Long Island City, NY (May 22, 2003) On Sunday, June 22 from 5pm until sunset, Socrates Sculpture Park and Materials for the Arts will present the second annual Summer Solstice Celebration. This free family and community event celebrates the beginning of summer and the longest day of the year with performances, live music, art and food. The Summer Solstice Celebration takes place in Socrates Sculpture Park amid Yard, the current exhibition of contemporary sculpture and video. Visitors can take part in a free art-making workshop where they can make a headdress or a wind-propelled sculpture, have their face painted, picnic in the Park with food from local restaurants, or just watch the fun!

Events scheduled include: Circus Amok's new performance entitled Home* Land* Security; Erwin Redl and Long Island City High School's collaborative light project which comes to life as the sky darkens; the Artists of the Micro Museum¹s flower coats from the Spring Fever Collection '03; Astoria Performing Arts' Sun God, Sun Goddess and Father Time; Louie and His Amazing Band performing World Music; Agostino Arts and Transformation Face Painting; a special East River appearance of the Rockaway Artist Alliance's Dragon Boat; and solstice artmaking workshops where participants can make sun poetry collages, headdresses, ribbon twirls, musical instruments, and more!

The Summer Solstice Celebration is produced by Socrates Sculpture Park and Materials for the Arts, and is made possible through the generous support of Queens Council on the Arts, Partnerships for Parks, and Artist & Audience Exchange, a public program of New York Foundation for the Arts.

Socrates Sculpture Park was an abandoned riverside landfill and illegal dumpsite until 1986 when a coalition of artists and community members, under the leadership of sculptor Mark di Suvero, transformed it into an open studio and exhibition space for artists and a neighborhood park for local residents. Today, it is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and artist residency program that also serves as a vital New York City park offering a wide variety of public services. The Park¹s existence is based on the belief that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of our urban environment.

The education program was founded in 1990 to offer a variety of innovative programs to young people in the community. The goals of the Park's education program are to provide alternative, creative activities for neighborhood youth; to teach practical, useful life skills; to build confidence and a sense of personal success and achievement; and to develop creative talents not addressed through other means of academic work.

Materials for the Arts provides thousands of arts programs with the things they need to prosper and endure. MFTA gathers materials from companies that no longer need them and distributes them to artists and educators that do. In the process, MFTA removes hundreds of tons from the New York City sanitation system. MFTA helps artists realize their visions, provides students with a richer educational experience and furnishes businesses with a simple and efficient way to enhance the cultural life of their city.

Socrates Sculpture Park is open 365 days a year from 10am to sunset and is located at the intersection of Broadway and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. For directions to Socrates, please visit our website: www.socratessculpturepark.org.

For additional information, please contact Tara Sansone or Lisa Gold at 718.956.1819 or info@socratessculpturepark.org.