As part of Ordway Center's Education and Community Engagement mission, The Flint Hills International Children's Festival is designed to bring new audiences to the theater and to deepen arts experiences children share with friends and families. We start by hosting the world's best artists performing for children, and then we work with educators and regional artists to design special pre-Festival projects. Each Festival is unique because each year's International Artists are unique. Yet every year's Festival has one thing in common: astounding work performed by artists from all over the world! This year, more than 40,000 patrons joined us during Festival week-the largest number in all our six years!  

. . . But one week in May is only half of the story . . .

It might seem like the Festival simply bursts on to the scene for six glorious days each spring. But long before each year's Festival begins, projects and programs start in neighborhood centers, schools, churches, libraries and museums.   Between January and May this year more than 2,000 young people, their families, and teachers worked diligently on a broad spectrum of Festival projects and submerged themselves in the cultures, art-forms, and themes highlighted during the event. Our first thank you must go to the more than 350 artists and hundreds of teachers and parents who utilized Festival programs for learning through the arts.

Left:   April's Bike Donation Day became the Festival Kick-Off at Ordway Center and resulted in fifteen donated bikes in just one day! Under the marquee Ordway Center artists Leah Horvath and Mandy Hankerson helped children begin work for their ARTmoves Parade entry.  

Left Center:  Edna Stevens Talton worked with students at Longfellow Community School in Minneapolis, a partner school in the Arts Explore program. She introduced students to African and hip-hop movement styles in preparation for their field trip to see Children of Uganda.

Right:  Students at L'Etoile du Nord French Immersion Magnet School made drums and shakerés during an ArtStart residency conducted by William Atchouelou in an Arts 25 Partnership between Art Start, Ordway Center, and French Immersion Magnet. This project culminated in student field trips to Children of Uganda and a special French language performance of Fawzy Al-Aiedy's Dounya.

Left:  Landmark Plaza is host to pavement artists of all ages.
Center:  Festival fun continues for students during lunch in Rice Park.
Right:  Visual art students from Webster Magnet pose in front of their artwork.

We all know non-profit programs couldn't exist without the financial support of the community at-large. We are especially proud of the partners who have stepped up to make sure that the Festival is a long lasting Minnesota tradition accessible to all. Because of the generous contributions of our corporate sponsors, foundations, individuals, and government donors, Ordway Center offers discounted tickets and subsidized busing for schools, supplemental in-school and in-community programs, affordable tickets prices, and a free World Party in Rice Park and Landmark Plaza.

Beyond their financial donations, our Festival partners take leadership roles which help to build a solid foundation for our Festival's continuing success as a Minnesota tradition. Staff members from our corporate sponsors form a uniquely dedicated team whose support extends to personally and professionally immersing themselves in planning, advising, and volunteering before, after, and during the Festival. This sponsorship team is responsible for ensuring that the precious gift of our Festival continues to be accessible to all children and that quality family friendly arts are available in a multitude of Minnesota sites. We take this moment to give these leaders center stage and hope you will join us in a hearty BRAVO!

FLINT HILLS RESOURCES CONTRIBUTES FUNDS AND TALENTS FOR THE SIXTH YEAR! 

Our founding partners and title sponsor, Flint Hills Resources, once again demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the arts and young people. Diane Koebele, Director, Northern Tier Public Affairs, led a committed team who assisted Ordway Center onstage and off! Flint Hills' staff Meghan Shea, Government Affairs Manager and John Hofland, Manager, Minnesota Communications came to assist us with strategic planning, marketing, public relations, and community development efforts. In addition, their sponsorship extended to hosting both the Festival Sponsor Luncheon and Community Breakfast. Thanks to John for his cheery early morning interviews and to Meghan for puppet research! As always Ruth McCoy was the glue (literally) holding craft-making teams together - working with Meghan on a weekend puppet-making activity that could keep throngs of young crafters busy! The entire team attended a student performance of the Children of Uganda: Tour of Light with 1,800 excited students to experience first-hand the very special energy of our Performing Arts Classroom Festival matinees!

