FESTIVAL ART CONTEST RECEPTION HONORS FOURTEEN YOUNG ARTISTS

The 2008 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival ARTcontest collected more than 335 original pieces of art on the theme MY MINNESOTA: A Creative State of Mind.  Young artists were encouraged to interpret what Minnesota means to them, a theme inspired by the 2008 Minnesota Sesquicentennial Celebration. Fourteen young artists, each representing a grade level from pre-k through twelfth, were selected to be featured on the 2008 Festival Poster.  These artists were honored with a reception and Festival Poster unveiling on Friday, May 2 in Travelers’ Jackson Room. The reception brought family, friends, and teachers of the young artists together to celebrate the creativity of these young people.  The young artists selected for the Festival Poster and honored at the reception are:

• Karis Anne Lowe, Pre-Kindergarten, Age 4, Jordan, MN
  Haileigh Peterson, Kindergarten at Webster Magnet Elementary, Age 5, Saint Paul, MN
• Ava Byrne, First Grade at Crystal Lake Elementary, Age 6, Lakeville, MN
• Lucy Gilbert, Second Grade at Minnesota Waldorf School, Age 8, Roseville, MN
• Alice O’Brien, Third Grade at Adams Spanish Immersion, Age 9, Saint Paul, MN
• Theresa Roth, Fourth Grade at Saint Croix Catholic School, Age 10, Stillwater, MN
• Olivia A. Nofzinger, Fifth Grade at Saint Anthony Park Elementary, Age 11, Saint Paul, MN
• Sarah Flores, Sixth Grade at Clara Barton Open School, Age 11, Minneapolis, MN
• Micah Uetz, Seventh Grade at Minnetonka Middle School East, Age 12, Minnetonka, MN
• Su mya Naing, Eight Grade at Cleveland Junior High, Age 14, Saint Paul, MN
• Alexandra Smith, Ninth Grade at North High School, Age 14, White Bear Lake, MN
• Lee Her, Tenth Grade at International Academy LEAP, Age 16, Saint Paul, MN
• Corban Lundborg, Eleventh Grade at Irondale High School, Age 16, New Brighton, MN
• Noelle Vainikka, Twelfth Grade at Irondale High School, Age 18, Mounds View, MN

The original artwork of the winning artists is currently on display inside Ordway Center.  All other entries in the ARTcontest are on display thoughtout downtown Saint Paul through June 1; as part of the ARTwalk, a program of the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival.  The ARTcontest Artist Reception was produced and hosted by the 2008 ARTcontest sponsors, Ordway Circle of Stars and Travelers.

WEEKEND AT THE FESTIVAL - TICKETS $5

The Flint Hills International Children’s Festival Family Weekend is a great opportunity for families to enjoy performances by artists from around the globe.  These indoor performances feature a variety of cultural art forms including dance, music, puppetry, and more.  This year, thanks to the generosity of Target, $5 tickets are available for indoor performances!  Families are also invited to watch, dance, and sing with local Twin Cities performing artists on Ordway Center’s three outdoor stages. In addition, they can participate in more than thirty free art-making activities and purchase kid-friendly international cuisine in Rice Park and Landmark Plaza.

Buy tickets

ARTBUILDS STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

On April 30, student teams from Austin High School, Patrick Henry High School, and Twin Cities Academy arrived at Ordway Center to present concepts, designs, and building strategies of their ARTbuilds sculptures sponsored by General Mills.  Nicolas Vallejos, a brand designer from General Mills started the day off with a presentation about his career trajectory and work with the General Mills Corporation.  The student teams then took center stage to present their designs, created under the leadership and guidance of artist-in-residence, Armando Gutierrez G. and their teachers.  The development of each design began last winter and was also inspired by the Minnesota Sesquicentennial.

Patrick Henry High School will create a sculpture of the 35W Bridge, Austin High School will create Minnesota state outline, and Twin Cities Academy will create a sailboat on a waterscape.  The large-scale architectural sculptures will be made out of more than 12,000 cans and 1,500 breakfast cereal boxes donated by General Mills.  Sculpture construction takes place during the week of May 27-30 in Landmark Plaza and will be on display through June 1, 2008; after which, products will be donated to Second Harvest Food Bank.

STUDENTS PREPARE FOR FESTIVAL THROUGH SCHOOL RESIDENCIES

In preparation for the 2008 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival many schools participate in a variety of residencies.

