WHITE PINE FESTIVAL INC

White Pine Festival The fourth annual White Pine Festival, an interdisciplinary fine arts festival, will be held June 24-27, 2010. The festival’s mission is to present, each summer, a series of world-class artistic and cultural events that engage both artists and audiences. The festival brings national and regional artists together to collaborate across artistic disciplines, and has featured exceptional chamber musicians such as the Miró Quartet and the St. Petersburg String Quartet, nationally known poets such as Tony Hoagland and Marie Howe, and some of the best regional talents such as the Minnesota Orchestra’s Jorja Fleezanis and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Layton “Skip” James. You can read more about past festival artists and events on our website, whitepinefestival.org. The festival is a volunteer-driven organization without a full time staff. Crucial to our success are more than 80 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, who are passionate about building a world-class arts festival in the St. Croix Valley. Our vision for the White Pine Festival is a celebration of the arts that includes exceptional national and regional artists, presented in a stimulating interdisciplinary model amid the beauty of the St. Croix Valley. At the core of our vision is our conviction that the arts have more in common than many people realize. Our festival pursues this vision in a variety of ways: • We challenge our featured festival artists to create interdisciplinary collaborations within events. They are encouraged to bring their own experience and strengths to present a unique performance for our audience. Our most recent example was 2009’s collaboration between poet Matthea Harvey and the Miró Quartet, which resulted in the creation of an original poem inspired by, and paired with, a performance of a Philip Glass string quartet. The performance received much acclaim, and was later broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today, which reaches nearly 250 radio stations nationally. • We encourage dialogue about how artists from diverse disciplines approach the creative process. For example, a 2009 festival event paired Roger Bonair-Agard, a former national champion slam poet, with Kami Polzin, a representational oil painter based in Stillwater. They each presented completed works as well as works-in-progress, and discussed the similarities and differences in their styles, motivation, and inspiration. The audience had so many questions that we extended the event more than 30 minutes. • We embrace an interdisciplinary approach through the scheduling of our events. While not every event is explicitly interdisciplinary, our schedule as a whole encourages audience members to challenge their own perspectives and past experiences. Just as in the first three years, the 2010 White Pine Festival will bring first-rate professional artists and performers from across the country to stay in the St. Croix Valley. At this time, we are in the process of selecting our summer 2010 artists and will announce the lineup in early February. Each of the festival’s four days follows roughly the same schedule, with intimate and relaxed morning events giving way to afternoon classes and informal performances. As evening approaches, some audience members may choose to dine in one of Stillwater’s many restaurants, while others who work in the Twin Cities may arrive just in time for the nightly featured event. Though they are featured in events throughout the day, festival artists shine most brightly at the ticketed evening events. Most events take place within walking distance of the St. Croix River to take full advantage of the region’s natural beauty in the early summer. As we prepare for our fourth year, we’re more excited by the White Pine Festival vision than ever. We will continue to pursue an ambitious goal: to develop and sustain a high-quality, regionally known artistic and cultural festival in the St. Croix Valley. Above all, we want to present a fine arts festival that people will enjoy, remember, and return to year after year.