TEAM OF SPONSORS JOIN TOGETHER FOR CHILDREN OF UGANDA:  TOUR OF LIGHT 

It took many sponsors and Performing Arts Presenters in Chicago and Cleveland, Ohio joining together to bring The Children of Uganda to Saint Paul. The Company extended its five month tour so that Saint Paul could be included.  Many thanks to: Mary Bigelow McMillan, Arts Midwest, The Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation, Otto Bremer Foundation, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Advised Fund of The Saint Paul Foundation whose contributions to Ordway Center were specially earmarked to help support this presentation and the community engagement opportunities.  We also thank Mary Bigelow McMillan, Patrick Troska, Colleen McLaughlin, Jim Garness, Cindy Kleven, Kris Taylor, and Ann Johnson for attending school performances, lending advice, and sharing the enthusiasm and excitement that this Company brought to Minnesota students.  

Target Alley - Spotlight Performances on the Street

Los Alegros Bailadores performs on the Target Alley Stage!

For the second year, Target Corporation sponsored an alley full of art!  Modeled on the idea of a "buskers' alley" Washington Avenue is closed to all but foot traffic during Festival Weekend so that performers from a variety of cultures can share performing arts traditions from all over the world.

Delta Dental Delivers Healthy Smiles

Left:  Artist Maria Ricke in the Delta Dental tent holds up a work in progress - the community created mosaic.
Center:  (l to r - Heather Spicuzza, Ann Johnson, Lee Koch, and John Hofland with finished community mosaic.
Right:  Visual arts specialist Jan Louise Kusske and her students from Webster Magnet pose with their mosaic bench.

For the last four years Delta Dental has introduced a fun dental health component to our Festival by including a special visit from the Tooth Fairy. Each year she returns by popular demand, distributing toothbrushes, toothpaste, and unique silk tooth fairy pouches for parents to place under their children's pillow when a child loses a tooth.

In addition, Delta Dental sponsors our K-12 Art Project. In four years we've watched it grow from one school to two, reaching more than 150 students who created significant pieces of public art that premiere at the Festival. This year, the Minnesota State Arts Board also helped sponsor this project, which focused on creating mosaic benches. Artists Maria Ricke (pictured above) and Lori Greene from Mosaic on a Stick worked with students from Webster Magnet and Crossroads. Post-Festival the art is exhibited in a variety of locations across the metro area. Our growing collection of children's public art has also created a sculpture park that's displayed during Festival week - evidence of students' incredible talent and hard work.

Butterflies symbolize the power of a child's imagination!

We're not sure Jim Garness knew what he was in for when he first met with Ordway Center staff! He looked a little worried as we talked about butterflies, special plants, long lines, and volunteers. Jim, who hadn't yet been to the Festival, had just been handed the reigns as Xcel Energy's Jim Rhodes transferred to Denver. We couldn't have been left in more capable hands! Saturday morning saw Jim rearranging plants and working with Cease Haagenson to organize Xcel Energy volunteers staffing the tent throughout the weekend.  Butterflies are a perennial favorite, and an ongoing symbol of the Festival, made all the better by the terrific volunteers who explain what they are and where they come from! 

Architectural Arts Makes An Appearance At The Festival  . . .

Thanks to General Mills, this year's Festival explored the world of architecture through a new program called ARTbuilds. Peter Capell and Ellen Luger worked with artist Armando Gutiérrez G. to help three schools - Creative Arts High School, Patrick Henry High, and Como Park High School - to create architectural statements in the Marzitelli Foyer. Project planning was not only creative, but practical, as students calculated the amount of materials they would need. The challenge was to use just three types of "building materials:" Cheerios boxes, Yoplait containers, and Progresso Soup cans.  Working from the Festival's theme, The World I Create, students created and built a dream home, a castle, and a tower of hope in the Marzitelli Foyer. The results were both stunning and whimsical.  An important result of this project was General Mills' further donation of the 14,000 cans of soup to Second Harvest as the works were "de-constructed," and all of the Cheerios boxes were recycled.

COMCAST SUPPORTS OUTDOOR WONDERS EVERY YEAR

Since their involvement with the International Children's Festival began, Comcast's Mary Beth Schubert and Kelly Weber have good naturedly sculpted sand, strummed a giant harp, and this year drew on the sidewalk!  That's because Comcast has adopted the outdoor art installation in Landmark Plaza and this year offered up chalk and photos of the resulting artwork to young artists.