Ordway Center/COMPAS Residencies
Ordway Center/COMPAS residencies are nine-day residencies for schools that include a teacher in-service, 120 tickets to an Ordway Center performance and a culminating event designed with schools’ input, to demonstrate the students’ work! The residencies connected to the 2008 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival included, Frost Lake Magnet School who will work with artist Leo Lara focusing on the Andes Manta performance in late May.  Students from Linwood A+ Elementary and Monroe Achievement Plus Community School will share a residency with artist Kenna Sarge connecting to the Tokounou performance in late May.

Digital Kids
Digital Kids, a residency sponsored by Best Buy, brings a resident media artist into Twin Cities' classrooms to lead classes through a documentary process that focuses on the Festival as its subject.  Students from Frost Lake Magnet and Webster Magnet in Saint Paul and Keewaydin in Minneapolis began researching Festival artists in the fall and will create a documentary that captures the art forms and cultures represented in the artists’ performance.  Each school has also had workshops to help prepare them for the performances on which they are focusing. 

In preparation for DRUM!, artist Katie Vang worked with Frost Lake on rhythm and poetry!  At Keewaydin, in preparation for Andes Manta, artist Leo Lara worked with students on the music and culture on Ecuador, and Webster Magnet students worked with artist Malia Burkhart on marionette puppetry in preparation for Marionetas de la Esquina.  These workshops will provide students with hands-on experiences by deepening their understanding of the performances, in preparation for the interviews with company members.  Students will also learn the fundamentals of interviewing, documenting, editing, and researching with local media artist Usry Alleyne. A final, edited copy of the documentary will be shown in the Box Office lobby during the Festival Family Weekend May 31- June 1.

ARTmoves PARADE COMMUNITY RESIDENCIES

Ordway Center will kick off the ARTmoves Parade Saturday, May 31 at 1 p.m.  The foundation of participation and art-creation for this Parade is in community organizations.  Ordway Center partners with Community and Recreation Centers across the Twin Cities to offer artist residencies during after-school programs.  Youth of all ages work with Twin Cities artists to learn an art-form and create their own unit for the Parade.

Throughout the month of April and May, more than 90 artist sessions will take place, which will culminate in the Festival with the ARTmoves Parade. The residency participants will also be joined by community artists, family members, and other organizations for the ARTmoves Parade. It is truly a backyard, community parade.

Local artists leading community residency sites:

• Tou Cha at Hallie Q. Brown/MLK Center is creating insect puppets.
• Joe Iverson at Spencer House is working on the theme RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS.
• Gita Ghei at West 7th Community Center is shaping a multi-cultural paper mache earth globe with copper continents along with orbiting stars and planets.
• Gustavo Boada at Merrick Community Center is creating parade puppets.
• Mary Plaster at Homecroft Elementary School is molding soaring eagle puppets.
• Malia Burkhart at The Center for Hmong Arts and Talent is fashioning larger than life puppets wearing traditional Hmong clothing.
• Mark Safford at Hancock Recreation Center is teaching 5th and 6th graders how to construct stilts, and how to dance or perhaps even play sports on stilts.
• Bart Buch at North Dale Recreation Center is creating horse and unicorn bikes with heads and tails that move.
• Julian McFaul at Duluth and Case Recreation Center is creating a giant beast from cardboard.
• Chris Lutter at Conway Recreation Center is working with young kids to make a large, eye popping tortoise out of umbrellas.
• Dudley Voigt is working with teens to create aerosol fashioned clothing at Neighborhood House.
• Estela De Paola de Lermer at Folwell Middle School is working with special needs students of various abilities to create a West African adinkra symbols. This Parade residency is a follow up to a dance and movement residency with Festival artist Sidiki Conde.

To join the Parade or to lean more about it, contact Eric Olmscheid at 651-282-3017 or eolmscheid@ordway.org.

See the ARTmoves Parade Blog

COMMUNITY MASTER CLASSES NOW AVAILABLE

2008 Flint Hills International Children's Festival

At the core of the Festival are our artists—local, national, and international. While our visiting artists are with us next week there are three master class opportunities for Twin Cities artists. These sessions are intended for artists in our community to engage with and learn from the visiting Festival artists.

BACKSTAGE WITH DRUM!
ATTEND A TECHNICAL REHEARSAL FOLLOWED BY CONVERSATION WITH DRUM! PRODUCER, BROOKES DIAMOND

When: Tuesday, May 27, 1-3 PM
Where: Ordway Centre Main Hall and Foyer  
Participants: Professional artists practicing culturally specific art forms
Capacity: 25 artists

Professional Twin Cities artists practicing culturally specific art forms are invited to observe a technical rehearsal of DRUM! and have a conversation with the show’s producer, Brookes Diamond.  Diamond has been with DRUM! since its inception. He will share his experiences on the creative process, the collaboration with the diverse artistic partners, and the production’s booking and promotion. 

