O+ has a new Clinic and multi-use space at 36 St. James Street and we are inviting art, music, and wellness alumni to use it in an ongoing effort to support creative and wellness practitioners. 

The concept is similar to the festival exchange: by offering your skills (which could look like offering workshops, services, artwork, or performances), you also have the opportunity to access a variety of services (dental and primary care, massage, acupuncture, etc. ) throughout the year. As our exchange network grows, so will the array of offerings that can be shared. 

Please take a moment to respond to our questions so that we have an understanding of how you would like to use our space. Someone will respond to you after we have received your request.

Thanks!

O+ Team

O+ Festival Kingston

October 11-13, 2024

Submissions for the 14th Annual O+ Festival are now open!

Applications Open March 4th, 2024
All submissions due by April 28th, 2024 at 11:59p.m.

The O+ Festival is a celebration of art, music and wellness that offers access to health care for its participating artists and musicians while providing the community with an opportunity to experience the healing and transformative power of art in all forms. O+ (pronounced Oh Positive) fosters physical, mental and social well-being by connecting visual artists and musicians directly with a coalition of healthcare/wellness providers and resources in a shared vision to nurture the individual and the community. By exchanging the art of medicine for the medicine of art, O+ empowers communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

O+ Festival Kingston is now accepting submissions from artists of ALL mediums and modalities including (but not limited to) 2D or 3D visual art, large-scale murals, sculpture, temporal work, installation, film, animation, projections, sound-based work, dance and performance in public spaces to transform the city into a shared art experience. The O+ Art Committee aims to curate work that contributes to or reflects the meaningful juxtaposition between Kingston’s dynamic, multicultural neighborhood communities and compelling, radical, relevant contemporary artwork. 

O+ Festival builds its program around a new theme each year and we invite artists to respond to the theme in their proposals. In this year of consequential electoral politics, protest, war, disinformation, oversaturation and overstimulation we are seeking to examine, engage with and transcend the noise of our humanity.

This year’s’ O+ Festival explores the duality of NOISE.  
 Within noise lies the potential for both disruption and innovation, discord and harmony. At once, noise has the capacity to uplift, inspire, and unite as well as to be used to disrupt or distract us from what is real or distance us from the sounds of our own minds. Noise can be righteous, insistent, a catalyst for profound transformation, a source of creativity, and a vehicle for social change. Through embracing the richness of noise in all its forms, we seek to foster a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between individual expression and collective experience. 

We are calling artists, musicians and writers of all mediums, genres and modalities to explore the paradoxical nature of noise and its role in shaping our shared human experience. From vibrant murals that capture the pulse and persistence of life on a grand scale to immersive, intimate soundscapes that invite contemplation, to drum beats, exclamations, collective exhales and shared silence, we hope to build a symphony of noise– full of the beauty, dissonance, harmony and resonance, chaos, silence and amplification - in order to reframe noise not as a disturbance, but as a vibrant force of empowerment, positivity, liberation and connection from which deeper truths can emerge. Learn more about this year’s theme HERE.

All submissions will be reviewed, and the festival art program will be curated, by the O+ Art Committee - a group of O+ alumni, practitioners, industry professionals, and community members representing different practices, identities and perspectives. Accepted submissions will be invited to participate at this year’s festival in exchange for access to care in the O+ Artists’ Clinic.

Please remember that the festival takes place in traditional and non-conventional venues, both indoor and out. While there will be opportunities for more traditionally exhibited work we strongly encourage submissions that are site specific, nomadic or amenable to non-traditional/outdoor exhibition, installation or performance spaces. We cannot guarantee the setting for every accepted artist's work but we will work with 

*Work that is a collaboration or hybrid between visual art/movement and music or art/wellness may choose to submit in either category. Please do not submit in more than one category.

Click HERE for detailed information on our mission. You can expect to be notified regarding your submission by the beginning of June. This year, we expect to receive hundreds of submissions for a finite number of artist slots. Capacity is determined, in large part, by the amount of care we are able to provide at our clinic during the festival weekend. We ask for your patience and understanding should your submission not be accepted for this year and encourage all who are not chosen for O+ Festival 2024 to reapply next year.