For six years, Ecolab has generously provided General Operating support for the Festival. This year, Ecolab's Director of Community and Public Relations, Kris Taylor, was able to see the Children of Uganda at a Performing Arts Classroom matinee, and was thrilled to see 1,800 excited school children fill the Main Hall of Ordway Center. 

BEST BUY SUPPORTS DIGITAL WONDERS

Best Buy Foundation's Digital Kids got its start in 2004. Students from Webster Magnet and Cityview Performing Arts Magnet School learn techniques in research, interviewing, filming, and editing to produce documentary video that records elements of the Festival. Led by media artist Usry Alleyne in residence at both schools, students learn the fine art of working with a camera, with computer software for editing, and with people during the interviewing process. Artists from The Children's Theatre Company and COMPAS visited the two schools prior the Festival to introduce students to Festival art forms and to give them an opportunity to interview, film, and edit.  This year, additional video of teachers, artists, and Ordway Center Education Manager Shelley Quiala has been included so that more educators might have an idea of what such a project offers to students.

International Visitors on Ordway Center Stages

Ordway Center Main Hall

In the final week of their five month tour, the Children of Uganda received resounding standing ovations from the more than 14,000 people that attended nine performances on Ordway Center's Main Hall stage. As the Company performed, Artistic Director Peter Kasule escorted audience members on a personal tour through Uganda, and other parts of East Africa. Our charming guide offered us dances that were "fit for a king" and even taught the audience one or two dance moves.

From the Sunday afternoon when the Company first stepped off their tour bus to meet our Goodwill Ambassadors, through a week of performances, classes, interviews, and off-site visits, to their final goodbyes as they boarded the bus to begin journeying home, all twenty-two Company members generously offered all who they touched the joy of friendship and the "very best of themselves."  By the time they departed, the Company touched more than 15,000 people with song, story, and dance in personal visits and on stage. We appreciate all they shared with us - and the special way in which they welcomed us into African culture and the arts of their home.

Many, many thanks for the extra-special hard work of Lisa Booth, Lisa Booth Management; Alexis Hefley, Executive Director UCCF; and Pat Kirby, Children of Uganda Company Manager who worked with us to make sure that all who were so eager for the opportunity to meet the special talent in the Company could do so.

Ordway Center McKnight Theatre

In the McKnight Theatre two very different worlds came alive - both based on popular children's books.  Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia's premiere of Leo Lionni's books Swimmy, Fredrick, and Inch by Inch, follows tiny creatures in natural habitats, and eventually taught us that every creature has a special talent to share - whether underwater, in a tree, or under the ground. The award-winning Canadian puppeteers brought us a performance, never before seen by anyone in the world! Mermaid's Artistic Director Jim Morrow and Managing Director Lee Lewis came to Saint Paul with the Company to check out audience reaction. Based on the comments we received they must have been delighted. The company loved exploring Saint Paul, and were especially delighted to see children's art based on the Lionni characters adorning Ordway Center and the St. Paul Hotel parking ramp. At the Saturday matinee, Canadian Consul and PERPA Manager Robert Pengelly paid a special visit to the Festival, meeting and introducing his country's award-winning artists to our matinee audience.

Representing The United Kingdom, Big Wooden Horse Theatre Company created a wacky play based on bestselling author Mo Willem's Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. On Saturday the Pigeon even hid outside looking for a bus to drive among children during the ARTmoves Parade! Many thanks to company members William Evans, Adam Bampton-Smith, and Jeremy Worsnip for a great performance and fun interpretation of a pre-schooler's favorite read and to the Reading Divas (below) who captured him Saturday!

Ordway Center Drake Room

One difference between performances for children in other countries and in the US is the size of the audience. Very often shows for young audiences in Europe take place in intimate spaces for groups as small as thirty people!  Each year we re-create the feeling of a tiny black box theatre in our Drake Room, a space that usually serves as a rehearsal space.  

