Community Arts

We did it!! We performed in 8 "passive parks" to lively audiences who responded enthusiastically to our show. 1. Our written survey indicated that 63% were "very engaged" 28% were engaged, and one person was "sort of engaged," and one "not engaged." We got a variety of comments that touched upon many aspects of the show: the music, the acting, the variety of puppets, the creativity, the solar power, the fact that children were so engaged, the fact that adults liked it too, the allowance for participation, etc… 2. Community organizers who were present at the shows were most enthusiastic about the community response. Lily Shaw at Hamline Park said that the ethnic diversity at the show was higher than ever at 20% and she expressed interest for next year. Patti Schwartz has contacted me about the possibility of doing shows in the passive parks again next year with the possible addition of puppet workshops with the children ahead of time to enhance their understanding of puppetry. Eric Thompson of St. Paul Park and Recreation is also interested in repeating our project. My Survey Monkey evaluation was a bust for some reason, but I have contacted the organizers I worked with and they have expressed satisfaction with the outcomes of our tour. 3. The artists felt satisfied with the shows and how we performed. Performers and musicians actually improvised some new material that came out through interactions with the audience or the particular location which keeps the show fresh for all. We were gratified by audience response. 4. Our audiences average out at more than 50 in size for the 8 sites, but we did not manage to have every audience with 50 participants. Two of our shows had to be moved indoors because of rain, so we assume that we lost numbers because of people's assumption that the show was not taking place. Ofir Germanic, director at Conway Park was expecting up to 100 audience members, but moving it into the gym curtailed our numbers. He was disappointed. I was expecting to serve children and adults with little emphasis on teens, and that is who we served. Our audiences were diverse ethnically, and that was especially true in the three shows where Patti Schwartz organized bringing children from other rec centers, where our audiences were majority children of color. Though I did outreach on some of the list serves for hearing impaired people, and people with developmental disabilities, we had no one who required our ASL services (we had 2 shows interpreted), and only a few kids with developmental disabilities. We did have a few people in wheel chairs attend with no problems in accessibility. The written surveys indicate that 55% of our audience was seeing a puppet show for the first time. From our other evaluation that specifically targeted children, we found that we were playing to 44% first time viewers. All but 2 of our audience members reported being "very engaged" or "engaged."