A NOTE TO MURALISTS: The O+ Mural Program has grown significantly over the last decade and we now have approximately 60 existing murals in the Kingston area alone. Our focus when pursuing walls for murals is finding the right context for selected artists and their proposed concepts. Beyond the quality of the work, we also have to consider what walls are available, what wall owner preferences are, city and historic area regulations, neighbors of a given location, representation and more. We will hustle to find the best possible wall for your work if it is selected but cannot promise artists their ideal/preferred location or surface quality and ask that artists who are selected remain open to producing their work in the locations available to us. 

A note to O+ Art Alum: We may give lower priority to artists who participated in the previous three O+ Kingston Festivals, though we encourage all to apply. As our mission is centered in cultivating a diverse community of artists to whom we are offering access to healthcare, we want to make sure we reach those who have yet to participate and may have a need to acquire care.

We are currently expanding our art programming towards a year-round model, as we are constantly looking for new ways provide care to artists. If you aren’t accepted for this year’s festival, you may be contacted over the next year if there are other ways to connect with O+. We thank you in advance for your understanding. 

If you're interested in volunteering for a free festival wristband or in exchange for a clinic visit please click HERE
Thank you for your interest in O+ Festival and our mission.
We look forward to the opportunity to review your submission!

Positively,
The 2024 O+ KINGSTON Art Committee

Please do not let any barriers, personal, perceived or technical, get in the way of submitting your work. Please reach out to us for assistance in applying if you need support of any kind. Contact info@opositivefestival.org or call (845) 399-5343 for assistance.

The O+ Festival is a celebration of art, music and wellness that creates a bridge to access health care for its participating artists/musicians while providing the community with access to the healing and transformative power of art in all forms. O+ (pronounced Oh Positive) fosters complete physical, mental and social well-being by connecting visual artists and musicians directly with a coalition of healthcare and wellness providers + resources in a shared vision to nurture the individual and the community. By exchanging the art of medicine for the medicine of art, O+ empowers communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

Volunteers are essential to the success of the festival and yearround programming through which that exchange is made possible.

We do what we do because we see vividly the inequity of the healthcare system in our country, and because we are able to creatively support our musicians and artists in this way so they can keep doing what they do best -- make music and art. In recognition of your service, we offer volunteers the opportunity to receive healthcare services in our clinic during the festival. For 8 hours of volunteer service, you will receive the annual festival volunteer T-shirt as well as (1) clinic visit of your choice. For 4 hours of volunteer service, you will receive an annual festival volunteer T-shirt. 

We expect our volunteers to show up on time and participate for the duration of their shift. All volunteers are required to attend a volunteer orientation prior to the festival (date options coming soon) and there will be an additional training for any volunteers managing financial transactions/handling money. When filling out the form, please select the types of work you are interested in and we will do our best to accommodate your requests! 

Thank you for volunteering with us and for your support of the exchange of art, music and wellness at the center of our mission. 

HO+USING for the 2024 O+ FESTIVAL KINGSTON 

HO+using for artists and musicians is needed to support the 14th Annual O+ Festival returning to Kingston October 11-13th, 2024. 

Do you have a spare room in your home? Do you have a second home or apartment in town? Or a really comfortable couch, a finished basement, a yard that is perfect for camping in, or an RV in your driveway? Are you a hotel, B&B or apartment building manager who would like to offer a room or two or ten to support a local arts non-profit organization through an in-kind donation? 

The O+ Festival is seeking accommodations for artists and musicians who will be performing, exhibiting, producing and activating the City of Kingston during the 14th Annual O+ Festival October 11-13th, 2024. O+ Festival is a celebration of art, music and wellness that creates a bridge to access health care for its participating artists/musicians while providing the community with access to the healing and transformative power of art in all forms. O+ (pronounced Oh Positive) fosters complete physical, mental and social well-being by connecting visual artists and musicians directly with a coalition of healthcare and wellness providers & resources in a shared vision to nurture the individual and the community. By exchanging the art of medicine for the medicine of art, O+ empowers communities to take control of their collective wellbeing.

