ArrowFest kicks off with experimental and whimsical performances

ArrowFest organizers are leaning toward chaos and whimsy. Over the next week, Cambridge audiences will be able to watch more than 40 performances by hundreds of artists at Harvard Square’s newest venue, Arrow Street Arts, the former home of Oberon.

The inaugural festival will feature daily music, dance performances, lunchtime concerts and interactive performances for all ages, including an interactive show for infants titled “Whipped Up!” presented by Soap & Rope Theatre Company.

It features a waiter in a 1950s-style bar who tries his best to please his young customers and carers. He previously had a sold-out performance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August last year.

“It was such a joy to be in that space, to watch everything come together, to take a step back and then go 40 steps forward,” said Georgia Lyman, executive producer of the theater company Liars and Believers and the festival’s chief curator. “I think our role is to support artists in their vision and push them to go even further.”

Lyman said she thinks there aren’t many places where artists are asked, “What do you want to do?” and then have the vision, funding and willingness to take that risk.

“I often feel like art has to make safe decisions to sell tickets,” she said.

The atmosphere was both exciting and chaotic, as she spent so much time looking at budgets and spreadsheets, schedules and contracts, to finally see artists gushing about where they could create. Among the artists is Mz Mo Phila, a media personality born and raised in Dorchester. She will host and emcee the festival’s grand finale, the “Women of Boston” hip-hop showcase on September 15, co-hosted with BAMS Fest, and will also feature Dutch Rebelle, Brandie Blaze, kei, Cakeswagg and Jazzmyn RED with their own sets.

“Art is a universal language and I am grateful for this festival that presents many aspects of art and has the freedom to present that art in any way they see fit,” Phila said. “That is the biggest theme I hear in everything, which is inclusivity. We always find so many things that divide us and make us different. But there is one thing that will always bring us together. And that is art.”

Lyman attributes that focus to Arrow Street Arts founder and president David Altshuler, who brought that sense of openness and uneasiness to the space. Altshuler said the festival was designed to be improvisational — in other words, expect the unexpected. It opened Sept. 5 with a ribbon-cutting and an experimental and immersive show by Liars and Believers called “Don’t Open This,” a spectacle of aerial acrobatics, masks, music, puppets and dance.

He said Arrow Street was founded on a deep belief that art builds community and community can build belonging. The new space has been renovated and expanded to accommodate the needs of the production.

“In this day and age, you need your audience to be more than just someone who shows up,” Altshuler said. “They like to feel like they’re part of what’s going on during the show.”
The festival will last until September 15.

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ArrowFest runs until September 15 at Arrow Street Arts in Cambridge.