Dayton937

Things to do in Dayton | Restaurants, Theatre, Music and More

Cityfolk

Looking Back At The Best In Visual Art For 2013

By 1 Comment

It’s not too late to look back at the best in visual art for 2013. Here are some of my favorites

 

Longing: Sculpture and Photography, curated by Francis Schanberger, Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors (DSPS)
I wanted to somehow use the terms languid, languorous and louche to describe the photos in this show paired with coy, clever sculptural counterparts. And just lovely in the elegant setting of the recently gussied-up High Street Gallery.

 

Jud_Yalkut_240x162Jud Yalkut: Visions and Sur-Realities, curated by Jeanne Phillip, Gallery 249, Roesch Library 1st & 2nd floor Galleries, and Art Street Gallery, University of Dayton
Almost too much to take in. Heady.

 

Meme: Culture in Transition, curated by Dennie Eagleson and Susan Byrnes, Herndon Gallery, Antioch College
“Artists coming as close as one can to grasping such a speeding concept.”

 

Works on Paper 2012, juror Robert Robbins, Rosewood Arts Centre
Ongoing proof of the region’s artististic mastery of watercolor, drawing, printmaking and photography. Oceans of achingly good lines.
 522093_580296258656100_292028733_n
Construction of Space: Tess Little and Jennifer Rosengarten, self-curated, Dayton Visual Arts Center
Enveloped by swirling jewel and pastel-toned flowers, grasses, weeds and scribbles embedded in a forest of earth, stone, metal. Preternatural.

 

The Fixed Shadow: Camera–less Photography, juried by Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, The Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries at WSU
How do I love thee, let me count the ways: photograms, scanograms, lumen prints, chemigrams, and photogenic drawings. Mysterious and beautiful.

 

Storm: Paintings by April Gornik, curated by Jane Black, Dayton Art Institute
Spectacular. Too few of these roaring waterscapes by this underappreciated Cleveland-born nationally recognized painter.

 

p1100973-1
Jack Earl: Modern Master – A Retrospective, curated by Charlotte Gordon, Springfield Museum of Art
A keen sense of humor, magical tableaus, regional references, family values. In porcelain. Turned this painting snob into a ceramic stalker.

 

Your Turn: A collaborative exhibition by Bridgette Bogle and Francis Schanberger, self-curated, organized by Peter Benkendorf and Mark Chepp, The Collaboratory
Obvious and not-so-obvious quietly trippy photo and explosive painting pairings by this husband-wife team that made you so fascinated by their shared visual vocabulary that you poke your significant other and say [insert random snarky spousal barb here] as a reality check.

 

TODT: Heartland, presented by Gallery 249 and ArtStreet, University of Dayton
A retrospective of the Cincinnati-born, globally exhibited anonymous artist collective of works depicting a futuristic world controlled by science and government. Possibly on this list for the mere fact that it surprised the students that such bad-ass work was happening in the 90s.

 

Where is the Love I Playing for Change, Video, produced by CityFolk, Music by Puzzle of Light, various Dayton performers.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cABVKIPk_u0′]
Warm, dance-like-nobody’s-watching, beautifully shot.

 

Stanley Lewis: Works on Paper, self-curated, The Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries at WSU
A beautiful mess of the best kind of sure-handed mark-making. Like peering at the world through a “sketchbook” filter. Wonderous.

 

 reinvention-portraits

 

Streets of Dayton, Video, Reinvention Portraits, Steve Bognar, Julia Reichart and the Reinvention Team, Dayton Art Institute and www.reinventionstories.org.
A riveting looped video that merged three perspectives of travelling up and down the city streets. Literally unraveling and then raveling the city up again and again. Heartpulling. Spectacular.

 

Cityfolk Passes Legacy to Local Universities

By Leave a Comment

CF_logo.1After several months of exploring its options, the Cityfolk Board of Trustees this week voted unanimously to dissolve the organization and transfer its assets to the University of Dayton. The transfer, expected to take place this month, will be the final step as Cityfolk closes its doors permanently.

According to Cityfolk president, Matt Dunn, the University of Dayton Arts Series has been a long-time partner with Cityfolk’s World Rhythm Series and a variety of residencies. In addition, the University’s ArtStreet and Fitz Center were partners in Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community Program. As the sole recipient of Cityfolk funds held at The Dayton Foundation, the University of Dayton will build on the already existing partnership and be able to expand its programming to be more inclusive of jazz, a specific requirement of the funding.

Said Dunn, “The synergy between the Arts Series, ArtStreet, and the Fitz Center demonstrated to our board that the University of Dayton will be committed to opportunities that not only serve UD students, but the wider community as well.” Rather than being partners, Cityfolk will cease to exist as the University carries on Cityfolk’s legacy as a presenter. Several board members will serve on an advisory committee established by the University to oversee programming associated with the funding.

The partnership will help continue Cityfolk’s tradition of visiting artists who bridge performance and education, build relationships and create great music with students and musicians in the Miami Valley, said Paul Benson, dean of the University of Dayton’s College of Arts and Sciences.

“We welcome the chance to expand the university’s efforts to promote and present the arts to people throughout our community,” Benson said. “We are especially pleased to be able to continue the legacy of Cityfolk’s jazz programming, which occupies such an important place in America’s cultural heritage and in Dayton’s own artistic traditions.” For more on the University of Dayton’s vision for jazz programming, visithttp://bit.ly/1kmE7Fk.

