David Amram, The Village Trip Artist Emeritus
The second Village Trip has been completed, and it was a great success. Billboard came to cover it and gave the festival a glowing review. Most important, the festival attracted many young people as well as older Village residents.
Everyone who attended any of the events felt a warm, inclusive spirit and a joyous energy that has always been the hallmark of this special neighborhood.
With the Village’s rich history of artistic and social innovations and the vast number of gifted artists of all genres who would love to be part of this festival, Village Trip lll will be even better.
The possibilities for this festival are limitless and make it feasible for it to become an international event. This is what happened in the summer of 1957 when I was with the New Shakespeare Free Festival in the Park, as their first composer and music director. In spite of all the struggles, sixty-two years later this festival is bigger and better than ever.
The Village Trip has the same mission: To uplift, to entertain and to celebrate the arts for all New Yorkers and their families and all people from around the world who come to visit New York City’s special oasis, Greenwich Village.
Arthur Levy, music historian, researcher and archivist
In just two late-summer runs, Septembers 2018 and 2019, The Village Trip has managed to plant itself as the definitive celebration of all things Greenwich Village: music of every stripe (folk, soul, rock, jazz, country, classical and beyond), poetry, photography, seminars, and trouble-making brouhahas that are always fun. A cast of Village-rooted characters ranging from David Amram and Tom Chapin, to Suzanne Vega and Steve Earle and dozens more have been recruited for the cause by TVT organizer Liz Thomson, the indefatigably energetic and imaginative Brit journalist who has become the ultimate Washington Square habitué herself. Long live TVT.
Andrew Berman, Executive Director, Village Preservation
The Village Trip is a welcome and wonderful fellow organization amplifying the cultural, musical, literary, and social justice heritage of Greenwich Village. As a partner, we at Village Preservation appreciate how The Village Trip’s work supports and celebrates Greenwich Village, while also enticing a broader audience into the neighborhood. All of this dovetails with our work of highlighting the need to preserve and protect the cultural and architectural heritage of, and support the small businesses in, our neighborhoods.
Gianluca Tramontana, music journalist and broadcaster
Much of the music scene may now have moved to Brooklyn – but let’s not forget that Greenwich Village was where it all started. Some of the most influential musicians of our time came out of Village clubs whose names are now etched into history. Jazz, folk, rock – everyone played there. And let’s not forget Kerouac and the Beats, the birth of Off-Broadway and indie cinema. Social and cultural barriers were broken down in the Village – think of Billie Holiday and “Strange Fruit” at Café Society. The NAACP began in the Village, which has played such a formative role in the creation of civil rights, labor rights, gay rights, and much besides. The history is rich and The Village Trip is a great opportunity to celebrate it. It’s a festival that deserves our support.
Trevor Sumner, President, Washington Square Association
The Washington Square Association is proud to support The Village Trip. Greenwich Village has been at the centre of so many things down the decades, and the footsteps of a legion of celebrated writers, artists, musicians and politicos echo in its streets and in our beautiful Park, where I was lucky enough to grow up. All of them, and the Village itself, deserve to be celebrated with a festival.