SIDEWAYS DOOR 4

a weekend of ecstasies & escape routes

September 19 - 21, 2025 in Holyoke MA

LOCULUS presents the fourth annual-ish SIDEWAYS DOOR festival September 19 - 21, 2025! SIDEWAYS DOOR brings together local and visiting artists for three days of performances, classes, and talks in Holyoke MA. This year we will also be celebrating our 10 year birthday!

FULL WEEKEND PASSES AVAILABLE!

All tickets are offered on a sliding scale - please pay what you are able, all ticket sales go to paying artists.

FRIDAY 9.19.25 - OPEN LEVEL DANCE CLASS + DANCE PARTY
8pm | The Divine Theater - 92 Race St, Holyoke | $15 - 30 in advance, $18 - 35 at the door

Kick off the festival and celebrate our 10 year birthday with us! We will start the night with NIGHT MOVES, our open level dance class. NIGHT MOVES always ends with a short dance party but this time we'll keep it going all night with DJs Matt Krefting and Jake Meginsky.

SATURDAY 9.20.25 - MOVEMENT WORKSHOP
11am - 1pm | LOCULUS Studios - 80 Race St, Holyoke | $15 - 30 in advance, $18 - 35 at the door

Sinking into Mudbound- Improvisational Dance Workshop Facilitated by Jungwoong Kim


“Mud… lining fingernails, encrusting children’s knees and hair, sucking feet like a greedy newborn on the breast.” — Hillary Jordan, Mudbound

In this 2-hour improvisation dance class, we will explore—individually and collectively—the qualities of mud and how the body embraces and responds to them. Open to everyone: beginners, dancers, and artists from other fields. Comfortable clothing recommended.

SATURDAY 9.20.25 - PERFORMANCES
6pm | PULP Gallery - 80 Race St, Holyoke | $15 - 40 in advance, $18 - 45 at the door

Grab your map at PULP and wander through a series of performances along Holyoke's second canal by Sunburned Hand of the Man, LOCULUS, Katherine Kain, Niki Farahani, Ben Hersey, and Tori Lawrence + Co. The evening will culminate with a performance in the gallery by Mobius.

SUNDAY 9.21.25 - ARTIST ROUNDTABLE DINNER
4:30pm | The Guilded Brick - 380 Dwight St, Holyoke | $35 - 60

Ticket include a multi-course meal, drinks, and dessert.
Tickets for this event close Monday September 15th!

Our second Artist Roundtable brings together three artists/organizations working across dance, conceptual art, design, and event curation. Each presenter has been asked to speak about their work and practice through the lens of an influence or collaboration. Presentations will be given over the course of a communal home-cooked meal with plenty of time for questions and conversation built in. 

Food by Alex Torres

Presentations by LOCULUS, Gina Siepel, and Peter Treiber Jr.

Special thanks to Small Oven Bakery, White Lion Brewery, Dave’s Natural Garden, Fame Lounge & Eatery, Living Sowful Flower Garden, and Lighthouse Holyoke for their donations to and sponsorship of our artist roundtable dinner.

This program is supporting in part by a grants from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency; The City of Holyoke Tourism Advisory Committee through the Mass Gaming Commission; and the ValleyCreates program of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. This program is fiscally sponsored by Holyoke Media.

PAST FESTIVALS

  • Saturday 7.31 // Northampton Center for the Arts

    CLASS
    with Angie Hauser + Chris Aiken 

    PERFORMANCE
    featuring Jay Keery, Sara Smith, Lauren Horn // Subira vs. Movement, and LOCULUS 

    Sunday 8.1 // 10Forward, Looky Here, and John Doe Jr. Records

    ARTIST FAIR
    Featuring: INTERBEING // Esther White // Blue Angel Flame Co. // Esther Clark Ceramics // Sara Smith // Isa Reisner // Threshold Academy // Psyched on High // Tekhne Press // Liam Halvorsen // +more

    With Live DJS:

    th1rdm1nd // Matt Krefting //  HEARTBALLOON // zaza runtz

    Community Generated Zine at Looky Here on the RISOGRAPH

    create a riso print to be included in a riso-printed LOCULUS zine assembled at the end of the day

    ​Experimental solo sets at John Doe Jr. Records

    MENTALDRIFT // CRUUDEUCES // SWEETNESS THE POINT OF SONG

    PERFORMANCE
    featuring Solo Termite, Dan Cashman + Ben Hersey, Son of Earth, and LOCULUS

    Monday 8/2 // 10Forward

    MOVIE NIGHT
    co-curated with Otis Wheeler 

    featuring  Born In Flames (1983) by Lizzie Borden

    and short works from the most recent Loculus Journal:

    Overworld by Constance Harris, Laura Conway, Brittney Banaei, + Anton Kreuger

    UnderCover by Ulduz Ahmadzadeh

  • FRIDAY 6.23.23 

    Performance at Holyoke Media
    Karinne Keithley Syers // Leah Fournier + Amelia Heintzelman // LA Samuelson // Laila J. Franklin 

    Party at Fame Lounge/Eatery 
    with DJ Matt Krefting

    SATURDAY 6.24.23

    Classes at LOCULUS Studios 
    Laila J. Franklin​ & LOCULUS

    Performance at Anchor House of Artists 
    AJ Cornell // Elsa // Tyler Rai // Otis Wheeler //Wendy Woodson // organic mom // LOCULUS with Baldwin/Gelineau/Meginsky Trio

    SUNDAY 6.25.23

    Workshop at Looky Here
    Community book making workshop hosted by LOCULUS and Sarah Lanzilotta​

    Reading at Looky Here
    Max Gonen // Sammy Lê // Caroline Rayner // Brendan McCauley  // Jayson Keery  // Dāshaun Washington

    This program was supporting in part by grants from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, Northampton Arts Council, Greenfield Arts Council, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council.

  • FRIDAY 9.20.24

    Performance at PULP  
    Julia Handschuh + Anna Hendricks // Greg Kelley + Yoona Kim  // LOCULUS // Jimena Bermejo + Jeff Huckleberry // Ron Schneiderman

    SATURDAY 9.21.24

    Movement Class at Loculus Studios
    Mara Poliak

    ​Performance at Holyoke Media
    Nat Baldwin // LOCULUS // Arien Wilkerson / GLORYHOLE  // Bobby LaBitch + Kieran Lally / American Ballet Theatre

    Festival Party at FAME
    DJ Matt Krefting

    SUNDAY 9.22.24

    Class at Loculus Studios 
    Tori Lawrence + Co.

    Artist Roundtable: presentation and conversation at The Guilded Brick
    Food by Maghan Baptiste
    Presentations by 
    Deborah Goffe / Scapegoat Garden // Rick Myers // Kathy Couch // Damany Gordon + Theresa Cooper Gordon / Genuine Culture LLC​​

    This program was supporting in part by a grant from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, as state agency, by Mass Cultural Council's Festivals & Projects grant, and by The Community Foundation of Western Mass. This program is fiscally sponsored by Holyoke Media.