Infringement Festival kicks off in city

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - The arts are alive Thursday night in Allentown with the opening of the Infringement Festival.

Most of the events Thursday took place at Nietzsche’s on Allen Street. The events went through midnight on Thursday. The festival lasts seven days with performances in over 50 different venues.

The Infringement Festival kicked off in Allentown for the seventh year in a row. This is a festival where everyone can enter and no one is turned away.

“There is 170 music artists, and there’s 15 dance groups, 18 poetry projects, 50 theater productions, 73 visual artists, 33 films,” said event organizer Curt Rotterdam.

Michael Mulley of College Street Gallery says the festival is a great showcase of local eclectic and unique art scene. It allows everyone, not just those already familiar with local art, to experience it.

“The festival does a great job of bringing all kinds of diverse people together, and people from the suburbs, and people from the city. And I think that’s really the most important thing is that people come here and have a good time,” said Mulley.

Many artists are inspired by their local roots.

Performer Annabelle Warzele said, “A spiritual kind of dancing and poetry that’s inspired by Buffalo and by the Earth and things like that.”

But a lot of artists also traveled from out of town to participate in the festival.

“It’s exciting for us because like I said, we’re from Cincinnati, so it’s good to come up here and be a part of something where they care about the music and what’s going on, and all types of different genres,” said performer Lazy D.

You can find more information on the festival here.

For two events you don’t want to miss, check out Amelia’s notebook.