Celebrate Urban Birds Kingsport

Friday May 24, 2013 at 11:00 AM from DKA Office W. Main Street, Kingsport TN

The Celebrate Urban Birds Kingsport event will be a one hour guided walk covering 6 city blocks and will highlight multiple locations where birds are celebrated through art. Active urban bird watching will be led by Rack Cross, Kingsport Birding Trail Project Manager & Development Services Coordinator for the City Of Kingsport. Bonnie Macdonald, Director of the City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts will provide commentary on the art. The walk will start at the Downtown Kingsport Association building at 140 W Main Street in Kingsport. This event is free and open to the public, but there is a limited number of spaces, RSVP should be made to Chasity Carter at dkafront@DowntownKingsport.org or call (423) 246-6550.

For more information contact Rack Cross at RackCross@KingsportTN.gov or call (423) 229-9492.

This Celebrate Urban Birds event is brought to you by The Downtown Kingsport Association, The City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts, the, The Kingsport Birding Trail, and Cornell Ornithology Lab.

Celebrate Urban Birds is a citizen science project from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, focused on a better understanding of the value of green spaces for birds. This project connects people of all ages and backgrounds to birds and the natural world through the arts and fun neighborhood activities.

LOCAL ORGANIZERS:

Suzanne Barrett Justis, Artist
Chasity Carter, Marketing and Communications Manager Downtown Kingsport Association
Rack Cross, Kingsport Birding Trail Project Manager & Development Services Coordinator
City of Kingsport
Bonnie Macdonald, Director, Office of Cultural Arts City of Kingsport
Sherri Mosley, Executive Director, Downtown Kingsport Association
William Stephanos, Program Administrator, Office of Cultural Arts City of Kingsport

In conjunction with this Celebrate Urban Birds event, the City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts is announcing a special sponsorship opportunity. A bronze sculpture named Birdwatchers by Gregory Johnson has been on display downtown for the last year as part of the annual juried exhibition Sculpture Walk. The annual Sculpture Walk exhibition gets changed every year. Over the past 6 years the city has been fortunate to keep 8 works of art for the permanent public art collection. The Office of Cultural Arts and many community members have had their eye on Birdwatchers all year but the time for it to leave us has come. We have been given special permission by the artist to hang on to it for a few extra months in hope of raising enough money to include it in our permanent public art collection. It is now residing outside of the city planning building on Market Street. So far $9,000 has been raised to buy this sculpture, and another $9,000 is needed. For more information on sponsorship of this or other public works of art, contact the City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts at (423) 392-8414 or email WilliamStephanos@KingsportTN.gov.