How perfect for performances by German master puppeteer Matthais Kuchta, from Lille Kartofler Theatre performing Aschenputtel, the original Grimm's Fairy Tale of Cinderella!   This Cinderella is not the version we are used to, as Matthais carefully explained before the play began. In fact he warned us about scary or gory sections so we could cover our ears because in this re-telling Cinderella's step-sisters go to frightening lengths to try to squeeze into the lost slipper!  Using many voices and movement styles for the eight puppets on stage, Matthais' solo performance captivated all age groups.

Alternating with Cinderella were performances of Dounya (The World).  Performed by Fawzy Al-Aiedy and Friends, the show blends Eastern and Western styles of music. Originally from Iraq, Fawzy came to us from his home in Paris, France. He shared traditional Arabic instruments, song, and language as he moved effortlessly between musician and storyteller in a re-telling of the Sinbad story.     

Italian Street Painting Festival in Downtown Saint Paul

The canvas was the brick-paved street and the medium was chalk pastels: the result was Market Street filled with bright colors and beautiful paintings.

Four modern madonnari- the term for long-ago Italian artists who rendered images of the Madonna on the streets of Italian cities- from across the United States visited Saint Paul. The madonnari began on Wednesday as students and downtown workers watched daily progress at lunchtime.  The four madonnari are part of Art for After Hours and include Tracy Lee Stum, Rod Tryon, Joel Yau, and Seth Sanders.  President Anthony Cappetto and marketing director Wendy Stum, were on hand to answer questions.

Twelve regional artists joined through the week, adding to the street exhibit, and by Sunday afternoon the entire space under the canopy over Market Street was filled with diverse colors, styles, and subjects. On Wednesday Tracy taught a workshop for Wellstone students, and brightly drawn ladybugs, flowers, and abstract designs adorned the sidewalk in the Plaza as well.

During the weekend, Italian Street Painting Festival, sponsor Comcast invited families to create their own street paintings. By Sunday afternoon, every available surface in Landmark Plaza was covered in street art! Polaroid photos of each child and their art were taken by Comcast volunteers to give budding artists  a lasting memory of the Festival.

Wow - What a World!  What a Party!  What a World Party!

Children (and those who brought them) strolled through Rice Park and Landmark Plaza on Saturday, June 3 and Sunday June 4 , experiencing the sights and sounds of the Festival's annual World Party. Twin Cities' talent packed two stages, while twenty-four art and cultural organizations, along with corporate sponsors, partnered with Ordway Center hosting thirty different art-making activities in the parks. Between watching performances, creating street paintings, and tasting international cuisine Festival-goers were busy between performances inside Ordway Center.

Dance Party at the World Stage

On the World Stage, Irish Step Dancers Rince Na Chroi stepped to the sounds of 5 Mile Chase. Families joined in and made it a dance party when Cyril Paul and the Calypso Monarchs shared their music from Trinidad and Tobago. New Riverside Ramblers spiced up the afternoon with Cajun music and Circus Juventas filled the stage with acrobatic movements and circus stunts. Mariachi Estrella ended the day with the bright sounds of mariachi melodies.

Strolling the grounds of Rice Park were stilt walkers Chicks on Sticks who danced with families while Appalachian fiddler Rachel Nelson provided music. Nearby were balloon artists Chit Chat and Cha Cha who, along with David Olson, created balloon animals all day long! Magician Kristoffer Olson wowed kids and adults alike with disappearing acts and card tricks.  

Art-making in Rice Park

Guests created foam masks with SteppingStone Theatre for Young People, watched artist demonstrations with Young Audiences of Minnesota, created dream mobiles and artist books with ArtiCulture, and made Leo Lionni character shakers and hats with ArtStart. They traveled around the world in Ordway Center's Cultural Advisory Council tent with henna tattoos, beaded key chains, tissue paper flowers, origami paper folding, and ninja headbands, while others created a kite with The Children's Theatre Company. Theatre puppets and showboat hats were popular with the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, and many visitors also learned circus stunts with Circus Juventas. Festival goers were able to create cat and dog toys with the Humane Society for Companion Animals and explore musical elements and design their own egg shakers with The Minnesota Opera, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Schubert Club, and The Saint Paul Conservatory of Music. Guests were able to "Catch the Beat" during the Summer Reading Kick-Off at the MELSA tent with an air guitar contest and DJ spinning tunes.