TECHNICAL REHEARSAL 1-2 PM
CONVERSATION WITH BROOKES 2-3 PM

ABOUT DRUM!
DRUM! is a spectacular musical production featuring twenty musicians, dancers, drummers, and singers from four founding cultures of Nova Scotia – Afro Canadian, Acadian, First Nation, and Celtic – brought together in a heart-pumping fusion of music, dance, poetry, video, rhythm, and song. DRUM! communicates a universal message: we can hold on to who we are and still share a song, a stage, a country, a world.

SPACE IS LIMITED. RSVP by noon on MONDAY, MAY 26.

West African Dance Master Class
led by Sidiki Conde of Tokounou Dance Company
When: Wednesday, May 28, 6:00-7:30 PM
Where: Roy Wilkins Dance Studio
Who: Any community member with experience in West African Dance. All ages.
Cost: $5, or free with purchase of performance ticket
Capacity: 30 dancers 

For Sidiki Conde, the founder and artist director of Tokounou Dance Company, music and dance became his passion and his vocation.  A native of Guinea, Sidiki has toured the world sharing his story and technique; while also working with children and adults of all abilities. In this session, Sidiki tells his story and demonstrates how he continues to share his West African cultural art forms today. This is a movement based class for all ages with West African dance experience.

Aerial Technique and Exploration Master Class
led by Wise Fool New Mexico: Flexion
When: Thursday, May 29, 6:00-7:30 PM
Where: Outside in Landmark Plaza, Wise Fool New Mexico: Flexion performance truss
Participants: Open to experienced aerial artists.
Capacity: 12 aerial artists

Participants in this session will work with Wise Fools New Mexico aerial artists, where they will share their improvisation techniques, strengthening exercises, floor to air integration, and partnering/interaction in the air. The class will take place on the Wise Fool performance truss that will be rigged in Landmark Plaza for the Festival, and will involve sling work on the truss.

For more information about the master classes and to register, contact Eric Olmscheid at 651-282-3017 or eolmscheid@ordway.org.

ARTWALK FILLS WINDOWS WITH YOUNG PEOPLES' ART IN DOWNTOWN SAINT PAUL

Spring is marked in downtown Saint Paul by the presence of bright childrens’ art.  From Ordway Center to Travelers to Lawson to the US Bank Center, there are more than 150 Saint Paul windows displaying the art of young people.  The ARTwalk, an annual program of the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival, presents an exhibit of art from across the state.  The non-juried, professionally curated exhibit highlights the achievements of young people in their schools and community organizations.

There are more than 650 pieces of art in mediums ranging from clay sculpture to oil paintings on display.  The success of the ARTwalk is made possible by the donation of space from the Saint Paul business community.  The ARTwalk is by curated Joe Iverson and installed with help from the Ordway Center staff and volunteers. 

The ARTwalk will be on display through June 1, 2008.

See ARTwalk map, buildings, & participants

OPEN CALL: GIRLS 8-11 FOR IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS

Ordway Center will be holding an open call for the musical based Irving Berlin’s, White Christmas.  The production is seeking a young girl 8-11 years old, to play nine-year-old Susan Waverly, the General’s granddaughter.  ness.  Must have belt voice and move well.

Auditions will take place on Saturday, June 21.

If you know a young actor eligible for this roll, please call the Ordway Center Audition Hotline (651) 215-2100.

EDUCATION AT ORDWAY CENTER’S SPRING PRE-SALE

THE 2008-2009 PERFORMING ARTS CLASSROOMS!

Get a jump start on planning for next year’s Education at Ordway Center School Performances.  Ordway Center’s Spring Pre-sale will be your first chance to reserve tickets to the 2008-2009 Performing Arts Classroom Season.  Reserve your three-dollar tickets to any of the 2008-2009 Performing Arts Classroom Series performances.  The Spring Pre-sale started on May 16, 2008.  Orders are being accepted by phone, fax, or mail only.  Watch your mail for the Spring Pre-sale brochure. 

The 2009 Flint Hills International Children’s Festival performances will be announced in August 2008, and tickets will go on sale for these performances August 29, 2008 at our annual On-Sale Day Event.

Learn more about 2008-09 Performing Arts Classrooms

Request a brochure