Alex Marvar is a writer, photographer, designer, musician and co-founder of the OPositive Festival. Based in the Stockade district of Uptown Kingston, she is a spark in a creative community growing fast. Actually, she is lighting the fire. Last year, Marvar inspired the county and beyond with her leadership at the debut of the O Positive festival- an arts and music festival where participants barter their contributions in exchange for free medical, dental and wellness services from local health care providers. Ulster Magazine’s DB Leonard joined Marvar at her choice of locales- The Stockade Tavern in Uptown Kingston, to discuss her life in Kingston and the return of OPositive. 

Ulster Magazine: Why did you choose the Stockade?

Alex Marvar: This is the place where everybody comes together and toasts a good cocktail. It celebrates Kingston’s prohibition history, and all the legends of bootlegging. I love this place because it speaks to that part of Kingston’s history. And it’s reminiscent of that twenties era ascetic that I love in Brooklyn. Actually, it was a really tough choice between Boitson’s, Elephant and the Stockade. These three spots make this neighborhood. They are the triumvirate of culinary and bar culture that I think really boosts uptown Kingston’s identity. They manifest all the energy in the neighborhood, which comes to fruition, because they exist.

UM: How would you describe your work? 

AM: I am an uber, fast moving, multi-tasking communicator in all mediums, but especially technology- social media. My role has been spun into this new multi-media journalistic space.

UM: What drew you to Uptown Kingston? 

AM: I was based in New York City, freelancing for magazines W and Vanity Fair, blogging for the Huffington Post and designing websites. One night I returned  to my railroad apartment  in one of the most exciting and polluted neighborhoods in Greenpoint, and I had this epiphany- I wanted to do more traveling and less sitting at a desk. After a visit to the home of Kingston painters, Joe Concra and Denise Orzo, I was sold. I was just so charmed by all the space they had, and the light in their painting studios. They just work all day on their work and not anybody else’s work. It’s still more true then anything I’ve encountered in Brooklyn. There is more room to focus here than in New York City. By the end of the month, I was looking for apartments in uptown Kingston. One year later, I moved in to their building. 

UM: What is a Mint Julep and why is that your choice? 

AM: Mint Julep is bourbon, simple syrup, crushed ice and fresh muddled mint. I chose the Mint Julep because I am partial to the bourbon- fresh and sweet and appropriate for this transition from spring into summer. They make a perfect cocktail here. It’s their pride and joy.

UM: What was the origin of OPositive? 

AM: It began as some brainstorming effort. It was a pretty constant effort, an effort on the part of many people. Ultimately it was this incredible connection between musicians and artists and local health practitioners who love art and music. 

UM: And what was your role? 

AM: Plenty of overseeing. I led the meetings, designed the website, wrote about the festival for the Huffington Post, made videos, documented with photography, helped design the book. I played with my band, Common Prayer.

UM: And what do you play? 

AM: I play the metal bucket, a rubbish bin lid, some sticks, a couple chords on a mini Korg keyboard. And I sing. 

UM: What impact did the Opositive festival have? On the community and it's participants?

AM: Part of the reason I moved to Kingston is because it's full of people who're here working on The Work — whatever is important. I know a lot of musicians and painters who've managed to separate themselves from the cultural fray of New York City so they could have space to think and make the things that are important to them. One of the mini-miracles of O+ is that it brought these people out of the woodwork (or the painting, or the songwriting, or the running a business, as it were) for a common goal that benefits all of us, whatever our independent pursuits might be. It highlighted how all our lifestyles overlap, and how they don't, and how we can all help each other from our own corners of the community. It basically just made us more aware of one another, so we could work together then and in the future to better this neighborhood, make the best parts of it sustainable. And it's made other communities more aware of us too, which is, well, a whole other thing.

UM: Is there a connection between health practitioners and artists?

AM: In the Hudson Valley, the chemistry's just right — we have doctors who dig art and music enough to step up and say, "excuse me, dude with a guitar, I like what you do — how can I lure you back to Kingston to do more of it while enriching the cultural fabric of our community? Maybe some free dental work?" That was Dr. Cingel's approach, and the very seedling of the whole idea. And then about 40 more medical professionals emerged over the course of only a few months expressing the same desire to trade what they could do for what artists could do. And voila. Synergy. And if it works here, we realized, why wouldn't it work in other communities around America?

UM: Is OPositive a model that can benefit other communities?

AM: We suspected from the beginning that yes — but after being contacted by people in Berkley, Austin, Lowell (Mass.), Nashville, and other towns around America — artists, doctors and business owners interested in bringing O+ to their hometowns, I know it can. Which is a really amazing feeling I haven't got from any of the other accomplishments in my career so far — knowing my neighbors and I helped nurse this dream to a reality in the hallways and living rooms and on the restaurant patios of the very block where I live, and it's still growing, piquing the interest of creative thinkers (artists and doctors both) around the country, and hopefully wrangling some artists and musicians medical and dental care they wouldn't get otherwise.

UM: You just celebrated the release of the OPositive book. How did this come to fruition?

AM: Talented O+ artists Bonnie Marie Smith and Denise Orzo joined Kingston graphic designer Carla Rozman and I, and the four of us rallied images and words from supporters of O+ whom we've met over the past year and started layering it together, trying to devise a print item that would convey the spirit of O+ to someone from anywhere in the country, or world. Bonnie and Denise are each brilliant artists—ceramics and encaustic respectively, and each dabbling in other mediums as well, but it's all tactile—whereas I think Carla and I make most of our best visual ideas come to life on a computer screen. So, to make this book happen, we divided into "Team Monkey" and "Team Robot" and did what we were each good at. You guess which team I was on.. It was a challenge, but, with some beautiful photos (including local photographer Andy Milford) and work by talented visual artists and words from some top notch Hudson Valley writers, plus a free compilation CD full of favorite songs and exclusive releases, we pulled it off! It's available at Oo Gallery and a handful of other Hudson Valley businesses for a suggested $15 donation.

UM: When does OPositive return to Uptown Kingston? 

AM: Columbus Day weekend, October 7-9. 

UM: So you made the right move? 

AM: I never regretted moving here from Brooklyn. I was fast becoming embroiled in the culture that was percolating on Wall Street in Kingston. You know, talking about what I’m up to is great, but talking about Uptown Kingston is just as important to me because I want to see interesting people continue to move into this neighborhood.