Rural and Community Art Project Grant
Rural and Community Art Project Grant
The Ely Community Spring Musical PIPPIN for 2017 will focus on development of both the participating cast's artistic development and the attending community's aesthetic experience.
Janeen Carey: vocalist, retired Hibbing Community College librarian and information media specialist; Kate Fitzgerald: Program Director North Shore Music Association, writer; Adam Guggemos: graphic designer, art events promoter; Michelle Ronning: jewelry designer and maker; Tara Makinen: Executive Director of Itasca Orchestra and Strings, musician; Moira Villiard: visual artist; Jeanne Doty: Retired Associate Professor of Music at University of Minnesota-Duluth, pianist; Candace LaCosse: North House Folk School instructor, leatherwork designer and crafter; Amber Burns: choreographer, dancer, actor, middle school art teacher; Margaret Holmes: visual artist, poet, former Children's Theatre employee; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Quentin Stille: student liaison, College Music Director at KUMD.
Janeen Carey: vocalist, retired Hibbing Community College librarian and information media specialist; Kate Fitzgerald: Program Director North Shore Music Association, writer; Jeanne Doty: Retired Associate Professor of Music at University of Minnesota-Duluth, pianist; Tammy Mattonen: visual artist, co-founder of Crescendo Youth Orchestra; Duane Barnhart: watercolor painter, cartoonist; Mary McReynolds: arts administrator at Lyric Center for the Arts; Chris Marcotte: retired social worker, historian, writer; Maria Brown: art instructor and program coordinator at CHOICE, unlimited!; Mason Wilson: artist, illustrator.
ACHF Arts Access ACHF Arts Education ACHF Cultural Heritage
The goal of the Ely Community Spring Musical is two-fold: this project will offer the community an engaging musical theater production while allowing cast members and community performers to develop their craft as singing, dancing, acting performers. Opportunities to see live performances are limited in our locale, so audiences are eager to see and hear live performances. The Community Spring Musical is a seasonal highlight for the town and area. In addition, the performers in the musical are able to develop relationships between and among community constituents while also developing and honing their singing, dancing and acting talents. The success of the Spring Community Musical can be measured quantitatively by attendance and qualitatively by the feedback from audience members, in both formal and informal responses. Performers will have an opportunity to reflect on their development as creative artists through verbal and written feedback to directors and the guest presenter. Ely Community Spring Musical directors and cast members, and local performing artists, will have an opportunity to work with a movement expert to enhance their body posture and alignment and learn to incorporate healthy movement in their performances. Cast members will learn new expressive movement through the workshops and in a guided rehearsal with the guest movement teacher. Participants in the workshop sessions will have opportunities for experimenting with and using the techniques from the workshops in sessions and in subsequent rehearsals. Participants will receive verbal feedback and reinforcement of movement techniques during sessions from the presenter (Lightner) and in rehearsals from the directors who will have had some extra training sessions with Lightner. Follow-up verbal and written feedback from the workshops will allow the participants to reflect on their experiences and enable the presenter and the directors to assess the impact of the workshops on the participants.
This spring's musical was an artistic success and exceeded our hopes and aspirations for cast development and "spectacle" enhancement, which were the primary focuses of the ARAC grant monies requested. Our Guest Presenter, Babette Lightner, worked with the group on a Thursday evening rehearsal, did a director's workshop on Friday, a group workshop on Saturday morning, solo sessions on Saturday afternoon, and a follow-up group rehearsal on Sunday evening. During all of these sessions, Ms. Lightner continuously provided verbal feedback to the participants and asked for feedback from the participants. The performers themselves could feel the difference in their bodies through freedom of movement and in their voices through ease of production. The Lightner Technique invests in developing self-awareness through a series of guided questions, physical sensations and personal revelations. Measurable outcomes included better dancing, singing and acting because of the workshops, which was noticeable not only to the directors and other cast members, but to the performers themselves. In addition, participants provided feedback via a written form (see attached samples). Based on cast feedback and the written evaluations, the guest presenter was a HUGE success for the cast participants (photos attached). Visually, this was one of the most exciting and creative shows we have ever produced (please see photos), which we couldn't have pulled off without the extra ARAC funding for supplies and stipends. The "Steampunk" look of the set and costumes and the use of rear projections in our "Wheel of Fortune" was brilliant. Immediate audience remarks and comments for weeks afterwards raved about the set and costumes. Our only disappointment was our attendance numbers and ticket sales were down, and did not even meet projections, which is too bad, because those folks missed a good show. We believe the relative unfamiliarity of the show is the reason for the low numbers.
Other, local or private