The Village Trip ended its sixth annual run at the close of September, having entertained, elevated and energized Greenwich Village and the East Village/Lower East Side for two thrilling weeks.

Fifteen days, 43 events – it was quite a ride, from which the tiny band of festival organizers has now just about recovered! Looking through the scores of photos that captured almost every aspect of TVT24 reminded us of just how far we’ve come since 2018, when The Village Trip was little more than a long weekend of events, featuring a truly unique jazz concert which people still talk about and Suzanne Vega headlining our signature free concert in Washington Square Park.

We’ve made lots of friends since then, on-stage and off, and the festival is now a fixture on New York City’s late-summer calendar. This year we asked audience members to fill out a short survey and we’re gratified by the responses. Wrote one respondent:

“Keep up the great work! You are keeping alive and enlarging the true spirit of the Village!”

And that is indeed our goal –
to honor the past, celebrate the present, and inspire the future,
as Deana Stafford McCloud, esteemed curator at the Museum Collective succinctly puts it.
Hopefully, at The Village Trip 2024 we managed all three.

Framing the Village – launch party at the Moshava Gallery (Liz Thomson)

Framing the Village – curator Marc Kehoe (with beard) welcomes guests to the opening party (Jamie Kalikow)

Framing the Village – curator Marc Kehoe (r) & Liz Thomson & Cliff Pearson earned their stripes (The Village Trip)

Framing the Village – Fifties-style poetry reading (Cliff Pearson)

The Village Trip launch party at Ideal Glass – studio-owner Willard Morgan with Wendy Stuart, host of ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ (Cliff Pearson)

The Village Trip launch party at Ideal Glass – artist Diana Wege (Liz Thomson)

The Village Trip launch party at Ideal Glass – Stephen Braun & Marilyn Evans (Liz Thomson)

The Village Trip on West 4th Street – David Amram & Friends (Jamie Kalikow)

The Village Trip on West 4th Street – folk duo Our Band with bouzouki maestro Avram Pengas (Liz Thomson)

The Village Trip on West 4th Street – The Fightscuffs (Robert Helman)

The Village Trip on West 4th Street – many hung out all day (Jamie Kalikow)

For a slide show with captions, click on the images

There’s not space to mention all the highlights and in some ways it’s invidious to mention just a few – but here we go: Framing the Village, the festival’s fourth art show, opened to wait lines on Eighth Street. Gail Merrifield Papp and a stellar cast of musicians and two brilliant young actors joined David Amram for a concert presentation of highlights from the music he wrote for the first 12 years of Shakespeare in the Park.

The Colors of My Life – A Cy Coleman Songbook. Janis Siegel with Boris Koslov, bass, & Vince Cherico, drums (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Colors of My Life – A Cy Coleman Songbook. Janis Siegel with special guest Aubrey Johnson (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Colors of My Life – A Cy Coleman Songbook. Yaron Gershovsky (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Colors of My Life – A Cy Coleman Songbook. Post-show schmooze with David Amram, Jennifer Jade Ledesna (l) & Janis Siegel (Liz Thomson)

Lead Belly The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll – Anna Canoni & Alvin Singh (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – David Amram & Gail Papp (David Andrako/Joe’s Pub)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – Gail Papp (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – David Amram with daughter Adira Amram (David Andrako/Joe’s Pub)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – Michael Kelly, baritone, & Nathaniel LaNasa (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – Lark White (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakesspeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – Peter McNally (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The Music of the Bard – Words & Music of Shakespeare in the Park, 1956-1967 – ‘Sweet Lovers Love the Spring,’ finale (Maria Passannante-Derr)

Janis Siegel, with Yaron Gershovsky and John di Martino and a host of other superlative musicians, celebrated the songbooks of Cy Coleman, and Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The NYC premiere of Lead Belly: The Man Who Invented Rock & Roll moved many in the audience to tears and it was followed by a fascinating conversation between Alvin Singh II, Lead Belly’s great-nephew, and Anna Canoni, Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter.

