Howl! Festival

Presented by Howl Arts, Inc.

Everything is holy! everybody’s holy! everywhere is holy! everyday is in eternity! Everyman’s an angel! —ALLEN GINSBERG

howl_festival

Named Best Outdoor Festival by the Village Voice

For more than a century, the East Village has been home to poets, jazz musicians, Vaudeville and Yiddish theatre, artists, rock stars, performance artists and diverse ethnic communities that have added their rich cultural heritage to the mix. Building on this tradition and inspired by long time East Village resident Allen Ginsberg’s epic poem, HOWL! Festival was founded in 2003 to lionize, preserve, and advance the art, history, culture, and counterculture unique to the East Village and Lower East Side.

For more than ten years, the spirit of Allen Ginsberg has come alive in Tompkins Square Park as more than 350 artists, poets, and performers, including youthful new talent, light up the Main and Kid’s Stages and transform the Park into a participatory artwork infused with the creative energy, flamboyance, and panache that’s the hallmark of the East Village.

A destination event embraced by the media and the public, close to 100,000 revelers, parents, kids, artists, and community members have participated in the Festival. A three-ring circus of creativity, HOWL! Festival is entirely FREE. Free admission. Free games, art, and entertainment. Free access to the artistry of your friends and neighbors. Free spirits performing on the Main Stage. Freedom to indulge the senses and imagination in the poetry, legacy and contemporary cultural landscape of the Lower East Side.

THREE DAYS OF FAMILY FUN AND OUTRAGEOUS ENTERTAINMENT!
Our heads are round so thought can change direction. — ALLEN GINSBERG

howl_festival_02

Named the Village Voice’s Best Outdoor Festival 2011, HOWL! Festival is the quintessential community event celebrating the history of the East Village and Lower East Side. Beginning with the signature group reading of Howl, the Festival’s talented performers—young and old—dig deeper into Allen Ginberg’s legacy and mischievous sense of fun to celebrate freewheeling bohemia and creativity in poetry, music, dance, art, and an extravagant program of funhouse activities, rides, games and art for families and kids.

howl_festival_05  howl_festival_04  howl_festival_03

The Great HOWL! Out Loud Kid’s Carnival

Carnival games, fairway attractions like miniature golf and a wacky pint-sized railway; arts and crafts activities including origami, face painting, mask-making, and the gigantic Kids Around Park group mural for budding Warhols and Kiki Smiths; story-telling and more are offered free to the community. Continuous entertainment by and for kids on the Kids Stage has featured performers ranging from Rosie’s Theater Kids, Tap City, Honeybee House, and the crazy Tri-Battery Pops to critically acclaimed young talents like teenage heartthrob Jack Skuller whose catchy, energetic old style rock’n’roll songs charmed everyone from babies to grampas in 2012.

howl_festival_06  howl_festival_07  howl_festival_08

Art Around the Park

For this live action weekend-long event more than 140 artists of all ages turn the 8 foot by 900 foot long blank canvas encircling the exterior of the Park into an enormous outdoor gallery. An explosion of color and creativity, Art Around the Park connects Festival-goers with working artists and encourages dialogue and exchange. Go ahead! Curate, Critique, Kibbutz!

Poetry and Spoken Word Performances

Group Reading of HOWL!

Orchestrated by Bob Holman, acclaimed poet laureate of the East Village, a multi-generational “Greek Chorus” of poetic voices launch each Festival and proclaim Ginsberg’s poem on the Main Stage. In addition, Soap Box Poets enliven the festivities with continuous spoken word performances throughout the Park. 

howl_festival_09  howl_festival_10

Music, Theater, Dance, and other Outrageous Performances

From the ridiculous to the sublime, wide-ranging solo and group performances by contemporary dancers, bands and musicians of all stripes, and theatrical artists light up the Main Stage—delivering non-stop theater, dance, spoken word and more drag queens than you can shake a stick at and culminating Saturday and Sunday in two signature events, including Low Life, a two-hour spectacular inspired by the neighborhood’s long creative history.

Low Life is produced by East Village based performance/club collective The Jackie Factory and its entertaining masterminds Chi Chi Valenti and Johnny Dynell. Low Life was inspired by Luc Sante’s seminal book Low Life: The Lures and Snares of Old New York. Past editions have lauded East Village and Lower East Side movements and icons including Beat Girls; 1980’s drag pioneers; the Bowery as birthplace to vaudeville and burlesque; and the Warhol era Flaming Creatures. Show participants have ranged from East Village icons to emerging companies including Joey Arias, Julie Atlas Muz, Dean Johnson, Dirty Martini, Basil Twist, Vangeline Theater, Brandon Olson and The NYC School Of Burlesque.

Everybody’s serious but me. — ALLEN GINSBERG

Happening!

April 18 – May 18, 2024
Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive
Poster Design Trey Speegle
March 7–24, 2024
Howl! Happening (6 E.1st St.)
033A3367

Howl! Social

THE HOWLER BLOG FOLLOW

A poem from Noisy Autumn: Sculpture and Works on Paper— a monograph on the work of Christy Rupp, with essays by Lucy Lippard, Nina Felshin, Amy Lipton, and Carlo McCormick, and poetry by Bob Holman, published in 2021 by Insight Editions. Christy Rupp’s installation Othered opens at Howl! Happening on Saturday, April 21, 2022. Climate Chaos Crashing! Walrus…

READ

An Essay from Noisy Autumn: Sculpture and Works on Paper— a monograph on the work of Christy Rupp, with essays by Lucy Lippard, Nina Felshin, Amy Lipton, and Carlo McCormick, and poetry by Bob Holman, published in 2021 by Insight Editions. Christy Rupp’s installation Othered opens at Howl! Happening on Saturday, April 21, 2022. Rat/Art…

READ

We are thrilled to announce that Howl Arts Inc. is the recipient of a grant award totaling $49,500 from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the recovery of the nonprofit arts and culture sector. Following New York State’s $105 million investment in the arts for FY2022, NYSCA has awarded more…

READ

Would you believe that Howl programs and exhibitions have featured the work of 156 different artists and creators over the past year?  Thousands of community members, and quite a few first-time visitors, stepped through the doors of Howl! Happening, celebrated the launch of Howl! Arts/ Howl! Archive, and tuned in for programs and performances online….

READ

Guy Woodard ( 11/4/ 1951 — 11/10/2021 ) Sometimes great work comes from very dark places. When so, it moves toward the light, if not dispelling the demons or solving the problems at least illuminating the shadows of neglect and plain truth, inherent beauty, and the simple graceful act of activity. By any such measure,…

READ

A little bit of fall nip is in the air as things open up in New York City and more folks start to gather after being separated for quite some time. Over the past year and a half, new ways to connect with one another in online and virtual spaces have helped us stay connected…

READ

Our Supporting Partners

Howl! Happening
An Arturo Vega Project
6 East 1st Street, NYC 10003
917.475.1294

Howl! Arts/Howl! Archive (HA/HA)
250 Bowery, 2nd Floor, NYC 10012
212-500-6804

Wed-Sun 11AM-6PM

Howl With Us

Stay informed on upcoming events.

Scroll to Top