#community-arts

#community-arts

Deborah Rutter believes living an "artful life" is essential to well-being. The former president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said that means recognizing that everything that makes daily life beautiful - from the music playing in the grocery store to the architecture of the buildings along your commute - exists because of artists. "I have a personal belief that artists hold up a mirror to who we are as human beings and who our society is," Rutter said. "Our artists are telling the story of what's happening today. They are the truth-tellers."

In 2016, while artist McKay Lenker Bayer was still an undergraduate, her professor assigned the class the task of exhibiting their work. Unsure about presenting her work to the public, she downsized, quite literally, showing miniature paintings with teensy-tiny labels. And the idea for a minuscule exhibition space was born. In 2018, Lenker Bayer established Tiny Art Show, a community art project that utilizes unique and unexpected spaces around Provo, Utah, to show original work by numerous artists. Until this year, the project was largely nomadic, but Tiny Art Show now has its own dedicated space.

What was once a laundromat is now becoming a stage, a classroom, and a canvas for the neighborhood,

This Tony Award-winning musical, based on the 1899 Newsboys Strike, features two casts of teen and adult performers bringing the story to life. Set in early 20th-century New York City, the production follows charismatic newsboy Jack Kelly as he leads a group of young paper sellers in a stand against powerful publishers raising prices. The tale highlights themes of unity and justice, with reporter Katherine Plumber joining the cause to prove her worth in a male-dominated field.

"This ceremony, in honor of Sajda Musawwir Ladner, is the catalyst in the transformation of Jersey Street," said Lorna Harris, emcee for the event. Located steps from 425 Jersey St., where the Universal Temple of the Arts center opened in 1990, the intersection now bears the name of the singular figure who spent decades of her life committed to the surrounding community. "My mother was here at a time when people encouraged her to go other places, and she stuck, she stayed the course and she affected so many young people," said Rashida Ladner-Seward, Musawwir Ladner's daughter and the current executive director of the arts group.

Every first and third Friday of the month, locally sourced Artist Activators offer up free art making. Block Fest animates and celebrates the unit block of Turk Street with free arts activities, cultural offerings, community information, and discussion for the local residents, workers, and visitors. From live performance and art exhibition to screen printing workshops and crochet jams, Block Fest is a monthly celebration of the Tenderloin's creative spirit.

T.A.L.L. the Tenderloin Art Lending Library loans framed, original artwork, much of it by Tenderloin artists, for free to lower income residents. Take a work home for one month, bring it back and borrow another piece for one month. Just like the public library TALL: Tenderloin Art Lending Library 1st Tuesday of the month | 12 pm 80 Turk St, San Francisco FREE

The verb for the act of making musical sounds is play. Yet too often, parents and musical professionals approach it as something else - as work, or showbiz, or obligation, or eat-your-peas self-improvement technique. Instead of being something you do for your own enjoyment, making music becomes something you do for others, because you're supposed to, not because you want to. It's a great way to discourage kids from learning music.

Forget pricey tickets and velvet ropes-this weekend, the circus is coming to town, and you won't need to shell out a dime to see it. The brand-new Down to Earth Festival is set to turn New York City parks and plazas into open-air stages, with a lineup that mixes contemporary circus, high-wire thrills, opera installations and participatory dance. It all kicks off Friday, August 29, and runs through September 7.

EPACENTER, East Palo Alto's creative youth development center, will now offer its arts-related job training opportunities and arts programs to people of all ages and abilities.

Ten Fifteen Theater, a nonprofit community theater in Astoria, stages thought-provoking shows for local audiences. It primarily targets adults and recently featured productions like 'Macbeth' and 'AGAIN! The Act of Perfection,' a story by local artist Marco Davis.

"For us, it's a triple threat... It's not just a budget cut. It's existential." - Naomi Fisher, co-founder of BFI, on the cumulative impact of funding cuts.