The Cityfolk Board also decided to donate Cityfolk’s records and files – dating back to the origins of the organization – to the Special Collections and Archives of Wright State University where they will be cataloged and preserved.

“Cityfolk has a rich history and was an integral thread in the fabric of Dayton’s arts and cultural life,” Dunn said, “Preserving its history and making files available to be studied would inspire anyone interested wanting to know about traditional and folk music and its place in shaping our cultural heritage.” Among the files are recordings by artists presented by Cityfolk, stories from the Dayton Stories project, and files on every band and artist presented by Cityfolk.

The Cityfolk organization, which presented the Cityfolk Festival each summer, a concert season, folk dances, and educational programs announced in July it was suspending its operations for financial reasons. “Our decision was a difficult one, but the right one. Finding a successor to carry on our legacy was the appropriate thing to do,” said Dunn.

For more information about the University of Dayton Arts Series go to:http://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/artsseries/.

Cityfolk to Focus on Jazz – Cancels Season, Festival and other Programs

By Leave a Comment

Ruthie Foster at the 2010 Cityfolk Festival.©2010 Andy Snow

Ruthie Foster at the 2010 Cityfolk Festival.©2010 Andy Snow

After several years of financial challenges, including a rained out festival in 2012, a festival in 2013 that didn’t meet its attendance goals, along with declining ticket sales and sponsorships, Cityfolk has announced it will focus on jazz, while canceling its 2013-14 season and its plans for a 2014 festival. It will also discontinue its residency program, Culture Builds Community, and has withdrawn from its anticipated partnership with The Dayton Art Institute.  Ohio’s only full-time traditional arts presenter was founded in 1980, and was committed to presenting ethnic and traditional folk arts. Through the years Cityfolk presented Celtic music, jazz, blues, world music, American roots, and more. In 1996, the National Folk Festival chose Dayton as its location for a three-year run. After the third year, Cityfolk kept the tradition going. Early festivals were at Courthouse Square and surrounding streets. Recent festivals have been at Riverscape.

According to Matt Dunn, Cityfolk Board President, Cityfolk knew it had to change its business model. “Even prior to last year’s festival, we were realizing declining ticket sales, sponsorships, and government support,” said Dunn. “The rain that devastated last year’s festival put us in a deeper hole and sped up our process for making changes, including having a fundraising campaign, while also letting go of some staff.”

The change, according to Dunn, included the staff reductions, a post-festival campaign following the 2012 festival, seeking potential partners, and making the decision to charge admission for the 2013 festival. “Many festival-goers,” Dunn said, “didn’t realize we were a non-profit organization with a full-time staff and year-round programming. The festival costs money to produce and we couldn’t continue to offer it for free.” The other change involved a pending partnership with The Dayton Art Institute.  That change was to take place after the festival. According to Dunn, Cityfolk had planned to let its remaining staff go, and responsibilities for the programming and management of Cityfolk would have been contracted with The Dayton Art Institute, under a management agreement. Likely because of a combination of rain and the paid admission, the festival didn’t meet its attendance goals. “Money raised at the festival is used to support the organization’s year-round programming,” Dunn said. “And this year’s festival came up short.”

“It’s disappointing,” said Michael Roediger, Executive Director at The Dayton Art Institute, “We were looking forward to a relationship that would have been beneficial to both organizations.” Dunn and Roediger both acknowledge that a lot of work went into defining the partnership with the hope that new and creative opportunities would evolve to capitalize on, and integrate, the mission and strengths of both organizations.

In recent years, other arts organizations realized they needed to change in order to realize economies of scale. The most prominent and recent change was the merger between the Dayton Opera, Dayton Ballet, and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra to form the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. Before that, Carillon Park and the Montgomery County Historical Society merged to become Dayton History. While the partnership between Cityfolk and The Dayton Art Institute wasn’t a merger, each organization was hoping its structure would have impacted their bottom lines in a favorable way. However, citing the desire to enter into the partnership with cash on hand, and no debt, Dunn said “in the end, we just couldn’t make the numbers work.” He continued, “It would have been irresponsible to enter into a partnership knowing that we wouldn’t be able to meet our commitment or live up to our end of the agreement.” Taking it a step further, Dunn continued, “The only responsible thing to do is to discontinue programs that lost money.”

While the 2013-14 concert season was announced at the 2013 Festival, no tickets have been sold, according to Dunn. Shows, in partnership with the University of Dayton’s Arts Series, will continue. The other shows will be canceled. Knowing the power of the arts, and referring to Culture Builds Community and the Welcome Dayton initiative, in which Cityfolk was involved, Dunn said, “hopefully the community will continue to use the arts to affect social change and to bring people together using the arts as a bridge between cultures.”

“Cityfolk has 33 years of history under its belt,” said Dunn, “We have had great relationships with major institutions, including the City of Dayton, Five Rivers Metroparks, Dayton Public Schools, the University of Dayton, WYSO, The Dayton Art Institute, The Masonic Center, Gilly’s, Canal Street Tavern, and more. We’re grateful to the county, the city, the Ohio Arts Council, Culture Works, the National Endowment for the Arts, and our many volunteers, sponsors, foundations, members, and other supporters. We’re proud of the diverse artistic experiences we’ve brought to Dayton. That will be our legacy.”

While suspending normal operations will allow the organization to down-size, Dunn hopes Cityfolk will not go away completely.  An all-volunteer-led Cityfolk will use the coming weeks to assess its options to continue presenting jazz, for which it has an endowment to help cover the costs. The endowment, specifically for presenting and preserving jazz, was raised locally and matched by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Said Dunn, “Cityfolk is committed to keeping this money in the community and using it for the purpose for which it was intended.”