The ability to provide safe, welcoming, local housing for participating artists and musicians, at low to no cost, is essential to the success of O+ Festival Kingston. Artists and musicians may need one night of accommodation following their performance, activation or installation of their work. They may need two to three nights of housing to allow them to participate and also attend the festival. And we also have mural artists who will need to be housed for 5-14 days depending on the scale and complexity of the mural they are producing. 

By providing artists/musicians with a place to stay while they offer their talents and that joy to our community, you contribute to the health of the festival but also their sense of connection to our community. That said, providing housing for O+ Festival participants does not mean that you need to "host" them. We do not have the expectation that artists and musicians would be fed or entertained through housing that is offered. We do expect that both you and the person/people staying in your home are respectful of each other, safe during their stay and are in communication about any issues or concerns. 

All housing offers will be reviewed and a staff member will follow up with any further questions or concerns to ensure that any placement in your home is in-line with the accommodation offered, needs of the artist/musician and will be as positive of a fit as possible. 

Click HERE to learn more about O+ Festival. You can expect to be notified regarding your accommodation by early September. If you are also interested in volunteering in exchange for a clinic visit (minimum 8 hour requirement) please click HERE.

Thank you for your interest in O+ Festival, our mission and for your willingness to open your home to artists and musicians. 

Positively,
The O+ Team

Please do not let any barriers, personal, perceived or technical, get in the way of connecting to O+. Please reach out to us for assistance if you need support of any kind. Contact info@opositivefestival.org for assistance or call/text 845-481-9146.

What is the BLO+ck Party at O+ Festival?
    Since 2013, O+ Festival has hosted an ExpO+ to highlight local healthcare providers, makers of wellness products and community groups to allow them to engage directly with the 4000 attendees that converge in Kingston for the festival weekend. For 2024, we’re expanding upon that vision to create an afternoon street fair with vendors, food, music, performances and family activities to create an atmosphere of fun and engagement around the wellness screenings and info tabling.

BlO+ck Party will take place this year on Saturday, October 12th from 1:00 - 6:00pm in Uptown Kingston on Wall Street between Main Street and John Street. The street will be closed off for foot traffic only. Set-up is between 10:00am-12:30pm and breakdown between 6:00-7:30pm The ExpO+ is free to all attendees, regardless if they have purchased a ticket to the O+ Festival. 

Our goal is to connect folks to resources that support their wellness in a myriad of ways, from enhancing awareness to direct care, to information on youth services, mental health, delicious food and healthy NA drinks, crafts and wellness products, and connection through community interaction and activities 

Who can apply?

• Health, wellness or recovery-based organizations
• Providers who can offer preventative healthcare information or screenings to the public
• Organization, groups or individuals wishing to table about wellness, nutrition or empowerment
• Family friendly activities (ie. Clothing or book swaps, games, performances, photo booths..)
• Community partners wishing to engage with public
• Vendors: 
•  Wellness-based products
• Hot food & drinks (non-alcoholic)
• Artisans/Crafts
• Vintage

We do not support the presence of any political candidates or parties at BLO+ck Party but welcome those who can share information, insights, and empowerment opportunities in an issue-focused manner.*

Please fill out the form below with information about your services, organization and/or brand, as well as what you propose for your booth setup and/or activity. 

Have questions? Please email blockparty@opositivefestival.org

What happens next?
              Once we've received your submission, we will confirm whether or not we are able to extend an invitation to you to participate in this year's BLO+ck Party*. We will then follow with additional details regarding time, space, load in/out, etc. 

Please note: Non-profits, providers and makers are invited to table for free, but vendors who will be selling food will be charged a $50 vending fee which will cover the costs of the permit from the city and they will need to fill out corresponding paperwork. BLO+ck Party participants also receive a wristband to access the entire O+ weekend which can be picked up early on Friday if desired. 

Thank you for your interest in contributing to this annual celebration of art, music and wellness and for supporting wellbeing within our community in all forms! 

Be well,
               The O+ Wellness & Partnership Team

               *O+ reserves the right to deny participation in the BLO+ck Party to any group, provider, brand or organization that does not reflect our community or the values of the organization.