Yo, New York! Tourism Officials Pitch Arts Festival
BROOKLYN, NY (CBS) - Philadelphia tourism officials are traveling around the east coast offering other cities a glimpse of this April's Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts.
One stop was the Williamsburg area studio of a Brooklyn aerialist. There, officials tried to pitch the arts festival to the New York media. Aerialists flew around the studio accompanied by music by the Hot Club of Philadelphia. Local actor Tom Moyer performed a monologue of Sigmund Freud, and other flavors the City of Brotherly Love were on display.
The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts begins April 7th. Ed Cambron, Executive Director of PIFA, said the 25 day festival will have it all. "On one end you have the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Chagall exhibition. On the other, you have programs on the rooftop garden with circus arts," Cambron said.
Why make the pitch to New York and other cities? Meryl Levitz, President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, said they want to, "Engage new audiences and give them a reason to come to Philadelphia in April."
Brooklyn based Grounded Aerial will open the festival with a performance on the wall outside of Verizon Hall in the Kimmel Center. Karen Fuhrman, founder of Grounded Aerial, said you shouldn't expect to see a circus. "It's more along the lines of a theatrical character-developed play that happens to be in the air," Fuhrman said.
For more information on The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts go to Pifa.org
Reported by Karin Phillips, KYW Newsradio