Cityfolk Presents Dervish + TICKET CONTEST

By Leave a Comment

DervishCityfolk is proud to present the Dervish, the internationally heralded Irish music ensemble, in concert on Friday, March 22 at Stivers School for the Arts. The concert start at 8:00 pm and is reserved seating. Tickets are $25 and be ordered at www.cityfolk.org or be calling the Cityfolk box office at 937-496-3863.

Dervish has won considerable acclaim for its rare skill in “bringing music from the session to the stage,” in the words of co-founding band member Brian McDonagh. Fronted by the charismatic singer Cathy Jordan, the Irish septet is perhaps the only traditional Irish music group in the world to have inspired “tribute bands,” which are found in many countries, but especially so in Russia and Israel.

Inspired by such legendary County Sligo musicians as Michael Coleman and James Morrison (who recorded in the U.S. in the 1920s), Dervish has “truly absorbed the techniques and, more importantly, the soul that has driven Irish traditional musicians through the years and come out of it with all the freshness, verve and timeless appeal associated with the great Irish bands of the 1970s and early 1980s…They carry Irish history with them” (Irish Voice).

The roots of Dervish stretch back to 1989, when five Irish musicians who played together at weekly pub sessions—including Liam Kelly (flute, whistles), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Michael Holmes (bouzouki, mandolin) and Brian McDonagh (mandola, guitar)—recorded an album of traditional music from County Sligo as the Boys from Sligo.

Initially, there were no plans beyond making the album, but that went so well the quintet decided to become a real band—a working band—known as Dervish. Two years later, the band assumed its present format with the addition of singer Cathy Jordan from County Roscommon and All-Ireland Fiddle Champion Shane McAleer. Amazingly, this hard-working band has had only one significant personnel change in the ensuing 22 years, fiddler Tom Morrow (from County Leitrim and another All-Ireland Fiddle Champion) joining the ranks in 1998.

Dervish made its recording debut in 1993 with Harmony Hill and has made a total of 11 albums, all released on the band’s own Whirling Disc label.

“Irish music is one of the oldest forms of music, yet it is influenced an awful lot by other things,” explains Cathy Jordan. “It evolves and evolves. Our sound is very recognizable because of the bouzouki and mandola. And though we have a modern style within the Irish context, you might not say it’s really modern, because it blends in so well. But in actual fact there are a lot of modern influences in there.

“We experiment without straying too far from the roots. We give people something familiar, yet it’s in the genre of traditional music. It’s all the instrumentation of Irish music. But it plays with people’s perceptions a bit.”

Cityfolk Photo Show: The People of the Mosaic City

By Leave a Comment

The One and the Many

The One and the Many

Here comes SPRING (as we all give a collective sigh of relief!) With spring will come new opportunities, fresh energy and artful vision. Cityfolk recommends that you use all of the above by sharing your photographic skills in a new community photo show!

That’s right! Cityfolk Photo Show: The People of the Mosaic City – is a call to local photographers of all ages to submit images for consideration on the theme of Mosaic City; that is: our Dayton as a place where diversity is celebrated!

Photos will be accepted in five categories: Black & White, Color, Youth (ages 15 -18), Student (ages 19 and up) and professional. The application fee is $25 for up to three images on the theme in any category. Applications for submission are available at Cityfolk.org!! Materials are due by March 25th!

Images must be submitted electronically for the jury process. Each category will honor three distinctive submissions, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Winners will receive complimentary tickets to three (3) Cityfolk concerts of their choice. Additionally, First place winners will receive a cash prize.

Once winners have been selected in each category, photographers will be asked to deliver chosen works, mounted and ready for installation. These pieces will be exhibited in the Oregon District and other urban locations, opening on Urban Nights, May 10th. They will be displayed through June, moving to an exhibit location at the Cityfolk Festival, June 28-30. All photos will be for sale throughout the exhibit. Pieces not sold should be picked up by 3:00pm on July 3rd.

Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community is in the midst of a full year photo project, including photo mosaic banners of children from last year’s Cityfolk Festival, mounted on buildings downtown this fall, a lobby show for the Free Spirits project at Sinclair and a downtown photo show, window clings, going into spring with the work of Glenna Jennings, UD Visual Arts. Now we open the creative process to the community at large.

Show us your perspective of this Mosaic City!

Cityfolk strives to bring our three major mission points together: education & outreach (CBC), our concert series and the summer festival, serving the community with pride, honoring each individual culture as well as what we are together! Cityfolk Photo Show promotes a way of seeing this community: how many unique pieces come together to make a beautiful whole!!

Mosaic City = Dayton = us

Ultimate Craft Beer Extravaganza and Cityfolk at the Dayton Convention Center + TICKET CONTEST

By Leave a Comment

642733710dc0ebfe07e73c55cd4b9930Cityfolk and B&G Events present the Ultimate Craft Beer Extravaganza at the Dayton Convention Center March 8th & 9th. Come experience one of the Premier ‘Consumer-Judged’ tasting events of the year! There will be Unlimited Samples of over 350 different Craft Beers representing over 100 different breweries. The Consumers will be rating the selections while enjoying great live Blues/Rock bands provided by Cityfolk and a food voucher is included in this event. Don’t miss this, it’s going to be an amazing Craft Beer experience supporting Cityfolk!

B&G Events main focus is to provide the most amazing and memorable experience to Craft Beer Lovers around the world along with supporting and promoting overall growth to the Craft Beer Industry.

