Historical Winter Park

Winter Park Historical Association is a quaint museum in the heart of Winter Park’s historic Park Avenue near Rollins College. To celebrate ArtsFest, the museum hosted a series of classes for children called “That ‘70s Show” for children from 2 to 6 years old. Delta Dawn and Sunny invited you into their living room and back to a simpler time. Through interactive song, games and stories, they recreated the spirit of the seventies and gave kids a glimpse of Winter Park’s past. For more information call 407.647.2330 or visit www.wphistory.org. The museum is a small, brick building that showcased art, photography, and fashion from that era. When I walked inside I was greeted with a huge smile and a tour. Some of the photos on the wall included images of what the stores on Park Avenue used to look like. It truly felt like I was walking back in time for a moment. We visited all around the area to find the current buildings to match them up with the photos from the museum for our video.

written by Jessica Northey  |  jessicanorthey.com 

 Historical Winter Park Museum

Clouds in My Coffee – Music & Spoken Word

Clouds in My Coffee Theater at Dex Imaging Skyline Club at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium Clouds of Love included Orlando’s best spoken word and live music featuring Mozaic. Spoken word is a form of art with origins in both the Harlem renaissance and blues music (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoken_word). Spoken word can take on the form of a spoken poem or song and is typically comprised of a story with dramatic tones to keep the audience’s attention. It can be mixed with music. To listen to more music from the video, please visit Mozaic’s website (http://www.reverbnation.com/mozaicsoul and hear her song called “Rolling in the Deep” http://soundcloud.com/mozaicsoul). Watch the video for interviews and a sneak peek at part of the spoken word performance.


written by Jessica Northey  |  jessicanorthey.com 

Clouds in My Coffee – Music & Spoken Word

Orlando Youth Circus

The Orlando Youth Circus performed at the Downtown Library to help celebrate ArtsFest. The group learned their clown skills during summer Circus Camp. Created five years ago, the Orlando Youth Circus gives children in Central Florida the opportunity to experience the physical, emotional, and social benefits of circus arts through classes and camps.  The performance was captured on video here and shows children juggling, stilt walking, building human pyramids, and more. For more information about circus classes, click here to visit their website. Watch our video to see an interview with the Director and the performance.


written by Jessica Northey  |  jessicanorthey.com 

  Orlando Youth Circus 

Orlando Science Center and Human Library at The Urban ReThink

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            Orlando Science Center has a theater called “Dr. Philips CineDome” with a choice of a few educational movies. We arrived an hour before the movie started so we could visit all of the floors to capture video for our ArtsFest fans. It turned out to be a great idea because the movie lasted 45 minutes, which felt like a break from playing with all of the kids and neat toys. There was so much to see; even the gift shop was very cool.

            Corey decided to continue capturing video of the Science Center while I watched the movie. I chose to watch Animalopolis. They have stadium seating that is covered with a dome screen, with 28,000 watts of audio power, and 30 speakers. This is a family-oriented event where kids were laughing at all of the funny things animals do when they think we’re not watching. The visuals were incredible with a very cute story line with a musical twist, and rhyming narration. I can honestly say that I learned a few things about animals that I had never heard of before. Did you know that a cheetah could run up to speeds of 72 mph?

            Our next stop was at Urban ReThink, located downtown off of E. Central Blvd. Urban ReThink is a creative, collaborative, and transformative atmosphere. Their event for ArtsFest was unique for the United States. The concept originated in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000 and has now reached its way here through Urban ReThink’s event planner. It was called ‘The Human Library’ and you could check out a human book to hear a story based on the book title you choose. More details about the event can be found on their website at http://www.urbanrethink.com/node/587. Our video includes a brief interview with the event planner and a sneak peek at one of the human books in action. For a listing of future events happening at Urban ReThink visit: http://urbanrethink.com/calendar. If you’re interested in becoming a human book, they’re interested in hearing from you. For more information on how to sign up, visit: www.tinyurl.com/beahumanbook.

