Project Grant

Increased access and participation in residency activities were major goals of this project, and were achieved. Saint John’s University commonly surveys the audiences of both residency activities and mainstage performances. Following residency activities, Saint John’s University gathered feedback from partners to find out if the activities met the intended expectations for each group. Partners sent back narrative responses, which provided meaningful feedback. The Saint Cloud Technical College students were asked by their instructor to write a paper about their experience seeing Red Baraat. Some of the comments included: “The whole group was amazing. The energy that they showed made me see how much they like to make music.” “I enjoyed the music because of the diversity of the music the band played. I also enjoyed the part where they talked about the many influences that shaped the music they played.” “Their music is infectious and definitely made my Friday morning much more enjoyable. I would love to see them again. They bring an energy and vibe to the audience that is very unique and fantastic!” The Boys and Girls Club also responded with the following comments: As he (Sunny Jain of Red Baraat) spoke, you could see they were beaming with excitement and could hardly wait to start creating music themselves. The members of Red Baraat truly communicated their passion for creating music and did a fantastic job of engaging our members who had little experience drumming or playing live instruments. This was truly an experience that we could not have encountered anywhere else. The students who attended this workshop had a wonderful experience and will be able to draw upon it as they continue to create music in our program. Saint John’s University was unfortunately unable to secure post-residency narrative from the St Cloud VA. As this is an important relationship for our organization, Saint John’s University is scheduling meetings with VA leadership in order to discuss outcomes of the residencies and goals for future partnerships. This includes discussing the importance of staff and veteran testimonials about their experiences with residency activities. Saint John’s University also surveyed the general public who attended the mainstage performance with an online survey, sent via email. Survey respondents did note that the artist changed their perceptions of the genre. Many patrons also noted that the performance was fun, worth their ticket price, and that they enjoyed getting of their seats to move to the music.