Each of the sessions are 2.5 hours in duration. However, VIP ticket holders are permitted to enter the events one hour prior to the normal start time to maximize their opportunities in sampling as many selections available to them. All attendees are given a souvenir mini beer mug allowing them to enjoy an UNLIMITED AMOUNT of 1 ounce sample servings. To top it off – a voting system is in place and attendees are encouraged to take the opportunity to rate each of the selections that they sample. There’s no better way to get everyone involved in choosing Craft Beer’s True Winning Flavors! All event tickets include a food voucher to be redeemed at the on-site concessions provided by the specific Venue Catering Service. Discounted event tickets will be offered to those attending as a ‘Designated Driver’ along with an additional voucher amount given for complimentary non-alcoholic beverages in appreciation for their efforts.

For more information and tickets go to http://www.ultimatecraftbeerextravaganza.com

Dayton Most Metro Ticket Contest

Dayton Most Metro has TWO PAIRS OF VIP TICKETS to give away – simply fill out the form below AND leave a comment below saying that YOU want to win tickets to the Ultimate Craft Beer Extravaganza from Dayton Most Metro. PLUS DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES by going to our Facebook page and sharing our beer image. We’ll draw two random winners on Thursday 3/7 – GOOD LUCK!

Experience the Creative Culture Exchange at ArtStreet

By Leave a Comment

DCDC_china_540x400Come experience the Creative Culture Exchange series at the University of Dayton this spring. This series, comprised of three separate events, brings together both local and national artists in order to discuss and challenge the way we as an audience view local arts organizations and what they have to offer. Through the exploration of just what it takes to create art at a professional level and bring that to an audience, this series attempts to grow an appreciation for art among audiences both new and old.

Tuesday, Feb. 26: “Why create cross-cultural arts experiences?”

The first discussion (Tuesday February 26, 7 p.m. in ArtStreet Studio B) poses this question to the leaders of non-profit art groups Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Cityfolk. This hour long conversation will take a look at the trials and tribulations of opening a minority voiced arts non-profit in Dayton, taken from the perspective of two Dayton arts non-profits that share a focus on promoting culturally diverse art.

According to ArtStreet director Brian LaDuca, the importance of this conversation is to raise awareness of “…the challenges that organizations like DCDC and Cityfolk go through on a daily basis in order to create and produce high quality culture for Dayton and create artistic homes for national artists. That beyond music and dance these companies work overtime to assure that Dayton continues to have a thriving, minority voice in creating cross-cultural arts experiences.”

Both the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and Cityfolk have been focused on bringing diverse art performances to the Dayton community and beyond for over thirty years. The Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, founded in 1968, is a modern dance company centered on the African-American tradition, with a mission to bring culturally diverse contemporary dance to its audience. Cityfolk, another Dayton organization, was founded in 1981 and has been working since to preserve the traditional arts of various ethnicities through the celebration of cross-culture performances.

Joining the conversation will be Dayton Contemporary Dance Company’s executive director RoNita Hawes Saunders and director of development Ed Valles and Cityfolk’s executive director Kathleen Alter and education and outreach manager Jean Howat Berry.

Tuesday, March 12: “Why don’t you go to the theater?”

The second discussion (Tuesday March 12, 7 p.m. in ArtStreet Studio C) will focus on an examination of the social and cultural shifts affecting this generation of theater audiences, and what that means for contemporary theater.  The conversation will take place between artists from various theater companies across the country whose focus is on producing new and challenging works for the 21st century.

This event will be hosted by ArtStreet director Brian LaDuca. Joining the conversation in person will be David Brush, the former executive director of Encore Theater Company, and joining via Skype will be Joe Barros, artistic director of the New York Theatre Barn, and Kevin Mayes, founder and current board member of the Bailiwick Chicago Theater Company.

Tuesday, April 2: “Where is the poetry?”

The third discussion (Tuesday April 2, 7 p.m. in ArtStreet Studio C  and in conjunction with the University of Dayton’s LitFest) will focus on exposing Dayton’s creative writing and poetry scene, and figuring out where Dayton fits into the fold of contemporary poetry.

Joining the conversation will be Albino Carrillo (professor, Department of English), Jonterri Gadson (Herbert W. Martin Creative Writing Fellow), Herbert Martin (professor emeritus) and poets from Sinclair Community College.

 

For more information about ArtStreet at the University of Dayton, visit www.udayton.edu/artstreet.

Submitted by Lauren Glass – a senior at the University of Dayton where she is studying journalism and currently working as a social media assistant for ArtStreet.

Free Spirits: From the Mountain Top to the Jazz Hall + TICKET CONTEST

By 3 Comments

Edison Eagles 2013

Edison Eagles 2013

Every year, I become reinvigorated by the scope of Dr. Martin Luther King’s work. The profound nature of his spoken word and the intensity of his action bring clarity to what we as Americans can do to promote justice and engage peace. Dayton does a wonderful job with the holiday celebration! This year, Cityfolk is proud to be among the community organizations celebrating Black History Month and Dr. King’s legacy.

In partnership with Sinclair Community College’s Theatre and Dance Department, Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community program is proud to present FREE SPIRITS: From the Mountain Top to the Jazz Hall, February 15 & 16 at Blair Theatre, Building 2, 8pm.

