The Boston Globe WGBH Summer Arts Weekend Scheduled For July 26-28, 2013

BOSTON, May 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boston Globe, WGBH and Citizens Bank are teaming up again to host the 2^nd annual Boston Globe WGBH Summer Arts Weekend. The 2013 event will celebrate and promote Boston's arts community with a free festival on Copley Square in the Back Bay on July 26-28, special offers around the city, and a series of ticketed unique performances. 

With music ranging from classical and jazz to Latin, bluegrass and soul, dramatic theater and dance, Summer Arts Weekend will showcase Boston's thriving arts community by bringing local and national artists to the city for a variety of free performances.

Blues and jazz icon Dr. John as well as the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band will headline Friday's opening concert at Copley Square. Noe Socha, a guitar and harmonica blues artist and student at Berklee College of Music will open the evening's performance and will be followed by the bluegrass band Della Mae.  

Saturday will celebrate music of the world.  The day will feature performances from Carlos Nunez, a Galician bagpipe player from the Celtic region of Spain, ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, Grammy-Award winning Beninoise singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo, and Brooklyn-based Bhangra band Red Baraat.  Saturday will also showcase performers with a Boston connection in a special Boston Before Dark Session Americana event. 

Classical comes to the forefront on Sunday, with performances from the Handel & Haydn Society and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, who will perform with Carlos Nunez.  

Building on the success of last year's inaugural event, WGBH, The Boston Globe and Citizens Bank are extending the weekend programming to include a series of Boston Summer Arts Weekend Walks & Talks. Beginning the week of July 21, the expanded programming will feature a Newbury Street gallery tour and art auction, as well as exclusive talks with artists and authors at venues across Boston. WGBH, The Boston Globe and Citizens Bank will release additional information about the Walks & Talks later this month.

"In 2013, the arts will certainly come alive like never before in the City of Boston," said Chris Mayer, publisher of The Boston Globe. "The month of July will offer incredible opportunities for residents and visitors alike to experience an amazing array of performances and exhibits. We are delighted to be working with WGBH and Citizens Bank to bring this celebration to Boston."

In addition to the free events at Copley Square and the Walks & Talks events, the weekend will feature Boston Summer Arts Weekend After Dark – a series of ticketed events that bring together festival artists for short-form intimate performances allowing for unique collaborations between artists.  More information about these programs will be available soon.

"The success of the first Summer Arts Weekend demonstrated what we already knew – that Bostonians have a true passion for the arts," said Jon Abbott, president of WGBH.  "Starting with the Fourth of July and continuing through Summer Arts Weekend, July will showcase the rich and diverse arts culture of the City.  We're excited to once again be part of the celebration."  

Local arts organizations will offer discounts and unique programming for the public, all of them featured in a special guide. All arts and entertainment organizations are invited to list their events in the guide and on the Summer Arts Weekend website free of charge.  The guide will be distributed in The Boston Sunday Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and will be available online at WGBH.org.  To submit a listing, please visit www.BostonSummerArts.com.

"Sponsoring programs that enliven and enrich the communities where we live and work is an example of our ongoing commitment to Massachusetts and to our belief in being a good citizen," said Robert D. Matthews, Jr., vice chairman, commercial banking, Citizens Bank. "Collaborating with The Boston Globe and WGBH to present a dynamic variety of arts will benefit residents, business owners and visitors in the City of Boston and will continue to build Boston's reputation as an exciting place to be."

Summer Arts Weekend is presented by Citizens Bank.  Sponsorship opportunities are still available and can be tailored for both small and large arts organizations.  For more information about becoming a sponsor of Summer Arts Weekend, contact Allison McCann at [email protected]
For more information, visit www.bostonsummerarts.com.

About The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is wholly owned by the New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading global, multimedia news and information company with 2012 revenues of $2.0 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYTimes.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com and related properties.  The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news and information.

About WGBH
WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcaster and the largest producer of PBS content for TV and the Web, including Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George, and more than a dozen other prime-time, lifestyle, and children's series. WGBH's television channels include WGBH 2, WGBH 44, and the digital channels World and Create. WGBH TV productions focusing on the region's diverse community include Greater Boston, Basic Black, and High School Quiz Show. WGBH Radio serves listeners across New England with 89.7 WGBH, Boston Public Radio; Classical New England; and WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR® Station. WGBH also is a major source of programs for public radio (including The World), a leader in educational multimedia (including PBS LearningMedia, a free online service providing the nation's educators with curriculum-based digital content to meet 21st-century learners' needs), and a pioneer in technologies and services that make media accessible to the 36 million Americans who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or visually impaired. WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors: Emmys, Peabodys, duPont-Columbia Awards…even two Oscars. Find more information at www.wgbh.org.

About Citizens Bank
Citizens Bank is a division of RBS Citizens, N.A., operating its seven-state branch network in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. It has 253 branches and 744 ATMs in Massachusetts.

RBS Citizens, N.A., is a subsidiary of RBS Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $127 billion commercial bank holding company. It is headquartered in Providence, R.I., and through its subsidiaries has approximately 1,400 branches, approximately 3,600 ATMs and more than 19,000 colleagues. Its two bank subsidiaries are RBS Citizens, N.A., and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. They operate a 12-state branch network under the Citizens Bank brand in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Charter One brand in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. RBSCFG has non-branch retail and commercial offices in more than 30 states. RBSCFG is owned by RBS (the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). RBSCFG's website is citizensbank.com.

SOURCE The Boston Globe