O&R Awards $2,500 Grant to Warwick Summer Arts Festival

PEARL RIVER, NY March 24, 2008 — Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc. has awarded the 9th Warwick Summer Arts Festival a grant for $2,500 to help fund the annual 10-day celebration of the arts.

The Warwick Summer Arts Festival is billed by its producers as Orange County's premiere arts festival presenting music, theater, dance, exhibits, films and readings in locations around the Town of Warwick. Festival producers estimate that several thousand people flock to the concerts, workshops and exhibits, which are set for July 11 through July 20 this year.

The Festival's Artistic Director Elizabeth Reese said, "Since 2000, we have brought crowds to underused parks, established a performance venue on a farm in the middle of the black dirt, started a local children's choir, commissioned and presented original work, brought great music to Orange County and established an annual art exhibit in the Village of Warwick storefronts and parks."

She added, "By presenting works in several locations, we reach audiences of all ages that might not otherwise attend an arts event."

O&R has been a Festival sponsor annually since 2003.

O&R, through its Community Investment Committee (CIC), donated nearly $100,000 in 2007 to 88 different civic efforts that make its communities better places to live through educational, cultural and environmental projects, through O&R employee volunteer participation or through holiday outreach to the needy.