The Minnesota Children's Museum created Inch by Inch art, and the Minnesota History Center designed Housewearable jewelry. Festival goers created buttons with the Ordway Circle of Stars and decorated sunglasses with the Walker Art Center. Mystik Toyz had their Spin Zone of various toys that jumped and moved, and Saint Paul Public Schools partnered with the Saint Paul/Manzanillo Sister City to create Mariposa Hermosa (Beautiful Butterflies). With Target, guests created bookmarks, and with Flint Hills Resources, they constructed paper-bag puppets. Festival visitors contributed to a community mosaic with Mosaic on a Stick and Delta Dental, and designed their own mascot with KSTC TV Twin Cities. In the Star Tribune tent families decorated project bags to hold all their loot and WLTE Radio created paint ball art. A popular activity was face painting with the Family Times, Young Artists initiative, and Barbara Knowles.

TARGET Alley Artists Share Traditional and Contemporary Culture

Performing on the TARGET Alley Stage-champion Fancy Dancer Larry Yazzie and the Native Pride Dancers,  Collective demonstrating hip-hop movements and Mikael Rudolph playing baseball through pantomime. CAAM (Chinese Dance Theatre) and Los Alegres Bailadores shared beautiful traditional dances. After the ARTmoves Parade the 34th Infantry Division National Guard Band performed military marches, and Raices closed out the evening with a traditional Puerto Rican dance jam.

Children of Uganda Goodwill Ambassadors Share Minnesota

"Being an ambassador means meeting an old friend for the first time." 
                                                                                                            T. Mychael Rambo

"The easiest thing about being an ambassador is that you can just be yourself. The best thing you can share with a new friend is you."
                                                                                                            Willena Marshall,
                                                                                                            Chair, Children of Uganda Task Force

With the return of the Children of Uganda to the Twin Cities, community members looked to create a way for youth and adults to be involved with the visit. Ordway Cultural Advisory Council member Willena Marshall came up with a plan and developed a task force for the project. Co-chaired by Ordway Center's Community Engagement Coordinator David Shack, the task force used the volunteer talents of Peggy Margenau, Renee Wood from Give Us Wings, Natalie Kennedy and Diane Richard, Ordway staff members, and Pat Welch, Chair of the Ordway Cultural Advisory Council to make sure that the Twin Cities would not miss the incredible energy and vitality of the upcoming Festival performances.

A key component of the Task Force's work was establishing the Youth Goodwill Ambassadors' program. Everyone got into the act as more than forty youth ranging in age from 6 to 19 years came together to make sure that the Children of Uganda would have good friends when they arrived in Saint Paul. Our Youth Ambassadors came from all over the metropolitan area representing fourteen different schools and even five different countries of origin! 

The Goodwill Ambassadors participated in training and orientation during three pre-Festival workshops. In addition to watching videos of the Children of Uganda performance and their country, Ambassadors met with Celi Marie Dean, Miss Black USA, who shared her experiences meeting people from around the world. The youth volunteers were given a presentation about the history, economics, and culture of Uganda by students under the direction of Wayzata East Middle School's eighth grade social studies teacher Matthew Scheidler and got great presentational instruction from actor, singer and arts educator T. Mychael Rambo.   Youth ambassadors used their creative talents to send personal letters and artwork to the Company weeks before their arrival, and making flags and banners to welcome the children. Everything came together on Sunday, May 28 as a bus pulled up and our "old friends we had not yet met" stepped off of the bus. With flags waving and hugs all around, our Youth Ambassadors and their parents greeted the Company.  

The Goodwill Ambassadors accompanied the Children of Uganda to two offsite visits, at Wayzata East Middle School in Plymouth and Fred Moore Middle School Center for the Arts in Anoka. In fact, Ambassador and seventh grade Wayzata student William Marshall organized an invitation from Wayzata to the Children to participate in a culture-share and convinced his school principal to let the students attend a performance as a field trip! Way to go William!

