ARTS ED: Opera Written by MI Children!

Please find some of the press coverage that InsideOut Literary Art Project and the Michigan Opera Theater have received for the Hanstein Elementary School's third and fourth grade students' original production of the opera The Ringer of the Moon:

Listen to Principal Bernadine Carroll and the students from Hanstein Elementary School talk about the first ever opera written by children. (Note: The link brings you to a DPS radio show, where you will find the opera segment in the middle.)http://www.wrcjfm.org/ondemand/dps/ondemand.htm

Read more about the students' original production of the opera The Ringer of the Moon in the Detroit Free Press.

ARTS ED: GR-area Students Create Poetry Ezine

The Grand Rapids Humanities Council has announced the launch of a new web venture called Through the 3rd Eye, an ezine full of poetry, commentary, and literary news and created by area students, ages 13-21, under the mentorship of Grand Rapids Poet Laureate Rodney Torreson. The site was made possible in part by a grant from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

http://throughthe3rdeye.com/

Traverse City Film Fest begins today! 7/29-8/3

Arguably the most amazing film festival currently here in Michigan, the Traverse City Film Festival is the brainchild of Michael Moore and has transformed his adopted-hometown into a mecca for film buffs nationwide. Last Sunday's edition of the Detroit Free Press had FOUR articles on this Film Fest alone!

As wonderful as we think it is that Madonna is coming home to Michigan for the TCFF, the real stars of the show for us are our friends from The Art Place in Suttons Bay who are offering three great Animation and Film workshops for youth of all ages, in official partnership with the TCFF. Go TAP! :)

ARTS ED: Visual, Performing and Applied Arts in MI High Schools

This blog is an incredible resource of information for those in Michigan trying to cultivate creativity in our children through the public school system. It is dedicated to doing this by using the Michigan Merit Curriculum Visual, Performing, and Applied Arts Credit , which is now required for high school graduation here in our state.

A learning community to maximize Michigan's capacity to support creativity through the 1-credit graduation requirement in the visual, performing, and applied arts.

http://mivpaa.blogspot.com/

MI Artist Uses Art to Rescue "At Risk" Youth

This documentary is great. Hector Perez has close ties to my family. Growing up in the Sunnyside neighborhood in Adrian, Hector was a young vato, or hoodlum, heading down a dangerous path and messing with herion. My father, Julio Perazza, was a counselor with the Upward Bound program at the time where he introduced Hector to the art of photography. Hector is now a very successful and inspirational artist and motivational figure in his own right, but he still remembers the difference the arts made to him during that pivotal time:

"... I was just dreaming about your father and the day I told him that I was messing with 'tecate' or Mexican heroin. He came down from Detroit to Adrian's Upward Bound. I grew up in Sunnyside ... Your father was a counselor. So he was the first person to show me his Pentax. He took the time to share his passion, so I felt special ... that moment of SLR instruction fed my curiosity about something positive rather than the tecate. Your father had a magnetic personality..."

I can't help but think that the hand my father reached out to Hector several decades ago, helped to inspire the amazing ways Hector is currently giving back to "at risk" youth :')

RESOURCE: Metropolitan Group

Nonprofits from all sectors are being forced to think broader not only in terms of partnership potential but also the pivotal role that 'public will' plays and who they need to get 'buy-in' from in order to achieve the necessary momentum to actually affect change. The Metropolitan Group are experts in terms of assisting nonprofits with these daunting taks:

Metropolitan Group is a social change agency that crafts strategic and creative services that empower social service organizations to build a just and sustainable world.

Click here to see their section on Heritage, Arts & Culture.

RESOURCE: ArtsManager.org

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. has put together an amazing FREE online resource at ArtsManager.org, I just joined up in order to gain access to their Resource Center and learn from other arts managers around the country:

"Get on board the fastest growning online community for arts managers and join the discussion now!"

http://www.artsmanager.org/home/