O-Positive Fest Raised The
Cost Of Living In Kingston
First things first: what the heck is O-Positive? As with so many of our awareness campaigns- if you don't already know, don't even worry about it. So many of the harmful offerings across the 845 are things that low income and working class people aren't supposed to be a part of, so please don't feel excluded or like O+ is worth you learning about. You can read about them here if called, but our interpretation is that they are an arts festival whose harm is outweighing their good intentions.
This yearly arts festival was founded by New York City transplants who moved in Kingston NY- a city that is one of the most impacted by the gentrification & housing crisis in the Hudson Valley. While O+ uses buzzwords like "local", "community" and "radical care", they consistently market the festival to primarily tourists while not giving those visiting the area any educational materials around the housing crisis or local mutual aid efforts. Inviting mostly non-local artists to participate when so many locals yearn to feel heard is sad, but a lot of locals who have been a part have said that no one came to their shows because tourists didn't know them and locals avoided O+. The focus on catering to visitors creates a pipeline: tourists become transplants and landlords who ultimately price out and displace the culture bearers who were here before.
O+ does offer an exchange, but what determines who O+ chooses to include? Chosen participants are granted 1 healthcare service in exchange for being a part. What are the barriers to apply? Why include non-locals at all when the people who live year all year long are struggling? Why won't O+ invest in the long term health of local creatives? And why make any artist "work" for healthcare when O+ has a huge annual budget (~$600,000 to be exact, primarily funded by millionaire Peter Buffett through the NoVo Foundation) (and a reminder that we have ZERO annual budget and yet we continue to prioritize paying artists and offer free and accessible programming all year long)?
O+ sadly seems to have ego holding them back and the founder, Joe Concra, said to us on a Zoom call once "if folks get the wrong idea, we can't control that".
But they can control how they are using their platform. They can help spread the word about the housing crisis. They can consistently show up to local BIPOC led efforts on the ground. They can stop ignoring our asks for funds that directly pay local impacted artists. The can stop perpetuating cycles of oppression via the arts, stop artwashing Kingston, and stop working with landlords to raise their property values, thereby raising the cost of living and displacing longtime locals. This is our ask. We're rooting for O+ old guard to unlearn and step up, to be better or to get out of the way, and to give up their power and resources to impacted folks who are from here and strive for liberation for all.
Use and search our hashtag #OPositiveFestRaisedTheCostOfLivingInKingston !
Community Day
Every year since 2022, we've hosted a Community Day during the O+ Festival Weekend! Our counter-offering is:
- Completely free for the public to attend and held at a public space
- Accessible via public transportation (via the UCAT bus in Ulster County)
- Completely outdoors to honor those still acknowledging the continued pandemic and other airborne illnesses
We intentionally include things like:
- Collaborative community mural making for all ages and abilities
- An all day open mic open to any low income, marginalized, Hudson Valley creatives to participate in via live performance
- Free food from local sources
- Free wellness offerings such as body work, tarot, and astrology
- Free harm reduction supplies such as Narcan/training, face masks, and fentanyl test strips
- Community resources such as affordable food maps, legal services, free clothing and wares, and other local wellness opportunities
2024 update:
BIG THANKS to everyone who helped keep mutual aid alive & well, even in the rain.
While O+ uses buzzwords like "local", "community" and "radical care", folks on the streets consistently name that the crowd drawn in is ignorant & unsafe. O+ markets to primarily tourists while not giving them any educational materials around the housing crisis or local mutual aid efforts. The focus on catering to visitors creates a pipeline: tourists become transplants & landlords who ultimately price out & displace people.
This year, O+ tried having the City of Kingston shut us down by booking the public park. We've been holding Community Day at Academy Green Park since 2022 to offer truly accessible art, music, & wellness to people in Kingston- a place experiencing nationally known gentrification & displacement. We did this during O-Positive, who STILL refuses to name these plagues, is silent about Palestine, is a super spreader event, & so much more. We showed up anyway & gave away FREE food maps, resource zines, hygiene kits, food, hot tea, clothes, umbrellas, herbs & more despite the rain. O+ claimed that an artist specifically requested to utilize the park, but did that artist's performance timeslot have to overlap with our event? And how did the City of Kingston Parks employee who reached out to us hear about our event, and why wouldn't they share the public event that was booked during ours?
While O+ uses buzzwords like "local", "community" and "radical care", folks on the streets consistently name that the crowd drawn in is ignorant & unsafe. O+ markets to primarily tourists while not giving them any educational materials around the housing crisis or local mutual aid efforts. The focus on catering to visitors creates a pipeline: tourists become transplants & landlords who ultimately price out & displace people.
This year, O+ tried having the City of Kingston shut us down by booking the public park. We've been holding Community Day at Academy Green Park since 2022 to offer truly accessible art, music, & wellness to people in Kingston- a place experiencing nationally known gentrification & displacement. We did this during O-Positive, who STILL refuses to name these plagues, is silent about Palestine, is a super spreader event, & so much more. We showed up anyway & gave away FREE food maps, resource zines, hygiene kits, food, hot tea, clothes, umbrellas, herbs & more despite the rain. O+ claimed that an artist specifically requested to utilize the park, but did that artist's performance timeslot have to overlap with our event? And how did the City of Kingston Parks employee who reached out to us hear about our event, and why wouldn't they share the public event that was booked during ours?
Want to offer something at our 2025 community day? Please contact us! Offerings should center arts, music, and wellness and should center the well being of those most impacted in our community, specifically in Kingston (but all are welcome!). If we can do anything to make our events more accessible, please let us know as we would love to accommodate.