PR: CultureFest NYC 2007

Contacts: Tiffany Townsend/Sarri Harper, NYC & Company, 212-484-1270, sharper@nycvisit.com
Kim Esp/Colleen Roche, Linden Alschuler & Kaplan Public Relations, Inc., 212-575-4545, kesp@lakpr.com

NEW YORK CITY'S CULTURAL COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER AT CULTUREFEST NYC 2007

—Free in Battery Park on October 13 and 14—
—Once-a-Year Chance to Discover It All and
Plan Your Cultural Calendar for the Year—

New York, NY (October 9, 2007)—On October 13 and 14, more than 125 of the City's cultural organizations make Battery Park their home for the much-anticipated CultureFest NYC 2007. The free, weekend-long event marks the start of this year's cultural season and offers the exclusive opportunity to find out—in one place at one time—all that is happening in arts and culture throughout the five boroughs. In addition to planning their personal cultural calendar for the next 12 months, visitors to CultureFest can enjoy celebrated music and dance groups perform live on two stages throughout the weekend.

"For anyone who loves the arts or has ever wanted to find out more about the City's exciting cultural community, this is the must-attend event for fall," said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company, the City's official marketing and tourism organization. "The free, weekend-long event gives visitors and residents alike the exciting opportunity to discover—and see in action—over 125 cultural organizations from all five boroughs."

"No other event captures New York City's diverse cultural scene quite like CultureFest NYC 2007 and Merrill Lynch is proud to be the Presenting Sponsor for the fifth consecutive year," said Eddy Bayardelle, president, Merrill Lynch Foundation. "Every year this event is a unique celebration of New York City, making the City's vibrant cultural community accessible to all its residents and visitors, and welcoming new audiences. Merrill Lynch is dedicated to supporting the City's arts and cultural community and showcasing the importance of bringing foot traffic to Lower Manhattan. We couldn't ask for a more beautiful location than Historic Battery Park."

This year's participating cultural organizations include: American Museum of Natural History, Bargemusic, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Bronx Zoo/Wildlife Conservation Society, El Museo del Barrio, Historic Richmond Town, Japan Society, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the New York Botanical Garden, New York Hall of Science, openhousenewyork, St. George Theatre, SculptureCenter and South Street Seaport Museum. For a complete list of participating organizations and performers, go to nycvisit.com.

Visitors to CultureFest can plan their own personalized cultural calendar—an itinerary of a year's worth of activities—by visiting the exhibits of their favorite organizations, discovering new ones and planning their visits over the coming months. For children, there will be face painting, puppet shows, arts and crafts and historic reenactments.

Two stages—one for adults kids and one for kids—will feature continuous live dance and music performances all weekend that reflect the range of performing arts in New York City.

Among the artists performing on the Main Stage will be: Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra with Arturo O'Farrill, Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Parsons Dance and members of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Program. The Kids' Stage will feature the Big Apple Circus, the Ebony Hillbillies presented by Symphony Space, TADA! Youth Theater Resident Youth Ensemble and Wildlife Conservation Society's puppet show.

After taking in all that CultureFest has to offer, visitors can head to CultureFEAST where a wide variety of New York City's celebrated restaurants will be serving up cuisines from around the world, all available in lunch-sized portions, starting at noon on both Saturday and Sunday.

Complete information is available at nycvisit.com or at NYC's Official Visitor Information Center (810 Seventh Avenue at 53rd Street; 212-484-1222); NYC Heritage Tourism Center (Southern tip of City Hall Park on the Broadway sidewalk at Park Row); Harlem Visitor Information Center (253 West 125th Street); Federal Hall Information Center (Federal Hall National Memorial at 26 Wall Street) and in Chinatown (the intersection of Canal, Baxter and Walker Streets).


NOTE TO EDITORS: For .JPEG images go to . B-roll of cultural organizations is available upon request.