Our Town 2012- Beats & Streets
3rd Annual Our Town Community Arts Program: Beats & Streets!
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts (FoTA) announce the schedule for Our Town: Beats & Streets, a summer-long arts program with public concerts, drumming workshops and community drum circles running from May- September.
Beats & Streets kicks off on May 20th, 2012 at the Children First Ice Cream Social at Wolfe Park with a drumming performance by Chico Perez and Stanley Kipper of the New Primitives. In this interactive drumming concert, Chico and Stan will share their message of finding common ground and understanding through percussion.
Join us in the Parktacular Parade on June 16th led by Batucada do Norte, the Twin Cities’ own homegrown Brazilian percussion band, leads us dancing through the streets from 12-2PM followed by a performance from 2-3PM at Wolfe Park in the tradition of the great drum ensembles famously competing every year at Carnival throughout Brazil. Batucada do Norte founded in 2006, is a community-based group directed by local musicians and brothers Tim and Pat O’Keefe.
July 19th at 7PM, Mu Daiko presents a Taiko Drumming concert featuring Japanese taiko drums. Taiko” is the Japanese word for “big drum,” and is now also used in North America to describe a style of group performance derived from traditional Japanese drumming and martial arts-inspired movement. Taiko’s pulsating sounds and choreographed movements exude strength, beauty and sheer fun and are appealing to young and old alike.
Minneapolis-based "Buckets and Tap Shoes”, will give us an explosive, high-energy rhythmic concert when they take the stage at Wolfe Park on August 30th at 7PM. Brothers Rick and Andy Ausland will astound the audience with their dancing, and create music with plastic and metal buckets, tap shoes, and drums.
In addition to these four FREE public concerts, FoTA will also present community drumming circles led by Jeff Scroggins, co-Founder and Musical Director of Earthshake World Rhythm Ensemble, an urban based drum and dance group with a strong emphasis on traditional West-African rhythm. The drumming circles take place every Thursday in July from 5:30-7PM in Wolfe Park and every Sunday from 5:30-7PM in August at Oak Hill Park. Drums will be provided and the circles are FREE of charge to anyone who wants to participate.
For more community interaction with youth, seniors, disabled adults and families, Stanley Kipper and Chico Perez will be taking their Beats & Streets drumming workshops to six partnering community organizations during the months of July and August. These host sites include: Meadowbrook Community Center, Lenox Senior Center, the SLP Library, Perspectives, Partnership Resources, and Sholom.
Our Town is funded in part by the MN Regional Arts Council. Friends of the Arts (FoTA), a nonprofit community organization, designated by the City of St. Louis Park to support, organize, enhance and promote all art forms in St. Louis Park. FoTA connects people and organizations around the arts, shares arts-related information and resources, and coordinates community arts programs. For more information about the group, please visit our website at: www.SLPFriendsoftheArts.org.
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts (FoTA) announce the schedule for Our Town: Beats & Streets, a summer-long arts program with public concerts, drumming workshops and community drum circles running from May- September.
Beats & Streets kicks off on May 20th, 2012 at the Children First Ice Cream Social at Wolfe Park with a drumming performance by Chico Perez and Stanley Kipper of the New Primitives. In this interactive drumming concert, Chico and Stan will share their message of finding common ground and understanding through percussion.
Join us in the Parktacular Parade on June 16th led by Batucada do Norte, the Twin Cities’ own homegrown Brazilian percussion band, leads us dancing through the streets from 12-2PM followed by a performance from 2-3PM at Wolfe Park in the tradition of the great drum ensembles famously competing every year at Carnival throughout Brazil. Batucada do Norte founded in 2006, is a community-based group directed by local musicians and brothers Tim and Pat O’Keefe.
July 19th at 7PM, Mu Daiko presents a Taiko Drumming concert featuring Japanese taiko drums. Taiko” is the Japanese word for “big drum,” and is now also used in North America to describe a style of group performance derived from traditional Japanese drumming and martial arts-inspired movement. Taiko’s pulsating sounds and choreographed movements exude strength, beauty and sheer fun and are appealing to young and old alike.
Minneapolis-based "Buckets and Tap Shoes”, will give us an explosive, high-energy rhythmic concert when they take the stage at Wolfe Park on August 30th at 7PM. Brothers Rick and Andy Ausland will astound the audience with their dancing, and create music with plastic and metal buckets, tap shoes, and drums.
In addition to these four FREE public concerts, FoTA will also present community drumming circles led by Jeff Scroggins, co-Founder and Musical Director of Earthshake World Rhythm Ensemble, an urban based drum and dance group with a strong emphasis on traditional West-African rhythm. The drumming circles take place every Thursday in July from 5:30-7PM in Wolfe Park and every Sunday from 5:30-7PM in August at Oak Hill Park. Drums will be provided and the circles are FREE of charge to anyone who wants to participate.
For more community interaction with youth, seniors, disabled adults and families, Stanley Kipper and Chico Perez will be taking their Beats & Streets drumming workshops to six partnering community organizations during the months of July and August. These host sites include: Meadowbrook Community Center, Lenox Senior Center, the SLP Library, Perspectives, Partnership Resources, and Sholom.
Our Town is funded in part by the MN Regional Arts Council. Friends of the Arts (FoTA), a nonprofit community organization, designated by the City of St. Louis Park to support, organize, enhance and promote all art forms in St. Louis Park. FoTA connects people and organizations around the arts, shares arts-related information and resources, and coordinates community arts programs. For more information about the group, please visit our website at: www.SLPFriendsoftheArts.org.
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Our Town is funded in part by the MN Regional Arts Council, through an appropriation from the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the State’s general fund, and its arts and cultural heritage fund that was created by a vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008. Additional support was provided by the Harmon Family Foundation and the St. Louis Park Community Foundation.
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MRAC 2012 Big Check Event
On April 24, 2012 at the Eden Prairie Community Center, area arts organizations were presented (visually large) checks for their awarded arts projects. The grants were awarded through a competitive process by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council using funds from appropriations by the Minnesota State Legislature and the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment.
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts received funding from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council for Our Town: Beats and Streets, a series of drumming and percussion-focused activities that will take place at a variety of locations in St. Louis Park between May and September 2012. Presenting the check was MRAC board member Melissa Brechon. Receiving the check was Sandy Hicks.
St. Louis Park Friends of the Arts received funding from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council for Our Town: Beats and Streets, a series of drumming and percussion-focused activities that will take place at a variety of locations in St. Louis Park between May and September 2012. Presenting the check was MRAC board member Melissa Brechon. Receiving the check was Sandy Hicks.