Arts Activities Support

This four concert, free-will offering program, showcased twenty-one artists touching the lives of 260 attendees. 92% of participants valued the performance with the remaining 8% indicated that time of day was not the most convenient. Free-will offerings increased 50 % in comparison to last year. The Bauman Fine Arts Concert Series consisted of four concerts during the 2016-2017 season. These concerts showcased interdisciplinary experiences, world class professional musicians, award winning dancers and amateur artists including a children’s choir and dance troupe from the Twin Cities. Overall, this project proved to be creative, educational, artistic, and spiritual for both the performers and audience. The first two concerts, “Love and Death at Harvest Time” and “O Holy Night” were held at Hazel Park Congregational United Church of Christ. The acoustics enhanced the sound to a high quality giving the listeners an intimate insight to what the musicians hope to hear as they produce the sound. The drawback to this concert space is the positioning of the musicians. Due to a faulty architectural design, the soloists are separated from the piano/harpsichord making this an added challenge to communicate while performing. In order for future performances to take place in this setting, significant thought is needed for proper positioning of musicians. “O Holy Night” shared the stage with professional musicians and a children’s choir. The children got the opportunity to hear and experience professional musicians in their neighborhood. Though both of these concerts were family-oriented, we recognized two things: 1) “Love and Death at Harvest Time” needed more relatable music for the younger audience to truly make it family-oriented and 2) in the “O Holy Night” concert, we needed to build a better relationship between the soloist and the children’s choir, so it did not feel like two separate entities coming together for one concert. The third concert, “World Music in Motion” was a beautiful display of dance and music at the Steeple Center in Rosemount, Minnesota. The music seemed as though it was written for the dance and the choreography was shaped to each note. The stage at the Steeple Center was beautiful and yet two things were noticed: 1) the musicians were so far to the back of the stage to make room for the dancers that it was hard to hear at times; 2) this concert really focused on the performance more than the educational component. More interaction with the audience may have been elicited if more explanation of the style of music in conjunction with the kind of dance was more fully articulated. The fourth concert, “New Music” was a milestone of professionalism as Asako Hirabayashi premiered her new work, “Espressivo-Siciliano-Vivace,” trio for oboe, bassoon, and piano. It was a high caliber performance showcasing musicians from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. The concert was held at Parkway United Church of Christ and the acoustics made the music soar giving the attendees an opportunity to engage this kind of music outside the walls of Orchestra Hall. The only drawback to this concert was the lack of a stage manager which would have facilitated smoother transitions between music selections. The Bauman Fine Arts Series reached a new level of artistic involvement by the individuals who performed in this 2016-2017 program. The multidisciplinary projects gave artists an opportunity to work together in ways they may not have otherwise. The assortment of styles and techniques made the work both professionally engaging and challenging. The Bauman Fine Arts Series reached our intended audience; however, not to its fullest potential. Our average attendance was 65 individuals. Attendees were women, men, gender non-conforming, young, old, different abilities, races, ethnicities, and religious affiliations. Our largest attendees were white, which leads to our main question, how do we better engage the diversity in our neighborhood? Is it through the music performance, is it through the educational component? Our completed surveys indicated that individuals appreciated the repertoire presented; however, this was answered by a majority white audience. Many of our regular concert goers did not attend “World Music in Motion” at the Steeple Center. Even though this was a professional stage, our attendees did not want to travel to a third ring suburb of the Twin Cities. Also, it was noticed that even with substantial advertising in the Rosemount area, we did not see a significant number of new concert attendees. If we choose to have another concert in this venue, more advertising research is needed. Our final concert, “New Music” in North Minneapolis was an example of true collaboration between two organizations with established concert series. This concert also featured highly acclaimed musicians who bring a following of their own. With that said, attendance was diverse and new attendees were present. Our work with the Bauman Fine Arts Series has to be more strategic in collaborating with other organizations within the Eastside St Paul neighborhood as well as other targeted organizations in the Metro area in order to get the word out more fully. The publicity schedule that was outlined in the grant proposal was completed and yet, we are finding that building relationships with specific organizations will prove more beneficial in the future for advertising and community involvement.