Sound & Dance to Infiltrate Ilus Davis Park on Friday Sep. 30

On Friday, September 30, choreographer Lauren Thompson and sound designer Jonathan Robertson will bring their improvisational dance and sound performance, Downtown Replay, to Ilus Davis Park from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Tart-in-parkhe performance will take place on and around a temporary stage placed in the center of the water feature near the southwest corner of the park near 11th & Oak Streets.

Life and art imitate each other; this is the feedback loop that Downtown Replay explores through movement and sound. Prior to the performance,  Thompson has designed movement inspired by the architecture of the park and Robertson record on location – these movements and sounds initiate and function as the core of the piece.

During the performance, sounds will continue to be captured through microphones strategically placed around the park. The public can manipulate the sound and movement of the space they are in, while at the same time the choreographer and sound designer have predetermined part of their experience. Videographer Tom Hipp will record the performance from various angles. The video recording will be used to create an interactive projection for a later, stage performance.

This performance is free and open to the public. It the final performance of the 2016 Art in the Park and Art in the Loop projects.  Art in the Park is an effort by the City of Kansas City, Missouri to enliven public outdoor spaces with temporary art pieces and performances.  It was produced this year in coordination with the 2016 Art in the Loop Project which included temporary artworks and performance on the KC Streetcar route, in Oppenstein Park and at Prairie Logic on the Green Roof. For more information, contact Ann Holliday, 816-979-1072 or ann@downtownkc.org, or Elizabeth Bowman, elizabeth.bowman@kcmo.org.

About the Artists

Lauren Thompson is a local dancer and choreographer. She is a graduate from the University of Kansas City-Missouri with a BFA in modern dance, in addition to a collection of other degrees. Lauren’s work has been performed at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Fringe Festival, Unicorn Theater, and with Art in the Loop.

Jonathan Robertson is an adjunct instructor of music technology at Missouri Western State University and a composer and sound designer working in Kansas City. Recent credits include composer for the theatre play Medea (directed by Joshua K. Brody) at UMKC, assistant sound designer for Kansas City Swing (dir. Ricardo Khan) at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and composer/sound designer for Immeasurable Heaven (dir. Stephanie Roberts) on Spencer Stage at UMKC, and music director for Mr. Burns, a post-electric play at the Unicorn theatre. He co-wrote and directed the plays Mannequins, Companions and The Audio Cart (Kansas City Fringe Festival 2014,  2015, and 2016).

Tom Hipp produces and directs film content in the Kansas City area and beyond. He graduated from the University of Kansas School of Journalism and got his start in TV commercials. Since then he has collaborated with a diverse group of people and clients to create television, commercials, web pieces, music videos, documentaries and more.  Tom loves Kansas City and is excited to further develop both the film production and art communities in the area.

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Art on the KC Streetcar Line Touted in KC Star

Art on the Line – a series of 6 artworks temporarily installed on the KC Streetcar route – was highlighted in the Arts & Culture section of the Kansas City Star this weekend.  Art on the Line was one of temporary art installation and performance series produced by Art in the Loop and many partners this summer.

The artworks will remain installed through the end of this month.   Read what the artists themselves and curator, Jessica Borusky,  have to say about the pieces here:    http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/arts-culture/article102008997.html

KC Star videographer Shelly Yang created this “ride-along” style video to give you a taste of the art!

 

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ArtsKC Tour of Streetcar Art and KC Artists Coalition Planned

Soundshapes by White Art Studio

Soundshapes by White Art Studio

Join ArtsKC on Saturday, September 17, 3:00 – 6:00 pm, for a unique event featuring a tour of Art on the Line, temporary artworks installed along the KC Streetcar route, a tour of the KC Streetcar Vehicle Maintenance Facility at Singleton Yard, and a reception hosted by the Kansas City Artists Coalition where you can enjoy over 100 pieces of work by artists who have been part of KCAC’s 40-year history.

Tickets are $40.

Register now at: www.ArtsKC.org/Encounter

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Cuban Music Coming to KC Streetcar

Cubanisms.logoJoin us Friday, September 9, for a musical performance at the KC Streetcar River Market West Stop inspired by the current political thaw between Cuba and the United States.  From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Ensemble Iberica will present “Cubanisms”, a continuous acoustic performance of traditional Cuban “son”. The performance includes Ensemble Iberica musicians, Michael McClintock (Cuban tres), Beau Bledsoe (guitar), Jordan Shipley (bass), Brandon Draper (percussion) and Cuban national, Dálida Teresa Pupo Barrios (percussion and documentation).

Listeners/passengers will be taught traditional “coros” (repeated participatory choruses) and given percussion instruments to play such as the Cuban clave or bongos.