The performance runs just over an hour and is great for a family audience! Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students! Tickets are available at the door , through the Cityfolk website or by calling the Cityfolk box office at 496-3863

Cityfolk has always been known for jazz programs, especially those that educate audiences. We’ve merged our jazz initiative with CBC this winter, giving focus to one of the great jazz pianists and composers of her time, Mary Lou Williams. Duke Ellington described her work as “soul on soul.” Her distinctive style swings with both lush and spare instrumentation: a testament to the composer’s skill. The Free Spirits project is proud to feature young musicians from the jazz bands at Centerville high school and Stivers School for the Arts. This ensemble of 10 will provide live music for the program: a series of dances that bring beautiful expression to Dr. King’s deeply felt wisdom.

The project involves young dancers from Edison School, Omega Baptist Church, South Dayton Dance Theatre and Sinclair’s dance department. Also from Omega Baptist: an intergenerational group of singers are giving shape to some well-loved Gospel tunes that mark history as well. All of these aspects together bring a depth to this black history celebration.

Cyrah_WardsPoster (1)Guest artists LaFrae Sci from Jazz at Lincoln Center and Jakari Sherman from Step Afrika are in town this final week, working with performers to sharpen skills and affirm the four-week residency commitment by 75 or so young artists. Kent Brooks, director of the Gospel choir at Wittenberg University, has prepared the singers for the project. He will also play the piano for selected dances during the performance. Erica Harvey of Stivers School for the Arts and David O’Connell of Centerville High School have led an outstanding group of teen musicians in preparation for Ms. Sci’s arrival. Jordan Daughtery of DCDC 2 has set Mr. Sherman’s choreography with the Edison students.

DeShona Pepper Robertson, Dance Magnet Director at Stivers, has choreographed a beautiful piece of liturgical dance with some of Mary Lou Williams’ sacred music, secured for us by LaFrae Sci. Interestingly, it is the priest and friend of Mary Lou Williams who holds the rights to her sacred music. Ms. Williams went through a spiritual crisis in the middle of her career, converting to Catholicism and bonding with the priest who later became her dear friend and spiritual guide. Choreographers also featured are Erin Robbins of South Dayton Dance Theatre and Denise Miller from Sinclair. Ceora and Cyrah Ward, student dancers from Stivers, are assisting Miss DeShona.

Rodney Veal, Artistic Director for the project, is thrilled with all the collaborative aspects of this project. “I am amazed at how the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the music of Mary Lou Williams intersect and weave a compelling narrative for our times,” Veal says. “The young performers in the concert have embraced the theme of the show, celebrating tolerance and the beauty of community coming together. I’m hoping that people will gain an appreciation for the musical genius of Mary Lou Williams. This performance will showcase some amazing interpretations of her music.”

The One and the Many

The One and the Many

Teaching tolerance and modeling peace through creativity, this robust group of artists are honoring the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, hoping that all who witness the performance will resonate with the themes! Photographer, Glenna Jennings will show a number of photographs in the Blair Theatre lobby on the theme of Free Spirits. The piece included here (left) – The One and the Many – is a gorgeous example of Ms Jenning’s work with archival images from NCR, bringing Dayton history to new life!

Sponsors for this event include City of Dayton’s Human Relations Council, MetLife, DP & L Foundation, Dayton Foundation and Sinclair Community College.

Dayton Most Metro Ticket Contest

We have TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away for this concert!  Simply fill out the form below and leave a comment saying that YOU want to win tickets from Dayton Most Metro to see FREE SPIRITS, and we’ll pick two random winners on Sunday 2/10 – GOOD LUCK!

CONTEST CLOSED

Congratulations to our winners!

Janie Hummel
Paul Fleitz

Cityfolk Celebrates Valentine’s Day with Grace + TICKET CONTEST

By 4 Comments

Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly

Obligatory pun aside, at Gilly’s (132 S. Jefferson St.) on Thursday, February 14 at 8pm, Cityfolk presents the current wunderkind of the jazz world, saxophonist/vocalist Grace Kelly.

Kelly, who turns 21 this spring, has swept jazz by storm over the last decade, winning countless honors and quickly racking up recordings. Her eighth album, Grace Kelly Live at Scullers, was released less than a month ago, and the starry list of notables she’s recorded and performed with includes Wynton Marsalis, Lee Konitz, Dave Brubeck, Harry Connick, Jr., Esperanza Spalding, David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco, Ann Hampton Callaway, Rufus Reid, Cedar Walton, Marian McPartland, Dianne Reeves, Kenny Barron, and Huey Lewis, among others. In 2011, she co-headlined her sixth release, The Man With the Hat, with saxophone legend Phil Woods, backed by an all-star band.

Kelly (born Grace Chung before her mother married stepfather/manager Bob Kelly when Grace was two years old) began piano lessons at age six, influenced by a strong classical background in her mother’s family (her aunt is a classical violinist, her grandmother a classical pianist). She fell in love with classic Stan Getz, John Coltrane, and Wayne Shorter recordings her parents played during Sunday brunch, and by age nine she’d picked up the alto sax. She gave her first concert just six weeks later, and by age 12, she’d released Dreaming, her first CD.

The accolades poured in, and concerts at prestigious venues and festivals around the world. She bypassed much of high school, obtaining her GED at 16 and receiving a full scholarship to Boston’s Berklee College of Music. She graduated last year at 19, and now teaches residency workshops there.

Kelly still plays piano as well, and her knowledge has grown to include bass, drums, clarinet, flute, and tenor and soprano saxophones. She composes and arranges much of her own music, and of course sings regularly.

