On Earth Day, April 22nd, we held a hard hat tour of SixTwelve and it was so fun to share our dreams with people we'd never even met. It's one thing for your family or best friends to encourage you. In fact, it might have been what kept us going over the past few years, but it's wild to see people you don't know getting excited your project and what it can mean for the community. The wonderful guys at Mockingbird Media, Matt Barnett and Stewart Perryman, came to the tour, filmed and created a wonderful video that really captures our vision and then just gave it to us for free. I'm so grateful!!! Such generosity is rare these days. Take a look!
Just a couple of days after that tour, I headed down to Beavers Bend State Park in Broken Bow, Oklahoma for our third Leadership Arts class meeting. It was so beautiful down there and I have to say it was a needed break from the fast-paced rush I'm always running through up here in OKC. I'm amazed by all of my class mates. They do so many wonderful things for the arts in our state and are simultaneously so supportive and kind. We discussed ways in which the arts improve quality of life and were lucky enough to get to tour the Museum of the Red River in Idabel as a part of our program. What a great museum!!!! The two things I like the most about the Leadership Arts program are the people I get to meet and the parts of the state we now feel connected to because of our great experiences. This state really does have so much to offer...we just have to get out and see it!
The following week, during Paseo's First Friday Art Walk, my friends Molly O'Connor and Lauren Zuniga, the band, King Mary, Feathered Rabbit and Richard Ray Whitman all performed on SixTwelve's stage!!! Boom Horn also created a mural while the event was taking place. It was the first time anyone used the stage and I was thrilled with the caliber of talent we saw there. I wasn't in charge of anything, as we just let the group hold their event there, but I was so honored to have such incredible artists, musicians and poets inaugurate the stage. The goodness keeps on flowing!
The very next morning, we got up really early to get to the OKC Farmers Public Market. It was time for the Better Block OKC event and SixTwelve had a booth! Erin Latham is an artist that I really admire, especially for her talent, approach and philosophy. She is concerned with the environment and sustainability, so she is a perfect fit for what SixTwelve is about. Sooooo, I invited her to join us for the Better Block event and to help provide the kid's art activity that we were asked to provide. She created dyes out of veggies and used fruits and vegetables as the stamps kids (and adults) could use to make cards for Mother's Day. All of the waste we created was then composted by Fertile Ground, so we could talk to the kids and parents about the cycle of those plants we used! It was perfect!
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| Erin Latham, holding down the fort at the SixTwelve booth - Better Block OKC |
In addition to all of this, I'm preparing for an education event, a Parent/Student art workshop this Saturday at the PAA. It's for students at the elementary schools surrounding Paseo, such as Edgemere, Sequoyah, Putnam Heights, Wilson and Horrace Mann. I'm the chair of the education committee for Paseo, as well as the chair of the music committee for the Paseo Arts Festival 2013, and that festival is coming right up. Immediately after Paseo Fest, I'm a party captain for the opening night party for deadCENTER Film Festival on the rooftop of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Mainly I'm just in charge of helping to recruit volunteers and to spread the word about the greatness that is deadCENTER and I'm thrilled to be a part of it!
I have to say that afterwards, it will be so nice to return to a little normalcy...whatever that is. I know one thing...I'm going to take a big ol' nap. But it sure is fun to be a part of this community and to do whatever I can to help it grow. I love OKC.
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