River to River Festival 2020: Four Women of Color Take Over Lower Manhattan

The River to River Festival, created after 9/11 to revitalize Lower Manhattan, returns in 2020 with heightened relevance amid COVID-19, economic crisis, and protests. Organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and curated by Lil Chopra and Nanette Nelms, the free, itinerant festival runs from July through August 2020. Titled 'Four Voices,' it features four women of color: writer Asiya Wadud, writer-illustrator Mona Chalabi, and visual artists Jean Shin and Muna Malik. All events are outdoors due to indoor gathering bans. Wadud's 'Echo Exhibit' scatters poems from quarantine phone conversations on walls in the Seaport District and Pier 17. Malik's 'Blessing of the Boats' invites the public to write wishes on paper boats placed at Belvedere Plaza in Battery Park until August 18. Shin's installations 'Floating Maze' (a chandelier of discarded plastic bottles) and 'The Last Straw' (compositions of colored straws) at Brookfield Place critique consumer habits. Chalabi's '100 New Yorkers' at the Oculus uses statistical data to create prototype characters representing the city's demographics, with a focus on political participation ahead of the presidential election. Past festival participants include Yoko Ono and Pam Tanowitz.