Ensemble Ibérica performs the music of Ibéria (Spain and Portugal) and the colonial Americas while educating the public about Iberian cultural influence. Programs explore diverse time periods, styles and locations including the Spanish baroque, Portuguese fado and Argentine tango. The Ensemble features extraordinary musicians from classical, jazz and folk traditions both locally and from around the world.

This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District, City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

 

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What’s that sound? KC Streetcar Performance Planned for Friday 9/2

On Friday, September 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the Mnemosyne Quartet will employ the power of sound to transport Kansas City streetcar passengers beyond the boundaries of the line to favorite Kansas City destinations, such as: The Zoo, Union Station, and The Kansas Speedway. For those passengers brave enough to participate, Mnemosyne encourages the streaming of our digital content, via your handheld device.  The experience begins at the 14th street stop going north.   

Transient Harmony is a sound installation and performance that will encompass the streetcar line between 9th and 14th street. Members of the quartet will travel with passengers presenting live music, while a newly created mobile app will allow the quartet to connect with downtown tourists, workers and residents both on and off the streetcar. While live performance will occur only along the streetcar line, you will be able to experience the unification of Kansas City’s urban soundscape through the app.

In addition to electronic music, Transient Harmony will feature Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, and Baritone Saxophone performers.

To stream: Download Mixlr on your cell phone and search for MnemosyneQuartet
This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District, City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.
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Local Composer Leads Musical Happening on Rooftop Park

Morel_hi_resThe rooftops of Downtown Kansas City will come alive on Tuesday evening September 20, at 6:00 pm,when composer and musician Daniel Morel presents Kansas City Calling with the Jibrish Horn Quartet and members of the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance Horn Studio.

The performance will take place at Prairie Logic, the public art installation and performance venue on the Green Roof above Cosentino’s Parking Garage, 1261 Main St, on the 6th floor.

Kansas City Calling is an evening-length musical happening that evokes both the bustling past and thriving current day of Kansas City. The program draws on original and borrowed music to represent the history of Kansas City with a wafting soundscape that builds over the course of the evening. The entire rooftop will come alive with historical sounds, virtuosic solos, displaced melodies, and an ambient hum that coalesces into the story of Kansas City told through music. The program concludes with a final concert featuring the Jibrish Horn Quartet and members of the UMKC Conservatory Horn Studio.

Daniel Morel is a Kansas City-based composer whose works are permeated with the Western sensibilities of his Colorado upbringing, drawing on influences ranging from prairie thunderstorms to classic American poetry.  Performance details and further information are available at www.danmorel.com.

This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District, City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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Experience Indigenous Dance in Oppenstein Park

 

ahwisgvsgo'iLocal artist and choreographer, Maura Garcia, will present “Ahwisgvsgo’i” a dance performance on Thursday, August 25th, between 11:30 and 1:30 pm, in Oppenstein Park at 12th & Walnut St.

“ᎠᏫᏍᎬᏍᎪᎢ (Ahwisgvsgo’i)” means she/he is always planting in the Cherokee language.  Maura Garcia‘s multi-media project about indigenous planting traditions, the elements and our places in the world.  The idea for Ahwisgvsgo’i came from a desire to explore the process of growing; to strengthen our connection to the natural world and one another; to uplift Cherokee, Mattamuskeet and other southeastern Indigenous traditions; to create great art; to tell good stories.

Originally from North Carolina, Maura is an Indigenous woman (Cherokee/ Mattamuskeet) who brings her own mixed-blood southern story to all of her work. She has been the recipient of numerous honors:  Charlotte Street Foundation’s Urban Culture Projects Studio Residency Award (MO) in 2009 & 2010, a guest artist studio award from theUniversity of North Carolina’s Department of Dramatic Art (NC) in 2011 & 2012, the Jewish Community Center’s Community Arts Fellowship Grant (KS) in 2013, an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant (MO) in 2014, a 2015 Rocket Grant Project Award (KS/MO) and was selected to participate in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian 2016 Artist Leadership Program. Learn more about Maura at http://www.mauragarciadance.com/.

This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District, City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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String Quartet Performs in Ilus Davis Park

On Friday, August 26, between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., Matthew Bennett will present “Then & Now” a musical performance in Ilus Davis Park, 11th & Oak St, Kansas City, MO.

“Then and Now” will feature American music from the Colonial period to the present performed on period-appropriate instruments. This unique performance will allow the audience to experience music as it was performed in early America and hear how it changed over the years.

Matthew brings a joyful dedication to his work in orchestral music, the avant­garde, music education, and historical research. He has been a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra, and the Eutin Opera Orchestra in Germany. His solo and chamber recital work has included Juilliard’s Morse Concert Hall, NYC’s Advent Lutheran Church, and The Lied Center of Kansas. In teaching, Matthew has served as Guest Violin Professor at Pittsburg State University, Director of Chamber Music Studies at Bishop Seabury Academy, and private pupils for 11 years. In his own education, he immerses himself in music otherwise forgotten ­­ bringing the works and lives of Colonial American composers to print and to practice.