Her joyful vocals get prominent stage time on Live at Scullers, a much more eclectic outing than previous efforts. Blending jazz with elements of genres like country, pop, rock fusion, and funk, she hints at a future that could stretch out in any direction. On the opener, “Please Don’t Box Me In,” she sings, “Don’t tell me who I am/Let me tread the waters/Let me scope the Land/’Cause I’m young/I’m free/I have dreams to fill/If I don’t act now/Then I know I never will.”

David Was of NPR’s Day to Day said four years ago, “What if I told you that the future of jazz, which many have pronounced dead or dying in the last two decades, rested in the hands of a 16-year-old Korean American saxophonist named Grace Kelly? … I’ve heard the future of jazz and it is Grace Kelly.”

To purchase tickets, call the Cityfolk Box Office at 937-496-3863 or visit us at 126 N. Main St. Ste. 220 from 10 am – 4 pm. * Some ticket fees will apply.

Senior, student, explorer and group sales discounts are available for most shows.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHYISe-0_0′]

(update: an earlier version of this article said Wednesday Feb. 14th but the concert is actually Thursday Feb 14th)

Dayton Most Metro Ticket Contest

We have TWO PAIRS OF TICKETS to give away to see Grace Kelly at Gilly’s on Valentine’s Day (Feb. 14th)!  Simply fill out the form below and then leave a comment saying that you would “love” Dayton Most Metro and Cityfolk to send you and your significant other to see Grace Kelly on Valentine’s Day.  We’ll announce winners on Friday 2/8 – GOOD LUCK!

CONTEST CLOSED

Congratulations to our ticket winners:

Mike Squire

Betty Crawford

Day of the Dead Celebration, Mural Unveiling, Holiday Gift Buying at November First Friday

By Leave a Comment

Pick up holiday items such as these festive ornaments at DVAC’s Art to Buy gift gallery, opening this First Friday.

Downtown’s next free First Friday art hop will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 2.

Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community program will host a Day of the Dead Community Ofrenda Celebration beginning at 6 p.m. with a parade in the Oregon District. The parade will begin on Wyandot Avenue, near Hauer Music, and will continue down East Fifth Street. The community is invited to participate in the parade, led by artist and musician Michael Bashaw and students from Chaminade-Julienne High School and Stivers School for the Arts. The parade will end around 6:30 p.m. at Missing Peace Art Space, 234 S. Dutoit St., just off East Fifth Street near Stivers School for the Arts. A reception will run until 10 p.m. at the art gallery with food provided by Taqueria Mixteca. The reception will feature an exhibit of community art created for the occasion.

Fair trade retail store Peace on Fifth will host its grand opening in its new location at 510 E. Fifth St., where it will share space with art studio and shop Gallery 510 Fine Art. Peace on Fifth will take over part of Gallery 510’s art gallery space at the front of the store, and the businesses will continue to operate as two separate stores coexisting in the same space. For First Friday, Peace on Fifth will host a fair trade food tasting in the store.

Peace on Fifth, a sucessful Pop Up Shop from the first round of Activated Spaces’ program, will move into a new space in Gallery 510 Fine Art and will host a grand opening during November First Friday.

With the holidays just around the corner, visit downtown retail stores and art galleries to pick up a one-of-a-kind gift.  The Dayton Visual Arts Center and CADC both will host openings of their holiday gift galleries, featuring unique gift items made by local artisans, and K12 Gallery for Young People/TEJAS will host a handmade arts and crafts event. Several other art galleries will host show openings, and retail stores will feature items for the holiday season.

A new series of murals along East Third Street will be unveiled, with a meet-and-greet reception with the artists held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the nearby studio of Hamilton Dixon, 811 E. Third St. This album of photos shows the mural project in progress. Look for the murals on East Third between Keowee and Webster streets.

A complete list of what downtown businesses have on tap for First Friday is available on the DDP website.

First Friday is presented by the Downtown Dayton Partnership with support from the Oregon District Business Association, the Ohio Arts Council and WYSO-FM 91.3. The Downtown Dayton Partnership’s website has a complete list of downtown’s arts and cultural amenities, as well as a dining guide, parking map and much more. Download the Find It Downtown mobile search tool for smartphones at http://mobile.downtowndayton.org.

Volunteers for Dayton!: Opportunities Oct. 2-9

By Leave a Comment

Your weekly round-up of ways to get involved in Dayton’s urban neighborhoods.

Give Back in the Halloween Spirit!

Volunteering for Hauntfest helps raise funds for the Oregon District!

  • The Oregon District Business Association needs volunteers to sell tickets and serve beer at its annual Hauntfest on Fifth, October 27, 7pm-1am. It’s a great way to meet people and see all the crazy costumes! E-mail Mike Martin to volunteer and ‘like’ their page to stay in the loop. There will be a special beer booth to fundraise for Garden Station – e-mail Lisa Helm to help there. And if you can’t help out, be sure to attend – $5 tickets will be available this First Friday in front of the old Boulevard Haus.
  • Dayton’s costumed Party of Parties, Masquerage, will be held at the Fairgrounds again this year and needs volunteers for everything from selling drinks to taking pictures to simply showing off your “hot body.” Masks required! Sign up at their VolunteerSpot page for this Oct. 20th event. Since 2002, over 10,000 Masquerage volunteer hours have helped raise $1 Million for the Aids Resource Center.
  • I normally don’t feature for-profit organizations here, but I think it’s cool that we have a haunted house downtown. So if you’re favorite pastime is scaring people, sign up to volunteer at the Wayne Avenue Haunted Butcher House on the eastern edge of the Oregon District.

