By Tricia Hall
The Truth Reporter
Downtown Toledo’s streets on N. Superior between Madison and Adams were taken over by Momentum, an experience organized by The Arts Commission. Festivities opened on Friday, September 8 and continued on September 16 and 17.
Friday’s festivities offered various artistic forms for every type of art supporter from 5:00 -10:00 p.m. There were three stages of entertainers: Molly’s Irish Dance, Aegela Middle Eastern Dance, El Corazon de Mexico Ballet Folklorico, Poonam Indian Dance, THE Modern Dance Company, Echoes of Poland, F.A.M.E.D Hip Hop Dance, Off-Broadway Dance Company, Latin American Open Dancing featuring DJ Fercho, Beginner Salsa lessons featuring Mike Hamilton, Kazendaichi Taiko Japanese Drumming, iDance Adaptive Dance and Djobi Ensemble West African Drumming.
There was space to create street art: Anchor Art, local Artist Exhibition, Art Loop Dancin in the Streets, Silent Disco and Food Trucks.
Artists that will be featured during the three days of festivities included: Kelley Tyler, Peg Whiting, Leslie Dietsch, Mariah Maddox, Travon Watson, Thomas Craley, Kristine Miller, Jefferi Adams, Bea Currie, Duane Ackley, Laurie Swyers, Cheryle E. Williams, Sandy Hartke, Hannah Bowlus, Bet A. Swartz, Andy Sacksteder, James Dickerson, Tim Field, Mary Gaynier, Sandy Hartke, Jennifer Sheriff, Johnathan Dunbar, Shelby Faulkner, Michelle Fisher, Alexandra Hammer, Jennifer Sowders, Yvette M. Reyes, Faith Goodman, Deric Bolden, Alisa Rowland, Natasha Overton, Anna Short, Miquela Mundy, Airen Meyer, Emmitt Williams, Nadine Bower, Kearsten Wilkins, Tami Higgins, M.D. Jones, Janelle Lorenzen Teitlebaum, Toledo Jazz Festival, M. Richard Surprise, Jonie McIntire, Scott McMunm, Breyana Kemp, Isao Kato, Breyana Kemp, Olivia Anderson, Simply Shann, Renaldo Carter, William Davis (Imani), Joe Sparks, Israel Douglas & Alyssa Martinez Baker, Mike Hackney, Seth Robinson, Kavandra Pope, Amaya Martin, Gigi Janko, Lexi Hayman-Staples, Erin Keaton, K.P. Pace, Adam Sanzenbacher & Stephen Williams (XY&Z); Gathered Glass; Bradley Scherzer; Hannah Bowlus; Alisa Rowland; T. Keith Marok; Mark Moffett & David Fodel; and Natalie Tranelli-Jacobs & Ryan Bunch.
“This is our seventh year and we wanted to scale up our support of the artists and downtown. There is something that everyone will enjoy, from dancing, public art, featured artists, and more. This year we started a weekend early to bring awareness to all the great art that Toledo has to offer and invite people to visit us again next weekend,” shared Marc Folk, president & CEO of The Arts Commission.
Momentum started in 2017 and continues as an annual festival that celebrates the city’s vibrant community through arts and culture. The 2023 sponsors are: Owens Corning, Buckeye Broadband, ProMedica, City of Toledo, The Blade, Hart Associates, Toledo.com, BCAN, Adams Street Publishing Company, Ohio Arts Council, National Endowment of the Arts, NSG Group, Toledo Museum of Art, OI, Imagination Station, Will Lucas, Kengo Sushi & Yakitori, 2 Scale, Aly Sterling Philanthropy, BGSU, Savage and Associates, Toledo Lucas County Public Library, Erie Home, Spengler Nathanson Attorneys at Law, The Andersons, First Hospitality, 13ABC and La-Z-Boy. For additional information visit (https://theartscommission.org/events/momentum).
