Pianos + Art + Music equals Keys to the City

GREEN BAY, WI – (WGBW/WISS) – This weekend a unique live art and music festival will take to public locations throughout the Green Bay community. The Keys to the City Painted Piano Festival features music from local artists,  donated pianos, live art by area artists, and culminates in the unveiling of five new, interactive art installations throughout the city.

Tarl Knight of the Tarlton Theatre said the event is a new way to arts and culture to the city.

“The premise here is we’re bringing arts and culture out throughout the city in a way that the Tarlton hasn’t been able to reach before,” said Knight.

Keys to the City takes donated pianos and places them in different neighborhoods in the city. Then artists; Nate Smith, Megan Jane, Jake Phelps, Rachel Warpinski, and Carli Ihde will spend the afternoon painting the pianos and turning them into works of art.

“You can see them unfold their vision,” said Knight. “Some of their visions for these pianos reflect the neighborhood that they’re painting in. Then of course we’ve got the wonderful live music there.”

Summer-long plan for the pianos

Knight calls it a multi-dimensional experience for families and art lovers. Even better, the pianos will stay in place throughout the summer through September providing interactive sculpture and art for the city.

“This is not only a sculpture – a way to beautify the parks, but it’s a living sculpture. You can go up. It’s interactive. You can play piano,” said Knight. “So hopefully get kids off of their phones for a couple of minutes. And, hopefully, there are some memories we can create around these pianos.”

The pianos will be installed and painted at the following locations:

• Astor Park Pavilion
• The CityDeck
• Joannes Park Community Policing Center
• Seymour Park Pavilion 
• 8th Street Park Pavilion

The event will take place, on Sunday, May 19th from Noon until 6:00 p.m. Admission is free.