Talkin’ Greenwich Village – The Heady Rise & Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital. Author David Browne in a publication day chat with Liz Thomson (The Village Trip)

Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe & Jackson Pollock – A Celebration in Music. Composer-conductor Victoria Bond introduces the evening (David Merrill-Cutting Edge Concerts)

Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe & Jackson Pollock – A Celebration in Music. Dolce Suono Trio, with flutist Mimi Stillman, pianist Charles Abramovic, cello(David Merrill- Cutting Edge Concerts)

Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe & Jackson Pollock – A Celebration in Music. Amy Burton & John Musto (David Merrill-Cutting Edge Concerts)

The Village Trip Lecture – Performing Politics in the Village. Professor Ruth Feldstein (Liz Thomson)

Roy Lichtenstein Studio & Home – a unique visit with Mark Lee, architect of the renovation (Cliff Pearson)

American Maverick Guitar – John Schneider (Liz Thomson)

Eliza Garth – Songs & Interludes by John Cage (Samovar Film Productions)

William Bland, Village Maverick. Kevin Gorman gives a rare performance of his music (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 – John Chang (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 – Richard Jimenez, cello & Kyle Miller, guitar (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 – The Curtis Guitar Quartet (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 – William Anderson conducts the Guitar Orchestra (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 celebrating Connie Converse (Samovar Film Productions)

The Village Trip GuitarFest 24 – with Daniel Zapata on oud (Samovar Film Productions)

Over two evenings we honored the legacies of the great Laura Nyro, whose music Bette Midler thought “the very essence of New York City,” and of Mick Moloney and Dan Milner, musicians, and scholars whose influence is heard wherever Irish music is played. The gender-bending theatrics of The Cockettes were recalled in words and photos by co-founder Fayette Hauser. And the timeless brilliance of James Baldwin, “the poet of the revolution,” was honored in his centennial year with an event which won high praise from another survey respondent, who wrote:

“Well written and imaginative production. The actor portraying James Baldwin was his incarnation!”

Stoned Soul Picnic – Diane Garisto & The Laura Nyro Project (Jamie Kalikow)

Stoned Soul Picnic – Diane Garisto & The Laura Nyro Project (Liz Thomson)

Stoned Soul Picnic – Diane Garisto (Jamie Kalikow)

Something to Live For – Celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn with Janis Siegel & pianist John di Martino, Lonnie Plaxico, bass & Vince Cherico, drums (Liz Thomson)

Something to Live For – Celebrating the Music of Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn. After-show schmooze with (l-r) Janis Siegel, Jamie Bernstein, Paul Cavalconte, John di Martino (Liz Thomson)

Genius & Invention – Schoenberg, Cage & Harrison. Joan Forsyth & David Fulmer (Samovar Film Productions)

Genius & Invention – Schoenberg, Cage & Harrison. Dorothea Hayley and Manuel Laufer (Samovar Film Productions)

Genius & Invention – Schoenberg, Cage & Harrison. Lauren Cauley & Adam Tendler (Samovar Film Productions)

Bob Dylan’s Village Trip – Liz Thomson with (l-r) Fabio Fantuzzi, Sean Wilentz & Bert Lee (Dan Rubin)

Bob Dylan’s Village Trip – Mia Vongsavang & Fabio Fantuzzi (Dan Rubin)

Quattro Mani – Susan Grace & Steven Beck (Samovar Film Productions)

The Art & Science of Hang-out-ology – David Amram (l) hangs out with Cliff Pearson (Maria Passannante-Derr)

A Parting Glass – Dan Milner, Mick Moloney & Irish Music in Greenwich Village. Dan Neely, banjo & Donie Carroll, guitar (Maria Passannante-Derr)

A Parting Glass – Dan Milner, Mick Moloney & Irish Music in Greenwich Village. Bonnie Milner with (l-r) Dan Neely, Donie Carroll, Don Meade, & Tony Horswill (Liz Thomson)

A Parting Glass – Dan Milner, Mick Moloney & Irish Music in Greenwich Village. Lisa Farber & Kate Bowling, foreground, Suzanne Grossman (Maria Passannante-Derr)

A Parting Glass – Lisa Farber, Suzanne Grossman, Kate Bowling, Dan Neely, Donie Carroll, Don Meade, & Tony Horswill (Maria Passannante-Derr)

The festival’s Classical and New Music program celebrated the Village as a magnet to many innovators who pushed the boundaries of arts and ideas and changed – sometimes directed – the musical conversation. Among them Jonn Cage, whose piano music was performed by Eliza Garth in a concert described as “exquisite,” and “extremely beautiful.” Cage featured alongside Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives in a concert exploring “Genius and Invention.” Georgia O’Keeffe believed music could be “translated into something for the eye.” At the Salmagundi Club, art was translated into something for the ear, with musical interpretations of paintings by three of the Village’s most iconic artists – Edward Hopper, Jackson Pollock, and O’Keeffe.

