River Festival
2024 Cambridge Arts River Festival
Cambridge Arts River Festival Returns June 21, 2025
Join us for the Cambridge Arts River Festival along the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday, June 21, 2025, from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Free admission.
Six Stages of Music, Theater, Dance and Poetry along Memorial Drive, between JFK Street and Western Avenue, curated by Global Arts Live, Liars & Believers, Passim, Cambridge Jazz Foundation, José Mateo Ballet Theatre, The Dance Complex and the City Night Reading Series.
Plus a Parade featuring Mermaid Promenade and Celebration of 250 Years of Milestones, Innovations and Firsts. All are welcome to be in the Mermaid Promenade: Come in costume and/or with props to John F. Kennedy Memorial Park at JFK Street and Memorial Drive by 11:10 a.m. More info for participants.
Also Interactive Art-Making; Buskers; International Foods; Arts and Crafts Market; four themed Interactive Photo Booths from EventKore; and A Trike Called Funk offers a day-long, pop-up party on three wheels featuring DJ Nomadik.
SCHEDULE
(click on stage links for full details)
11:30 a.m. - Featuring Mermaid Promenade and Celebration of 250 Years of Milestones, Innovations and Firsts. Begins at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park at JFK Street and Memorial Drive, proceeds east along Memorial Drive, traveling through the River Festival, to end at Corporal Burns Park at Memorial Drive and Flagg Street.
All are welcome to walk in the Mermaid Promenade, just meet at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park at 11:10 a.m.
Buskers
Cate Great is an award winning 20 year veteran of circus, stage, and street. She trained at The Quebec City Circus School and has performed in 11 different countries including: Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, Italy, the UK, as well as most of Canada and the US.
A Trike Called Funk & special guest DJ Nomadik host a five-hour, free-flowing and funkified dance party set to sounds ranging from Prince to P-Funk to James Brown.
Organized by Club Passim
12 p.m. - Cliff Notez
1 p.m. - Almira Ara
2 p.m. - Gabriella Simpkins
3 p.m. - Grace Givertz
4 p.m. - Naomi Westwater
5 p.m. Pamela Means
Organized by Global Arts Live
12 p.m. – Zafarán.
1:30 p.m. - Maison Électronique
3 p.m. - Balla Kouyaté.
4:30 p.m. - Veronica Robles Female Mariachi Band.
Hosted by The Dance Complex and José Mateo Ballet Theatre
12:00 - Sinha Capoeira
12:30 - MetaMovements
1 p.m. - Blues Union & Bluesy Tuesy
1:30 p.m. - Off Beat Tap
2 p.m. - Odissi Dance by Priya Bangal
2:30 p.m. - House Dance for All Levels with Sean Bjerke
3 p.m. - Back Pocket Dancers
3:30 p.m. - BABYBABYBABY (excerpts), choreographed and directed by Laila J. Franklin
4 p.m. - Janelle Gilchrist Dance Troupe
4:30 p.m. - Afro-Brazilian Dance with Isaura Oliveira
5 p.m. - Drum and Dance Circle
Organized by Cambridge Jazz Foundation
12:30 p.m. - Damon DueWhite and FAZZ (Funky Jazz)
2:30 p.m. - Ron Savage Trio
4:45 pm - LoVeSeXy tribute 2 the music of Prince
Organized by City Night Reading Series. Hosted by Jean Dany Joachim
11:00 - 11:15 a.m. - Poetic Welcome
11:30 - 12:05 p.m. - Poetry from the Workshop —Tom Daley
12:10 - 1:10 pm. - The Laureates — Philip Hasouris
1:15 - 1:45 p.m. - Cambridge Sidewalk Poetry Past Winners — Peter Payack & Lillian Hsu
1:50 - 2:20 p.m. - New England Poetry Club — Doug Holder
2:25 - 3:00 p.m. - Danielle Legros Georges: A Tribute — Tom Laughlin
3:00 - 3:50 p.m. - Poetry in Translation and Recent Publications: Grolier Bookstore, Trilingual Press, La Guagua, JEBCA Editions — Willyz Ramirez, Eddy Toussaint
3:50 - 4:30 p.m. - City Night Readings Poets & Writers — Michael Anderson
4:30 - 5:15 p.m. - Open Mic — Pedro Zayas
5:15 - 5:45 p.m. - Words & Movemen — Fred Brown
5:45 - 6:00 p.m. - Words & Music — Special Guests
with Amy Grunder, Barbara Lewis, Bob Whelan, CD Collins, Charles Settles, Chris Brandt, Christophe Charles, Charlot Lucien, Dan Watt, Denise Provost, Denize Lauture, Douglas Holder, Elizabeth Lowney, Emmanuel Oppong-Yeboah, Ernst Joachim, Fred Brown, Gale Batchelder, Heather Nelson, Indran Amirthanayagam, Jessica Lucci, Lo Galluccio, Luke Salisbury, Lynne S Viti, Mario Malivert, Mary Buchinger Bodwell, Mary Shortsleeve Dorato, Michael Anderson, Molly Watt, Peter Payack, Philip Nikolayev, Poet Laureate, Salem, Regie Gibson, Taty Hernández Durán, Tom Daley, Tom Laughlin and Toni Bee.
Organized by Liars and Believers
11 a.m. - Tanya Nixon-Silberg, "I wish I was a Poet."
11:30 a.m. - Charlotte Dore, “ Rachel Skullcap Pirate Puppet Show.”
12:15 p.m. - Sam Webel and Lila Kay, "A Whole Lot of Nothing.”
1 p.m. – Glen Moore, “Clown Café.”
1:30 p.m. - Charlotte Dore, “Rachel Skullcap Pirate Puppet Show”
2 p.m. - Sam Webel and Lila Kay, "A Whole Lot of Nothing.”
2:45 p.m. – Ky, “Lollipop."
3 p.m. - Glen Moore, “Clown Café.”
3:30 p.m. - Valerie Stephens, “Storytelling.”
4:15 p.m. - Ky, “Lollipop.”
5 p.m. - Poornima Kirby, “Shakespeare's Queens.”
The annual festival began in the early 1970s. The
2024 Cambridge Arts River Festival was held on the banks of the Charles River on June 15, along Memorial Drive, between JFK Street and Western Avenue. The 2024 festival offered six stages of music, theater, dance and poetry; the Mermaid Promenade; interactive art-making; buskers; international foods; and an arts and crafts market.
Cambridge Arts previously adapted the event for the covid pandemic, with virtual Stream Festivals in 2020 and 2021 and the Ripple Festival in 2022, a series of smaller in-person performances and arts markets rippling out into Cambridge neighborhoods in the spirit of the River Festival. During 2023 the River Festival was not held, as the pandemic continued to provide challenges for the long-term planning and fund-raising required to produce the showcase of food, arts, crafts, immersive art experiences and multiple stages of live music, dance, poetry and theater.
BEST Festival Winner!
Boston Magazine named the Cambridge Arts River Festival the Best Festival of 2017 and then again in 2018: "This annual extravaganza isn’t just about seeing contemporary work—it’s about immersing yourself in it. Along with musical, dance, and theater acts, you’ll find a poetry tent, huge wild-animal puppets, and beatbox workshops. In other words, sweet, sweet sensory overload."
The City of Cambridge does not discriminate on the basis of disability. The City may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to qualified individuals with disabilities. For information contact Cambridge Arts: Phone: 617-349-4380, TDD: 617-349-4621