A SPECIAL WEEK CREATING A SPECIAL WORLD OF ART

Rows of buses lined 5th Street throughout the Festival school week. This year, 300 buses transported 14,639 students and educators who participated in the 2006 Festival School Days.  In that mix were 600 students and educators from Hayden Heights Elementary, whose entire school came to see a Children of Uganda performance!  Of that group, 120 students learned African drumming techniques in school through a nine-day COMPAS residency with artist Francis Kofi.

Before and after performances, Rice Park bustled with school groups enjoying a picnic lunch and the artistic talents of Mystik Toys, Rachel Nelson, José Curbelo, ColdSteel, and Chicks on Sticks. Landmark Center was also a hub of world arts as students met there for eight Global Arts Workshops. These workshops featured Twin Cities' artists representing a variety of cultural communities and art forms including Young Audiences roster artist Rita Mustaphi and Taiko drum instructor Sara Dejoras.

Community Members Share in the World of Art Event 

New this year! Ordway Center presented a special opportunity for regional and international artists to meet each other, share art forms, learn from each other, create together, and share these spontaneous moments with public interested in a behind-the-scenes peek! 

Thursday, June 1, guests came together for three master classes with international artists. Matthais Kuchta of Lille Kartofler Theatre worked with German Immersion School students in a German based class while Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and Twin Cities puppet company Circus Minimus taught youngsters how to bring a puppet to life. Fawzy Al-Aiedy hosted the World of Music where instruments from across the world were brought together and blended into an international jam session. Some of our Ordway Center favorites joined in a music circle that was influenced by all corners of the globe. You might not know the special talents of some of the Ordway Center staff - Tessa Retterath on bass and Jennifer Duncan on flute. Cultural Advisory members Jose Curbelo and Larry Yazzie joined in - Jose on accordion and Larry and Native Pride Friends on drums and vocals.

Friday night we danced the night away with T. Mychael Rambo as master of ceremonies for thirteen dance companies sharing culture and dances in The World Of Dance.

Thank you to all companies involved in this fantastic event, where all were welcome to learn and participate in different dances. The evening led off with the Children of Uganda who were joined by World Party artists as well as The Cultural Society of Filipino-Americans, CSFA Dance Troupe, Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, River Valley Dance Academy Adaptive Dance Program, Sansei Yonsei Kai Japanese Dance Group, Twin Cities Chinese Dance Center, Healing Spirit Drum, River Valley Dance Academy Performance Company. Rumba Productions DJ William was on hand to spin tunes to close out the evening as a dance party.

Ordway Circle of Stars' Poster Contest

Ordway Circle of Stars' Poster Art Contest invites children from all over the state to create visual art reflecting the theme of the Festival. This year's theme - The World I Create - empowered children by asking them to consider what elements would (or would not) be in the world they are helping to shape. One winner from each grade level was chosen. Their work appears on a special Festival poster, and this year's twelve winners were hosted at a reception held in their honor. Many thanks to Linda Moeller, Suzanne Egen Larson, Kate Youngdahl from Ordway Circle of Stars and the many Ordway Circle of Stars' volunteers who transformed the corporate dining room at St. Paul Travelers into a Gallery Opening!  St. Paul Travelers' Andy Besette and Shary Kempainen, made sure that we were celebrating in style by sponsoring the reception's incredible treats and offering the space.

School District And City Support Arts Partnerships

Saint Paul Public Schools Arts 25 Program supported a partnership between ArtStart, Ordway Center, and Saint Paul's L'Etoile du Nord French Immersion School. While Fawzy Al Aiedy was born in Iraq, he has lived in Paris, France for many years making this a perfect tie-in with our ongoing partnership with L'Etoile du Nord. Artist William Atchouelou prepared students by teaching them (in French) to create musical instruments. The workshop was followed by attendance at Fawzy Al-Aiedy's Dounya - and because of this special project Fawzy performed his show in French. Many thanks to an anonymous donor who subsidized tickets at weekend performances so that student families could also see the show.

Saint Paul Parks and Recreation provides support each and every year for the Festival by making sure that the grounds of Rice Park and Landmark Center are spruced up and ready to go!  Clean up during the Festival weekend takes special work and we appreciate the partnership with Parks and Rec that gives us all such a beautiful downtown space to enjoy together.

