Individual Artist Project

The best way I can involve the community with this project is to invite community members of all ages to attend songwriting workshop with me at Virginia Market Square Farmers Market in July 2024. We would go over some basics of songwriting (like I did when I talked to the 6th grade classes), and then write together at the farmers market which overlooks Silver Lake (Silver Lake has the world's largest loon floating on it). My hope is that the songwriting workshop will inspire other Iron Rangers to write songs, and give them the spark to explore songwriting. Aside from the songwriting workshops, the other benefit to the community would be my collection of songs themselves that were specifically written/inspired/influenced in different places on the Iron Range. When the songs are complete, I hope to perform them with my band "Sara Softich and Friends" at Virginia Market Square, the Lyric Center for the Arts, and other musical events on the Iron Range. ; Inspiration from place is what I am trying to accomplish with this work. This is an experiment about place......being inspired by a place I live and writing in establishments that represent where I live. Inspiring community members to explore the art of songwriting is another goal. As I am writing around the Iron Range communities, and then teaching a songwriting workshop, community members will learn that songwriting can happen anywhere. The measurable outcome will be 6-8 songs that will come from time off work spent writing lyrics, melodies, and chords. Another outcome is that I would have a "time capsule" of the summer of 2024 in my songwriting journal. I will have each time and place that I wrote songs recorded. I will be able to look back on the ideas and lyrics I came up with and the places that inspired my writing. Another measurable outcome would be the attendance of the songwriting workshop I am teaching at Virginia Market Square. I am very motivated to write a new collection of songs using a new method of songwriting. I have completed every ARAC grant project I have been awarded in the past on time: Career Development Grant FY19, Emergency Artist FY20, Established Regional Artist FY22, Small Grant FY22. I have been very grateful for grants awarded in the past, and I take each project seriously. ; The work will be a success when I have 6-8 new songs written on the Iron Range. The work will also be a success when I am able to perform these "Iron Range inspired" songs at different venues in the community. Having the "time capsule" of my 2024 summer writing intensive in my journal will be another indicator of the work being a success. Attendance at my songwriting workshop at Virginia Market Square will also be a measurable outcome. The experience of writing in different areas of the Iron Range and using this perspective to write songs is a success in and of itself.