REMINDER: on the last page of the ArtsFest schedule of events is a passport that’s been provided for you to collect one or more stamps throughout ArtsFest. The more stamps you get the better your chance is to win valuable prizes and discounts to local arts and cultural organizations and businesses. Get your passport stamped at participating ArtsFest venues.

written by Jessica Northey | jessicanorthey.com 

 Orlando Science Center

The Human Library at Urban ReThink

BLU-TET performance at Enzian

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The BLU-TET

Digital Journey: Where Jazz Meets Hip-Hop
Live music at its rawest state. Stunning improvisation and trance-like beasts done by a live band; this event connects the participant with the art in the best way possible, through their ears.

Enzian is a great place for a date night in a cozy atmosphere where it feels like all of the guests outside at the bar are friends. They are known for their indie movies so being new to Orlando, I was delightfully surprised to see a jazz band playing outside while a movie was playing inside. Enzian is now playing two movies called ‘Shame’ and ‘Bach & Friends’ and if you want to learn more about the theater, visit Enzian’s website at http://www.enzian.org. The band playing was called The BLU-TET.

According to BLU-TET’s website, at www.ReverbNation.com/blutet “Jarritt Sheel's BLU-TRIO, and the BLU-TET, is a full fledge jazz quartet based on the Horace Silver groups and the Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers concept, which we feel is the paradigm of performing original and standard jazz literature, while also combining improvisation with Hip-Hop, Soul, Funk, and Blues music. To stand shoulder to shoulder with the titans of jazz music while also carving out our own individual niche.” I highly recommend Enzian and the BLU-TET; they’ll be playing there again on Wednesday the 29^th from 6 – 8pm.

Corey and I met with the band members inside for video interviews during the band’s break. Other ArtsFest staff was also there for the ArtsFest event with paper tags guest can fill out that will be hung at Urban ReThink in Thornton Park for display. The crew asked people to write on a tag about why The Arts Matter. You can share why The Arts Matter to you online at www.TheArtsMatter.com as well. I am reminded why art matters at every interview we do with artists, of every kind, who say they knew they wanted to have a career in the one special creative gift they discovered they had as a child. ArtsFest is about bringing families in Central Florida more awareness of the art that is all around them. We are very lucky to live in a city that has a strong cultural support system such at United Arts of Central Florida.

written by Jessica Northey  |  jessicanorthey.com

BLU-TET Band at Enzian

Orisirisi African Folklore and Mead Gardens

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Our second day at ArtsFest has been fun-filled. We wanted to attend a few events that were going on at the same time so we decided to split up. Corey chose to visit the Orisirisi African Folklore event; while I decided to spend the day with mother nature and catch the children having a blast racing their painted rubber ducks for prizes. Mead Gardens put on an event called ‘The Great Duck Derby.’ From the website (www.meadgarden.org): “Get in the race! Come to Mead Garden for another fun filled day at the races. See hundreds of little rubber ducks as they race through the pond while the crowd cheers the lucky ducks across the finish line to win cool prizes!” I would love to hear from the families who attended if you have pictures of your rubber duckies to share with us. We welcome comments about your day as well. I can’t wait until the next race, I’ll be sure to bring all of my nieces and nephews with me.

The first story is about the African drummers and then about the garden. I was able to transform their words to my ears from my eyes to my fingers to write about one of the best stories I’ve ever heard about music, just by listening to Corey retell his experience at Orisirisi and watching the video footage he captured.

Orisirisi African Folklore performed at Orlando Public Library on Saturday, February 18 for ArtsFest. According to their website (www.orisirisi.com), Orisirisi is one of the world’s most preeminent performing arts company, was created in 1986 with the expressed purpose of sharing both the beauty and poignancy of African life and culture.

Co-produced, directed, and performed by a husband and wife team comprised of Nigerian born folk-artist Adetutu Harrell and Don Harrell, a music scholar and performing artist, who is a life-long veteran of stage and screen. Orisirisi (a Yoruba word pronounced o-re-she-re-she) utilizes varied artistic forms to impart folk-knowledge and experiences to and for their audiences.

The duo shared their folktales, legends, and myths from the far corners of Africa with the audience. Their performance is a celebration of music, culture and the recreation of the African storytelling tradition; including drum and percussion instruments, audience participation, and fun learning for the entire family.

           

They presented the rich history by sharing with us that the stories are traditionally told during the evening by elders. The stories always had a way of explaining why things were the way that they were as well as teaching lessons about the difference between right and wrong, how to be a good friend, how to respect yourself and others, and especially to respect their elders. The stories included the playing of drums and singing and funny voices, which was very entertaining to watch. They wrapped up each story with a moral or cultural value.