Above: Drums and shakerés created by students at L'Etoile du Nord through ArtStart residency. 

ARTmoves Parade Participants Strut Their Stuff!   

Winding around Rice Park, the second annual ARTmoves Parade has now become a mainstay of the Flint Hills International Children's Festival.

Our movers and shakers stepped off ready to follow the lead of the 34th Infantry National Guard Band, with our very own staff member Jennifer Duncan in line with her piccolo while the Children of Uganda Goodwill Ambassadors waved banners and flags. CAAM (Chinese American Association of Minnesota) cart-wheeled alongside the Chinese dragon. MELSA librarians' Reading Divas demonstrated their hilarious book cart drill team, fittingly dressed in vintage formal wear. The Northern Lights American Eskimo Dog Association returned by popular demand for their second year of rainbow dogs. Stops and starts were only natural for  Keane Sense of Rhythm who tapped their way through the streets and into our hearts. The Saint Paul Police Band marched on as Wheelie Wonder from the Minnesota Children's Museum pulled the found-object dragon, created by families in an open studio workshop and Powderhorn Community Center created a war and peace unit with banners, puppets and music with artist Bart Buch.

The West 7th Community Center, McRae Park Community Center, Ober Community Center, Urban Arts Academy, Hallie Q. Brown/MLK Center, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, and African American Family Services, peddled on ARTbikes and paraded with moving murals while wearing fanciful costumes and Drumheart provided a rocking beat.

Thanks to Parade Coordinator Malia Cole, and sidekick Aislin (Malia's infant daughter) who moved all through the Twin Cities in the months before the Festival making sure artists and workshop participants had all they needed to make the parade a big success. A special thank you to Jay Monogue, at Saint Paul Fire and Safety for the use of fire stations as bike donation sites; and to Sibley Bike Depot for bike repair work.

Thank you also to Scott Gilbert, who directed traffic as units entered the staging grounds. Scott is one of this year's primo volunteers, by the way, devoting an entire week to helping out on Festival grounds.

ARTwalk Expands...to Include Building Art

More than 600 pieces of children's art were displayed in ARTwalk 2006, based on the theme of The World I Create. Aaron Smith, Curator, Joe Iverson, Assistant Curator, Sean McColl, Installation Specialist, Sathiya Karthikeyan, Premiere Volunteer, and other volunteers spent more than 120 hours curating the exhibit in 150 downtown Saint Paul windows. Thank you to the building owners and management companies for allowing us to display the vibrant, inspiring colors of our youth in the store front windows. Bill Buth from the Greater St. Paul's Building Owners & Managers Association was key in securing windows for this project.

The ARTwalk continues to grow-BIG! For several years, Ordway Center has had a vision of - literally - wrapping downtown Saint Paul in art. This year, thanks to the generosity of 3M, that vision became a reality. Visual Art students from Webster Magnet School created painted paper artwork in the style of Leo Lionni's books, which was then made in to huge pieces of outdoor art. These artworks were hung from the outside walls of Ordway Center and Landmark Towers surrounding Rice Park. Everyone who was involved with the project, including 3M's Contributions Manager, Cindy Kleven, were blown away by this larger-than-life art.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. When the Festival curtain fell on Sunday, the street paintings were washed away, the tents were packed up, and the international artists returned home. Of course, the memory of their work, along with all of the once-in-a-lifetime moments, continues to live in the hearts and minds of this year's Festival artists and guests. Thank you for your involvement, and please mark your calendars for the 2007 Festival, May 29 through June 3, 2007 - but remember the fun really begins in just a couple of months! Continue to visit our website, ordway.org, in the upcoming months to experience Festival memories from 2006 and to learn about ways to engage in the 2007 Festival!

Education at Ordway Center is sponsored by 3M. Additional major funding is provided by Ordway Circle of Stars, The Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation, General Mills Foundation, hundreds of individuals, foundations, corporate contributors, and by the patronage of thousands of theatre attendees.

To be added or removed from this newsletter distribution, please reply to education.news@ordway.org.