4th Annual Rise Up Festival – Celebrating Revitalization in St. Louis!

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Media Inquiries:

Larry Perlmutter, Rise Communications and Development Manager

314-333-7008

[email protected]

4th Annual Rise Up Festival – Celebrating Revitalization in St. Louis!

ST. LOUIS, Washington Avenue Historic District – June 20, 2016- Rise is proud to announce our fourth annual Rise Up Festival taking place on August 20th, 2016 in the city of St. Louis on Washington Avenue, from 15th Street to 17th Street. The festivities will start up at 2 PM and continue on into the evening until 11 PM, remaining free for all to attend!

Rise’s mission is to partner with communities to build stronger, more equitable St. Louis neighborhoods. The Rise Up Festival is a one-day street event that brings together art, music, local business, and other key elements that play a part in community building in order to celebrate revitalization in St. Louis.

A wide variety of musical performances will take place at the festival, including The Original Wailers (Reggae), Platinum Rock Legends (Rock), Roland Johnson and Soul Endeavor (Blues), and Dr. Zhivegas (Dance Music). With the broad range of genres, there will be something for everyone at the festival!

Emerging artists will attend, displaying their work and participating in a competition managed by Cultural Festivals (founders and managers of the St. Louis Art Fair). Local artisan food and craft vendor booths will be present at the festival as well.

Local restaurateurs will be providing a generous sampling of food and Urban Chestnut Brewing Company will provide the microbrew. Other attractions at the festival include a Kids Carnival and Circus Area including face painting, games, and juggling.  Fun for all ages is offered at the Rise Up Festival!

We are excited to announce the National Blues Museum (NBM) as our Blues partner for 2016. NBM will sponsor Roland Johnson and Soul Endeavor and will have a strong presence at the festival promoting the rich heritage of Blues.

“We’re so excited to have the opportunity to partner with an organization that is just as passionate about music, art and culture in St. Louis as we are,” said Dion Brown, Executive Director of the National Blues Museum. “The National Blues Museum just opened in April and to be able to help promote the blues at the Rise Up Festival is just an example of the programming we hope to accomplish.”

About Rise (www.risestl.org) Rise is a nonprofit organization that partners with communities to build stronger, more equitable St. Louis area neighborhoods.  Rise develops both affordable and market-rate housing, particularly in neighborhoods with the potential to enhance economic diversity.  Rise has developed or assisted in $700 million in neighborhood redevelopment in the St. Louis area. Rise flourishes at the intersections of public, private and non-profit sectors, enhancing the quality of life in St. Louis.

For more information about the Rise Up Festival, please visit: riseupfestival.org

Rise Up Festival

The Rise Young Professionals Trivia Night is Coming!

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You don’t want to miss this event. Get your tables reserved, buy a ticket, sponsor a round or become an event sponsor. We’re going to have a great time and all of the proceeds go toward building stronger, more equitable St. Louis area neighborhoods!

riseyp-rectangleSt. Louis Decades Logo

Eleanor Tutt Departs Rise

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Eleanor Tutt, our highly valued Data Management Coordinator, will be departing from Rise as of December 31, 2015. Eleanor started with Rise in February of 2007.

Eleanor has been responsible for analyzing Rise’s geospatial databases, collecting and publishing neighborhood indicator data (including housing, demographic, social, and economic data), and creating Geographic Information System (GIS) maps for Rise planning and development projects.  She provided capacity-building technical assistance services to neighborhood organizations, helping them access information, introducing them to data interpretation best practices, and assisting them in the development of their own maps and databases.

On any given day Eleanor could be working on anything from the Off the Charts! 2: Data and the Arts for Social Change with the Regional Arts Commission (RAC), to setting up an interactive online dashboard related to problem properties for Dutchtown South Community Corporation, to updating and working on the Neighborhood Data Gateway (a source for data on St. Louis assets and opportunities managed and maintained by Rise), to representing St. Louis on the Executive Committee of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP). Whew!  That’s a lot for anyone on any day to be working on and that is just to name a few of Eleanor’s projects.

Recently, Eleanor has been working on an initiative of Living Cities, Code for America and the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, supported by the MacArthur Foundation, to harness civic data and technology to improve the lives of low-income residents.

Under this initiative, Rise, Open Data STL, and St. Louis County are collaborating to implement technology solutions that will bring transparency and an improved experience to the local courts system.  In the process, the partners will also work to strengthen collaboration at the local level between residents, civic technologists, neighborhood data practitioners, and government officials. One example of this “ecosystem building” work was the hands-on Civic Tech and Community Development workshop Eleanor facilitated this fall for Rise’s Community Development Corporation partners.

Knowing Eleanor, she will continue to focus her passion for data democratization, map making, and community development to serve the public and make a positive impact on our neighborhoods.  We will miss her and all the value and passion she has brought to Rise, and we look forward to seeing what she does next. Good Luck, Eleanor!

Rise held a going away party for Eleanor (which also served as a welcome party for our new Data Management Coordinator, John Cruz) on December 16, 2015. Please take a look: