Monday, January 26, 2009

January Newsletter!

The January Newsletter has been released! If you are a subscriber and did not receive your copy, please check your spam folder! Newsletters can also be read online here.

In this issue:

1. Our School-Touring Shows
2. Upcoming Public Performances
3. Thank you, CVS!
4. Thank you, RISCA!
5. Camp Reservations Now Open!
6. Supporting Our Members

Here is an excerpt from this month's edition...
"Kaleidoscope is proud to announce the return of Aladdin to our
summer schedule! This fairytale will be remounted for 2009 with
the help of grant money from
RISCA (Rhode Island State Council
on the Arts). Recently, Kaleidoscope was awarded a grant to
produce three new backdrops in collaboration with Laura
McPherson – the wonderful artist who created Cinderella's new
home last year!"

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Looking Through The Kaleidoscope #8: Me & Mr. Jones


While I realize that this isn't a traditional entry from me, I still thought this would be a great forum for what I have to say and that the Kaleidoscope family would appreciate something of this nature.

As some of you might have heard, music producer Quincy Jones was quoted in saying that the next conversation he has with our soon-to-be President Obama will be to beg him to have a Minister of the Arts as a government position, which is otherwise known as a Minister of Culture in other countries.

Obama has made it pretty clear that he supports the Arts in his platform, which is not necessarily good for just Kaleidoscope but as a nation as a whole. From what I understand, Obama is supporting the Arts through three main tactics:

  1. He wants to expand public/private partnerships between schools and arts organizations.
  2. He wants to start Artists Corps, which is, from what I can tell, a sort of art-focused Peace Corps.
  3. He is publicly championing the importance of arts education.
Already I am glad with what President Obama intends on doing and I hope it gets down. Support of the arts on a national level would hopefully mean support for Kaleidoscope in the long run, meaning Kaleidoscope could continue to serve the community in the many ways that it does. If the President-elect is a serious about the arts as he claims he is, then I think having a Minister of Culture/Arts would be something extremely worthwhile. Our nation is facing a lot right now and Obama is certainly going to be working hard, yet it is hard to say how high of a priority his Arts platform will be. Having a Minister of Culture/Arts might be just the thing to get things rolling for the Arts and still be able to focus on more prominent issues. In fact, I think there is almost a need to have things happening simultaneously because the Arts have helped our nation in the past and if utilized properly they can help our nation again. For a little history lesson, look up the Federal Art Project, which supported artists during the Great Depression.

The main thing I want to get at here is that Quincy Jones' remarks have sparked an online petition to get a Minister of Culture/Arts into our government. I think signing it would be very worthwhile and I hope everyone in the Kaleidoscope family agrees and will do so.

Here's a few links for you:

The Petition: Please consider signing.

Obama's call to arts: For those interested in Obama's Arts platform, here is an article from The Christian Science Monitor.

Thanks to all in advance who sign the petition. I wouldn't have asked you all if I didn't think it was important. I promise to get blogging about more Kaleidoscope stuff soon, including:

  • Upcoming work on school tours
  • Some more fairy tale musical performances, and finally (dun dun DUN)
  • working on an audio script for Cinderella! That's right, David and Bobby liked my idea from my last post.
In the words of Garrison Keillor, "be well, do good work, and keep in touch."

Monday, January 05, 2009

Hansel & Gretel!

Come check out Hansel & Gretel this Sunday, January 11th at the Saugus Senior Center in Saugus, MA! The show starts at 2:00pm. To reserve tickets, please call the Center at 781-231-4178.

Plot summary: When Hansel & Gretel go for a walk in the woods, they discover every child's dream - a house made entirely of candy! But when the house's owner, a silly witch named Grumpella Finklestink, discovers them, delight could turn into disaster...

Saugus Senior Center
466 Central St.
781-231-4178

The venue is also running a coloring contest... the winner will be given front row seats! To download the coloring entry, click here.

(Photo: Nikki Speciale as Gretel and Steven DiNobile as Hansel.)






(Photo: Meredyth Waterman as Mama and Mike Daniels as Papa.)

What's your favorite fairytale?