Creative City Grantee Events: September 2017

The final application deadline of Creative City‘s pilot phase is just about a month away. Come get some inspiration from these fine examples of Creative City projects. Here are the Creative City-supported public events in September.

BEAT BUS 2.0 | MARIA FINKELMEIER

A mobile vessel, Beat Bus 2.0 brings community building and performance art to public spaces through electronic drumming. Encouraging participants to experiment with beats, harmonies, and melodies, the drumming cart will be equipped with the tools needed to make music on the spot! As the second iteration of Beat Bus, this project aims to be more accessible and mobile than in previous years. Finkelmeier will design and build the project at Hammer East, an artist collective space in East Boston, and premiere the project in August at the same location. It will be free and open to the public, encouraging all to explore their creativity through music!

September 13, 2017 | Beat Bus at East Boston Farmers Market | 3:00-5:00 PM
Lewis Mall at Maverick T Station

For more information about Beat Bus 2.0 check out: For more information visit: www.kadencearts.org/beatbus

Indigo Project | Ifé Franklin

Ifé Franklin's Indigo Project honors the lives and history of formerly enslaved Africans/African-Americans in the American South and the African Diaspora who labored in the harshest conditions to produce materials that generated the wealth of nations. Ifé Franklin's Indigo Project provides historical, artistic, and cultural components that speak to the lives of those that endured plantation existence. The project involves many genres of art-making, including the creation of life-sized structures resembling slave cabins that are produced with community involvement using adire fabric dying techniques from the Yoruba culture of West Africa.

September 10-15, 2017 | Indigo Project at Franklin Park
Franklin Park Valley Gates Parking Lot | Circuit Drive & Glen Lane, Boston, MA 02121

September 10, 2017 | Indigo Project Slave Cabin Unveiling & Ring Shout | 3:00-7:00 PM
Franklin Park Valley Gates Parking Lot | Circuit Drive & Glen Lane, Boston, MA 02121

The artist requests that participants wear all white or as much white clothing as possible and recommends that they bring a lawn chair or blanket to sit on and white flowers and/or dessert to share.

You can find more information about Ifé Franklin’s Indigo Project at www.ifearts.com.

Community in Action: A Mural for Vietnamese FOLKS in Fields Corner | NGOC-TRAN VU

Artist Ngoc-Tran Vu is lifting up the narrative of the Vietnamese American diaspora experience through a collaborative site-specific mural project in Fields Corner, Dorchester. A diverse, multigenerational steering committee of Dorchester residents is helping to inform and advise the visual stories that will appear in the final installation. This project aims to celebrate the Vietnamese American community while facilitating creative engagement and inspiring a more inclusive and multifaceted Dorchester.

September 30, 2017 | Mural Unveiling Party | 10:00 AM-1:00 PM
Phở Hòa Restaurant | 1370 Dorchester Ave, Dorchester, MA 02122

Visit http://www.ngoctranvu.com/ for more information about Community in Action.

STITCHED INTO MEMORY | STEPHEN HAMILTON

Stitched into Memory celebrates and commemorates the historic and contemporary African Diaspora communities of Boston (Afro American, Afro Caribbean and Afro Latino) through an exploration of West African textile traditions. In collaboration with the Friends of Fort Point, Stephen Hamilton, lead artist, will bring together Boston youth who will embark on a creative and educational journey that culminates in an installation that will span 6 ft. x 30 ft. composed of cotton canvas, muslin, and handwoven cloth, dyed in natural Indigo, incorporating bead work, embroidery, and other traditional arts.

Ongoing until September 30 | Stitched Into Memory
Atlantic Wharf | 290 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210

September 30, 2017 | Stitched Into Memory Closing Reception | 12:00-4:00 PM
Atlantic Wharf | 290 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210

This event will include a crafts fair and an exhibition showcasing textile works drawn from the Theresa India Young collection and select pieces from Theresa India Young Fellows. It will also include some by Stephen Hamilton, as well as a demonstration of a demonstration of traditional Nigerian upright loom weaving.

For more information about Stitched into Memory, visit: https://stitchedintomemory.tumblr.com/

Tortilla Social | Salvador Jiménez-flores

Tortilla Social is a participatory project that will transform public spaces through the use of printmaking as a tool for self-expression, advocacy, and art education, and food as a uniter of community. Led by artist Salvador Jiménez-Flores and partnering with arts organization Urbano Project, Tortilla Social will include a series of pop-up, interactive printmaking and food workshops throughout Boston. The mobile project will feature a multi-functional tortilla press built by the artist and will engage participants of all ages in a variety of printmaking techniques and gastronomical explorations.

September 30, 2017 | Tortilla Social Workshop | 5:00 PM-8:00 PM
Plaza of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament | 30 Sunnyside Street, Jamaica Plain MA 02130

This event is free but will require pre-registration for attendance, with a strong encouragement to attend for the full duration of the workshop. Registration details will be added when they become available.

For more information about Tortilla Social visit: http://www.salvadorjimenezflores.com/tortillasocialevents/

We hope to see you at some of these events!