This performance is free and open to the public.  Food trucks will also be present.

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“Walking on Eggshells” A Metaphor in the Park

Alison Greene will present “Walking on Eggshells” a  performance on Thursday, August 18, between 11:30 and 1:30, in Oppenstein Park, at 12th & Walnut in Downtown Kansas City.

“Walking on Eggshells” is a metaphor that is often used when describing a feeling of being trapped by another’s will and when our voice is silenced.  The installation and performance of Greene’s artwork flips the meaning of this metaphor and presents a perspective where walking on the eggshells, as hard and painful or slow as it may be, is the purpose; to transform an uncomfortable feeling into a liberating one of self-compassion and divine expression.

Alison Moyna Greene is a multidisciplinary artist currently living and working in Kansas City Missouri.  Alison received her Master of Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2006 and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2003.

Food will be available for purchase from local food trucks, Cheeesy Pop’s (http://cheeesypops.com/) and Pie Hole (http://www.pieholekc.com/).

This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District, City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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Make a “Connection” Friday on the KC Streetcar

IMG_2026CONNECTIONS

Presented by Jon Michael Johnson and SITU INC.
11:30am and 12:30 pm, Friday, August 19, 2016
Starts at Union Station Streetcar Stop

CONNECTIONS is a site-specific performance piece.   This mostly improvised event, as presented by Jon Michael Johnson and SITU INC., will follow one passenger as he boards the streetcar at Union Station.  He will be connected with someone new at each stop as the streetcar progresses through the route.  Will it be someone too different, someone too much the same, someone laughing,  crying,  spying,  hiding, someone lost — or found?
The theater of life will play out on the enclosed “stage” of the streetcar.  Each interaction should give us a glimpse into how we connect with those around us, and by extension, the community at large.  As the streetcar makes its way around the route and back to Union Station, CONNECTIONS will be an opportunity to tell a few tales — some tall, some with a spark of truth — and with the telling and a little luck, maybe we can create a “connection” or two.
Make a connection on Friday, August 19 at 11:30am and again at 12:30pm, starting and ending at the Union Station Streetcar stop.

This performance is free and open to the public and is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the support of the Downtown Council, Downtown Community Improvement District,  City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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“A Net Full of Hope” Poetry Performance in the Park

Annette Hope Billings will present “A Net Full of Hope” a poetry performance on Thursday, August 11, between 11:30 and 1:30, in Oppenstein Park, at 12th & Walnut in Downtown Kansas City.

In the words of the poet: “In our divisive society, much exists that serves to further a sense of separateness. Despite this, well­spoken poetry remains as unifying a force as it has ever been. The written/spoken word yields influence on the common fabric of our lives. It can connect threads of human experience­­love, loss, anger, hunger for justice, grief­­ by weaving in hope. There seems to be a frequent urge to cast stones at one another. What my poetry suggests and demonstrates is the casting of hope in written/spoken form.”

Billings is known for the dramatic presentation of her work. She is an award-winning poet, actress and playwright. Her most recent collection of poetry is “A Net Full of Hope,” available on Amazon.

Food will be available for purchase from local food trucks, Greg-Go BBQ and Bop N Bowl.

This free performance is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the financial support of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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World Music Duo Performs at KC Streetcar Stop

Kansas City’s newly opened streetcar stops are not just a place to sit and wait!

On Friday, August 12, from 11:30 to 1:30 at the Metro Center Northbound Streetcar Stop (12th and Main, adjacent to the Town Pavilion), multi-instrumentalist Amado Espinoza, along with his wife Karen Lisondra, will surprise pedestrians and streetcar commuters alike with their cosmopolitan playfulness, performing music from around the globe – with a twist: their instruments are made from recycled materials and found objects!

Constructed by Amado himself, you will hear a classical Arabic flute made out of a broom, an Andean pan-flute made from dried-up markers, a Bolivian guitar made from a cookie tin, and much more, inspiring listeners of all ages to use their imagination and help protect our environment. A concert to indulge the eyes, ears, and our inherent necessity to be a little silly, it might just make you tap your feet while waiting for the next streetcar!

Espinoza’s music is rooted in the spiritual traditions of the Andes mountains, while drawing inspiration from his musical-wanderlust personality. As a current Charlotte Street Studio resident and recent recipient of an ArtsKC inspiration grant, he is artistic directing and composing for a new theatrical collaboration called “We Are The Landscape” scheduled to debut this fall.

He will be performing with his wife and collaborator, Karen Lisondra, who is back in KC after more than a decade touring the globe with different South American theatre companies.

This free performance is part of the 2016 Art in the Loop Project: Connect brought to you by the Art in the Loop Foundation with the financial support of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, KC Streetcar Authority, Missouri Arts Council, Neighborhood Trust and Development Fund, ArtsKC and many corporate sponsors.

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