    Step up to help Dayton celebrate Dia de los Muertos. Photo: www.tomascastelazo.com

  • Historic Huffman neighborhood volunteers will be dressing up their beautiful Victorian residences for a Halloween-themed Spirit of Huffman home tour, Oct. 13-14. Your admission will fund neighborhood activities and improvements throughout the year!
  • Not exactly Halloween, but similar – Dayton’s Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) organizers need volunteers for their Community Offrenda, First Friday, Nov. 2, 6-10pm. The Offrenda is organized by Cityfolk’s Culture Builds Community program and Missing Peace Art Space in partnership with an array of Hispanic, school, and neighborhood groups as well as local artists. It will feature workshops, a parade, party, and exhibition. Please contact Missing Peace via e-mail or at (937) 241- 4353 if you’d like to volunteer. And if you would like awesome events like this to continue, please give to Cityfolk’s Post-Festival Campaign at their website.

 

Other opportunities:

  • Can you spare a few bucks to build a bocce court?

    Celebrate the Freedom to Read: The East Branch library in Dayton’s Walnut Hills neighborhood needs volunteers to read aloud for 30 minute or 1hr time slots during Banned Books Week (Oct 1-6). They have a collection of ‘challenged’ books to read from so all volunteers need bring with them is their voice and their enthusiasm for the freedom to read. They are hoping to have readers during all open library hours (MTTH 9:30-8:30; WSa 9:30-6). Contact Samantha or call the branch at 496-8930.

  • Deadline extended for St. Anne’s park fundraiser! St. Anne’s Hill residents hope to raise $1000 to match their City mini-grant for Terry park improvements, including an ornamental gate, bocce courts, and landscaping. Regardless of where you live, can you give $10? If we all give a little to neighborhoods outside our own, we’ll have some great parks! (Plus, you’ll feel entitled when you go there to play bocce.)

    Would this be helpful in Dayton? Image: timebanks.org

Discussions in our group

  • One topic of discussion I raised in our Facebook group is whether there is interest in starting a Time Bank for Dayton. This involves a network of people earning Time Dollars for every hour spent helping others in the network, which they can spend having someone else help them with a project. The exchanges are tracked using simple online software. It’s an incentive for volunteerism, can be helpful for anyone short on cash, and helps build community connections. Share your thoughts here.
  • Another topic that’s been debated in multiple spots this week is what to do with the recently-acquired Hughes Supply property that the City of Dayton recently acquired for development. Obviously it’s a sweet location, being right on the eastern end of the Oregon District at Fifth and Wayne. There are lots of good ideas out there, but the overwhelming majority of commenters on Dayton Most Metro, updayton, and our group hope it becomes a grocery store (BTW – If anyone’s interested in a downtown food co-op, I’ve got a group for that too). What do you think?

Don’t forget to e-mail me your items and report back your successes! And send pictures of your costumed volunteering!

 

Cityfolk Festival: Where You Make The Music Happen

By Leave a Comment

When Ohio’s #1 Multi-Cultural festival sets up shop June 29-July 1, at RiverScape MetroPark 700+ volunteers will be helping make it go and your donation at the entrance and onsite will be a key piece. While festivals continue to materialize throughout the summer months, this one, begun as the three year run of National Folk Festival in 1996, remains unique and completely dependent on community participation. The festival will take place between 6 and 11 pm on Friday, and 1-11 pm on Saturday and Sunday. The City of Dayton fireworks, the region’s largest, will cap the event on Sunday night at 10 p.m.

The festival will feature music from across America and around the world on this year’s Main Stage, located in the MetroParks Pavilion. Among the Main Stage artists featured will be bluegrass star Rhonda Vincent, the newly formed Royal Southern Brotherhood featuring Devon Allman, Cyril Neville and Mike Zito and a Sunday showcase for Dayton’s own Shoefly. A spacious dance floor situated at 1st and Patterson Streets will feature wild bhangra funk from Red Baraat, African and Caribbean sounds from Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca and Louisiana’s queens of Cajun and country, Bonsoir Catin.

Culture Builds Community (CBC) has become a centerpiece of Cityfolk’s year round effort and the CBC Family Funway, located at the intersection of St. Clair and Monument streets, will be brimming with activities that reflect the spirit of this initiative. Photo portraits of kids, ready to be framed with K12 Gallery artists, passport stations for each of five Latino countries and an interactive story stage with Zoo Beezoo Beezoo Story Works. The whole family can enjoy the group mosaic project with K12 Gallery, African, Bhangra and Bollywood dance classes and performances by Stiver’s Dancers and the The People’s Music.

Latino Ohio will showcase a vast range of artists, highlighting Mexican mural traditions, music and paper cut art, Puerto Rican mask making, Latino food traditions and much more. Latino Ohio is curated by Juan Dies, leader of the Grammy-nominated Mexican band Sones de Mexico, who will be performing throughout the festival site over the course of the weekend. The exhibit will include a workshop stage that offers a chance for festival attendees to learn about the artists, the traditions they represent and their methods. Latino Ohio hours will be 1-7 pm on Saturday and 1-6 pm on Sunday

Room With A View tickets are available for festivalgoers who are looking for prime seating near the Main Stage, easy access to beverages, a parking pass and other amenities.

An international beer garden will be located on Dragon’s plaza and delicious food will be on sale throughout the festival site.

To register as a volunteer, see a complete schedule and full listing of performing and Latino Ohio artists, directions, a map and other information visit cityfolk.org.

