ performances and 4 venues over the course of 3 days, all free.
“We’ve gone all out for this festival. It’s the largest single event in our city featuring top talent and is still entirely free to the public,” notes Chris Pitts, Festival Chair and Producer.
This year, the Festival will add an exciting dimension — dining and shopping thanks to All Over Newton, a marketing firm founded by Lauren Berman to support Newton’s small businesses. All Over Newton has teamed up with Newton Community Pride to offer “Sweet Deals & Meals” shopping and dining to accompany the Festival’s live musical and cultural performances. Baramor in Newton Centre will start things rolling on Friday evening, 6PM-8PM, with raffle drawings from local businesses and live music.
The Festival kicks off on Friday evening with a New Philharmonia Pops concert at the Hyde Bandstand followed by the Academy award-winning movie classic Casablanca, and concludes Sunday, with a 7 PM performance by Newton resident and rising star Tema Siegel and her band Couch.
“Including retail and restaurants in the Festival of the Arts is a boon for Newton’s small businesses as they’ll get a much-needed marketing boost during the slower days of summer,” Berman said. “And it’s a huge win for residents,” she added, “because there’ll be some great mid-summer sales and opportunities to try new foods from restaurants all over Newton all weekend long.” The performance schedule for the festival’s four locations is:
Outdoors at The Hyde Bandstand, 90 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands
Friday, July 22:
- 6:30pm New Philharmonia Pops Concert
- 7:30pm Instrument Petting Zoo
- Dusk Movie – Casablanca
Saturday, July 23:
- 2pm Blue Grass Train Band
- 3pm Olga Lisovskaya “American Songbook”
- 4pm George Russell Jr. Trio
- 5pm Lydia Harrell, Jazz Singer
- 7pm Debo Ray & Her Allstar Band, Dance Party!
Sunday, July 24:
- 4pm Ed Harlow & the Gringo Kings
- 5pm Eli Cash Band
- 7pm Couch & Tema Siegel
Outdoors on the Village Green, 1221 Centre St, Newton Centre, MA 02459
Saturday, July 23:
- 12pm Circus Comes to town with Circus Complex
- 2pm Plugged In-Band
- 3pm Newtonville Books StoryTime with author Raul The Third
- 4pm Singer-Songwriter, Folk Singer Rob Siegal
Outdoors at Suzuki School of Newton, 1615 Beacon Street, Waban
Saturday, July 23:
- 2pm Austin McMahon Trio (Jazz)
- 3pm Hankus Netsky Duo (Jazz & Klezmer)
- 4pm Crowes Pasture (Folk: banjo, guitar, vocals)
Inside at The Allen House Center for the Arts, 35 Webster Street, West Newton
Saturday, July 23:
- 2pm Dance Currents with Kathy Hassinger
- 3pm Adrus Madsen & Friends
- 5pm Nomadic Theatre Story Slam
