PORTLAND, ORE.: Fertile Ground Festival of New Works has announced the lineup for its 2021 festival, which will stream for free on Facebook and YouTube Jan. 28-Feb. 7, 2021. A community panel of artists and arts administrators, called the Grow Panel, has selected the 31 projects for this year’s festival. The festival, which will be online for the first time, will feature work designed for a digital platform.
“Three-hour Zoom calls are rarely categorized as inspiring, but that was certainly the case after the Grow Panel had its final festival curation session,” said Bianca McCarthy, Grow Panel co-facilitator and executive director of Echo Theater, in a statement. “It is heartening for me to see how willing the leadership at Fertile Ground has been to listen and create space for new perspectives, and that showed in the assembly of our intersectional panel. The depth and breadth of professional and lived experiences helped ensure that a variety of voices, including up-and-coming artists, were given a platform for expression at this year’s Fertile Ground—we are thrilled with how the festival lineup came together.”
The Grow Panel, which also adjudicated the Grow Award, was instituted to include a wider range of community artists and create a more equitable decision-making process for the festival. Members of the panel include Sara Jean Accaurdi, Roy Arauz (facilitator), Michael Cavazos, Jane Comer, James Dixon, Tracy Cameron Francis, Robert Guitron, Heath Hyun Houghton, Anthony Hudson, Nicole Lane, Bianca McCarthy (facilitator), Matthew Miller, Jeanette Mmunga, Val Yvette Peterson, Tess Raunig, Dre Slaman, Logan Starnes, Samson Syharath, and Mark Woodlief.
The Fertile Ground 2021 Festival projects are:
A Window Into Elderworld | Elder World Productions
Abraham Lincoln (Self Help Guru) | CoHo Clown Cohort
Allies & Accomplices | Echo Theater Company
Be Careful What you Ask For | Family of Color Productions
Cat Napper | Portland Civic Theatre Guild
CHOSEN | Asteroid B612
I’ll Tell You How To Love Me | Brave Ass Scaredy Cat
Lilies | Future Prairie
Livin’ in the Light | Future Prairie
MADONNA OF THE CAT (working title) | Sue Mach Productions
Martha Bakes | Vanport Mosaic
no one can hear me scream underwater | echeri productions
Oh Myh Dating Hell | Aala Is Possible
Prismagic Radio Hour | Prismagic
Prolific | Le Why Not Productions
RE: Lilith Lopez | The Reformers
Red/Act | This Cherokee Rose
Resiliency in Rhythm | I Am M.O.R.E. (Making Ourselves Resilient Everyday)
Sadie and Myrtle | V.A.D.M. Realm
Sex Therapist Confesses | Naked at My Age
Shooflies and Psilocybin | Theatre Vertigo
Spirit in the Dark | PDX Soul Collective & Portland Cello Project
STOP! (Motion) | The Broken Planetarium
Storytelling at Willamette Center Women’s Center + Rogue Pack Youth | Rogue Pack
Tadaima | Eat Cake Gallery
The FUN-Raiser (to stop the end of the world) | Kryptic Films
The November Project | Many Hats Collaboration
the space/silence/sao in-between | Do It for Mead
Troy, USA | Bag&Baggage Productions
Ways of Trying | World’s Edge Theatre
Hot Mess – a Zombie Musical | SPECTRE Productions
More information about the Grow Panel members and the 2021 festival is available on the Fertile Ground website.