Go Tell It On the Mountain – Daniel Carlton calls down the spirit of James Baldwin. With (l-r) Alvin Keith, Sandra Williams, Avery Bargar & percussionist Baba Don Eaton Babatunde with David Amram (Liz Thomson)

Go Tell It On the Mountain – Julian Hornik, with songs inspired by James Baldwin’s novel ‘Giovanni’s Room’ (Samovar Film Productions)

Go Tell It On the Mountain – Nehemiah Luckett, whose latest work, inspired by James Baldwin’s novel ‘Another Country,’ received its premiere (Liz Thomson)

Go Tell It On the Mountain ‘Sonny’s Blues,’ an emotive reading by (l-r) Daniel Carlton, Alvin Keith & Sandra Williams (Liz Thomson)

Donald Judd Home & Studio – a special Village Trip tour (Cliff Pearson)

Rabble Rousers. Frances Goldin & the Fight for Cooper Square – Kathryn Barnier, director, at the special screening (Cliff Pearson)

Stand Up & Be Counted – The Village Trip Comedy Night, Oscar Aydin (Liz Thomson)

Stand Up & Be Counted – The Village Trip Comedy Night, Saturday Night Live’s Vanessa Jackson (Liz Thomson)

Identity, Gender & Cockette Sexual Anarchy. Cockette co-founder Fayette Hauser (r) with Teddy Kerns, dancer, having a pre-show catch-up (Cliff Pearson)

Guitarist John Schneider took listeners on a journey into “the American Primitive” with works by Harry Partch and Lou Harrison played on microtonal adapted guitars. An innovative program explored the musical melting pot of the East Village tenement courtyard and its influence on later generations of composers in a concert featuring talented young students from the Third Street Music School alongside the trio Raices Negras. And GuitarFest24 – The Village Trip’s celebration of the guitar in all its glorious diversity – brought to an expansive conclusion the festival’s American Primitive and Inventors of Genius Weekend, which included a Microtonal Village Conference and drew delegates from around the world.

From the Courtyard – Opal Garg, Third Street Music School student (Liz Thomson)

From the Courtyard – Zachary Blackston, Third Street Music School student (Liz Thomson)

From the Courtyard – soprano Sharon Harms accompanied by Joan Forsyth (Samovar Film Productions)

From the Courtyard – Raices Negras (Samovar Film Productions)

From the Courtyard – Raices Negras with (second left) Joan Forsyth (Liz Thomson)

As always, The Village Trip was bookended by free outdoor events. The Village Trip on West 4^th Street, co-hosted by the West Village BID, was a glorious sun-drenched, sound-enriched afternoon centered around the festival’s Artist Emeritus, David Amram and friends, among them bouzouki maestro Avram Pengas and versatile folk and roots musicians Our Band. The closing concert in Washington Square Park celebrated girl power – Jamie Barnett, Tish and Snooky, and BETTY, all of them singing in the rain to a crowd that happily danced among the puddles. In between, there were walks led by our entertaining and erudite trio of guides Marc Kehoe, Ann McDermott, and Marc Catapano, each exploring aspects of Downtown’s fabled history. And there was a very special tour of the Roy Lichtenstein Studio and Home, now home to the Whitney’s Independent Study Program and rarely open to the public. What a trip that was!

Bringing It All Back Home to Washington Square – Janie Barnett (Maria Passannante-Derr)

Bringing It All Back Home to Washington Square – BETTY rocking in the rain (Maria Passannante-Derr)

Bringing It All Back Home to Washington Square – Tish & Snooky with The Prisoners of Love (Robert Helman)

Bringing It All Back Home to Washington Square – dancing in the rain (Robert Helman)

Old-Fashioned Coffee House Night with singer-songwriter David Roth (center) & friends from The Peoples’ Voice Cafe (Liz Thomson)

Read it in The Village Sun! Pre-festival delivery round for Cliff Pearson (l) and Wiliam Anderson, delivering The Village Trip program (Liz Thomson)

Thank you to everyone who made it all happen. Our civic and business partners, our board, our small creative team, our donors, and volunteers – and all our wonderful performers and artists and tour guides. It wouldn’t be the same without you!

And, thanks to all those who came to Village Trip events – it was wonderful to meet and chat with so many of you. There’s still time to fill out our short survey.

If you believe in our mission of shining a light in the darkness and having some fun, please support The Village Trip. We are now a 501c3 non-profit organization so your donations are tax-deductible. However modest (or immodest!) they are, please know that your dollars pay our artists and production costs – everyone else is a volunteer. Your support is essential for us to continue creating and presenting a festival that captures the spirit of Greenwich Village. We look forward to welcoming you around the same time next year.

Thank you and stay tuned!

Liz & Cliff