Outside the Box Festival Returns to Boston Common

Members of the local band Ripe won $1,000 from WERS at the 2015 Out of the Box Festival.
Members of the local band Ripe won $1,000 from WERS at the 2015 Outside the Box Festival.

The free Outside the Box Festival returned to the Boston Common on July 14–19, featuring an exciting lineup of performances that included contestants on NBC’s The Voice, as well as Guster, The Gin Blossoms, Kacey Musgraves, Austin Web, and Cam, among others. Outside the Box is the vision of Boston-based philanthropist, arts enthusiast, and Emerson College Trustee Emeritus Ted Cutler ’51.

WERS (88.9 FM) participated by hosting the mainstage on Sunday night with great Boston artists including Air Traffic Controller and Will Dailey. The station also hosted a battle of local bands, the Boston Breakout session, on Saturday afternoon, which featured the bands Ripe, Radclyffe Hall, and Cordelia and the Buffalo. The winning band, Ripe, received $1,000 from WERS. “All three bands did exceptional sets that afternoon, and the ‘text voting’ from those onsite made it a very close competition,” said Beau Raines, WERS director of product development.

In addition, ArtsEmerson provided financial support for the festival.

Jill Davidson (Academic Affairs)