            Orisirisi shared a few more stories with the audience on Saturday’s celebration of ArtsFest. I will leave it up to you to reach out to Orisirisi to hear more of their fantastic folklore. They enjoy teaching about their culture and were an educational and entertaining way to learn about the world around us and it’s rich history.

            Over at Mead Gardens, I was not able to film the race itself. I decided to stay and capture the beauty of the nature surrounding me while a few of the festivities were still happening. There were families all around who were having fun and enjoying the atmosphere of the Gardens. Not far from where the race took place, I found the amphitheater where symphonies play music and couples get married. 

written by Jessica Northey | jessicanorthey.com 

Orisirisi African Folklore

Mead Gardens

 

CityArts Factory & SAK Comedy Lab events

    CityArts Factory --> is our first stop on our adventure of celebrating United Arts of Central Florida’s ArtsFest throughout the month of February. This year the ArtsFest blog is presenting 10 videos from a variety of events by Corey Link and Jessica Northey. We are both Full Sail students who are volunteering our time to dig into what ArtsFest is all about. Corey is the editor and I am the Producer and blog Writer. We’re excited to find out more about the artists, staff, and businesses who make ArtsFest possible.

    Our first video has interviews with local artists and other activities not caught on film. I was able to hunt down the staff and gave my business card to register to win a gift pack including tickets for two to both SAK Comedy Lab and Jazz Brunch at the Grand Bohemian Hotel. You can also leave your information if you do not have a business card, anytime throughout ArtsFest of February 2012.

    In addition to the amazing artwork and smooth, drumming tunes of the evening, we signed up for the free headshots offered that night only.  We scored on free professional headshots and are expecting the photos by Wednesday of next week. We’re willing to choose one of each of them both to that we’ll share with you here on the blog, so be sure to subscribe to ArtsFestFl.blogspot.com to get your updates.

    Each artist was asked about where their creative inspiration originated from. We enjoyed hearing many stories about how the spark was discovered in their childhoods. It brings my attention to how important it is to encourage children to be around creative outlets where they can discover their own talents. Today the world is changing from creative being a choice to being in demand. Our country is still leading today because we allow people the freedom of expression. As long as we allow ourselves to connect with our creativity, we can continue to discover ourselves and continue innovation.

    Several artists were interviewed at the CityArts Factory. We spoke with a photographer, Kamran Malik, and Dlynn Roll, owner of Candlelite Gallery. Other works shown at the art gallery were by Urban Contemporary, David O’Keefe, and Curt Littlecott.

Duel of Fools Show

     Moving forward to the next event of the evening, conveniently located next door to CityArts Factory is the SAK Comedy Lab. A favorite routine of the actors is the SAK Duel of Fools show. Enjoy the video posted here showing clips of this high-energy improv comedy competition, featuring audience judges, the Pink Shoe of Salvation and the Scum Box with plenty of free Tootsie Rolls. After their free ArtsFest performance, we were able to interview Mike, one of the seasoned professional actors of the SAK Comedy Lab. 

   

    Be on the lookout for our next video adventure blog. In the meantime, enjoy the videos from the CityArts Factory gallery of immensely talented artists, including interviews with some of the local artists. The gallery has a variety of types of artistic styles. I had a great evening and highly recommend visiting during a future ArtsFest celebration. Be sure to hop over next door to SAK Comedy Lab to cap the evening with laughter and entertainment. The comedy performance involves the audience in a creative way to use puns and funny wordplay with the suggestions from a variety of ways.

    Now in its 10th year, ArtsFest is a free annual event showcasing local arts and culture available in Central Florida, continues this week and throughout the month of February. Presented by Bank of America, ArtsFest has something for every artistic taste and pocketbook. This year ArtsFest is offering more than 300 FREE events in over 80 venues across four counties. Flor more information and to view the full schedule of events, please visit ArtsFestFL.com. Stay connected by following on Twitter @ArtsFestUA and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArtsFestFL.
   

    Support your local arts and enjoy the family events with the children in your life. You could be making all the difference in a child’s life by exposing them to the wonders of artistic delights and endeavors.

written by Jessica Northey  |  jessicanorthey.com

CityArts Factory

SAK Comedy Lab