Photo Credit: Andy Snow

 

Cityfolk Announces Dates for 2012 Festival

By Leave a Comment

Bua performs on the main stage at the 2011 Cityfolk Festival

Mark your calendars for June 29 – July 1st when you’ll be able to spend a weekend at Riverscape MetroPark taking in some of the best live music from around the world at the 2012 Cityfolk Festival.  Details on performers, vendors and volunteers opportunities will be posted in the coming months on Cityfolk’s blog.  In the meantime, you can support Cityfolk and hear some great music by checking out any of the remaining shows in this year’s season:

Saturday, February 11: Dailey & Vincent with special guests Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Saturday, February 25: Genticorum

Tuesday, April 24: De Temps Antan

Wednesday, April 25: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

Meet Jean Howat Berry – Building Culture Through Community at Cityfolk

By Leave a Comment

Pandora, one of artists in residence during the 2011 Culture Builds Community program, works with students (Photo by Rodney Veal)

Jean Howat Berry is the new education and outreach manager at Cityfolk.

Cityfolk is the Dayton-based “only full-time, professional presenter of traditional and ethnic performing arts” in Ohio, according to the Cityfolk website.

Berry’s main responsibility is overseeing the Culture Builds Community program, which is in its sixth year.

“The main thrust of the job is this huge project that happens in the spring,” said Berry.

The CBC project, which culminates in April, focuses on engaging participating elementary students in research and practice of specific cultural activities. The project incorporates local ethnic centers and national and local artists of music and dance.

This year’s Culture Builds Community project is called Sole Rhythms and five neighborhood schools are participating. The schools are Ruskin, Edison, Cleveland, Kiser and Fairview elementary schools.

Each school has its own team that focuses on an assigned specific cultural tradition.

Berry said this year’s theme is percussion music and dance. The traditions of focus include Turkish dance, Mexican folk dance, traditional American spirituals and the roots of jazz, the African American fraternity step dance tradition and old time clogging of Appalachia mixed with Irish step dance.

“The whole idea, and what City Folk strives to do with this, is build community,” she said. “There’s so many different facets to Dayton, because we are so immigrant friendly and because we have tremendous gifted artists that work here, we’re able to pull all those folks together to build a team that can go out and connect with those many communities. Because we’re all really one big community.”

Within the context of the schools, CBC helps kids learn new skills, new information about culture and practice physical activity, since this year’s project is a danced based program.

“Kids have the opportunity to use all facets of themselves within the project,” Berry said.

She said from the kids perspective, the project is completely voluntary. CBC provides a few teasers informing the students about their school’s cultural focus. They will then take 15 students 5th through 8th grade and another 10 participants at 16 and older.

Big Mijo teaches students the basics of krump dancing during the 2011 Culture Builds Community program (Photo by Rodney Veal)

According to Berry, last year’s project only encompassed three schools and took ten students from each. So this year’s project is taking on two-to-three times as many participants.

She wants participants to be educated in their specific cultures, but more so she wants them to learn the importance of commitment.

“We want it to be at will, we want a particular age group, but we mostly want commitment, and that’s something this project really seeks to develop in the young people,” Berry said.

Berry said her previous job working at East End Community Services, which sponsors Ruskin Elementary afterschool programming, prepared her well for her new position. Her theatre background will also be helpful in her new role. She said she’s played the role of the artist educating kids in the classroom, just as the artists she’s assigning to the five groups will do.

Berry said CBC has a fairly broad funding base for this project that includes Sinclair Community College, Dayton Power and Light, Target and Arts Midwest.

“It’s a really exciting program,” Berry said. “I just think that it has the capacity by what it’s goals are to continue to grow and to be a real force for bringing folks together in Dayton and that’s what we really want to reach out and do.”

For more information visit Culture Builds Community online at http://www.cityfolk.org/cbc.htm.

Cityfolk brings Christmas in Cape Breton to Dayton

By Leave a Comment

Natalie MacMaster (photo by Richard Beland)

(from Jon Hartley Fox via Cityfolk)

Christmas is the best time of the year for renowned Canadian fiddler and step-dancer Natalie MacMaster. As a girl growing up on Cape Breton Island, MacMaster was part of a large extended family and tight-knit community, and the holiday season was the high point of her year. Now that she’s a mother with a family of her own—and living several hundred miles from Cape Breton in Ontario — family traditions are even more important to her. With her husband, fiddler Donnell Leahy, they are creating their own new traditions for their growing family.

On December 4th at the Dayton Masonic Center, Natalie MacMaster offers Christmas in Cape Breton, a holiday celebration that joyfully recreates the Christmas customs of her family home. “We have a lot packed into the show.” says MacMaster, “We offer a bit of a contemporary edge to some of our tunes, and other tunes are very beautiful and deep and more thought provoking. But for the most part it’s light, happy, joyful music. There’s lots of dancing, lots of Christmas music, there’s a local choir guesting, a couple of real tender moments where my mother speaks to the audience. There are some Christmas carols, of course, and Christmas melodies played on the fiddle, and some traditions I share with the audience of Cape Breton during Christmas time.”  The local guest choir is the Kettering Children’s Choir.

The northern-most island of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island is home to almost 150,000 people. In the first half of the 19th century, approximately 50,000 Highland Scots arrived there, evicted from their land at home by the forced displacement now known as the Highland Clearances. These Scots became the dominant cultural group on the island and have had the biggest influence upon the evolution of the music, dance and traditional culture of Nova Scotiain general and Cape Breton Islandin particular.

Natalie MacMaster with husband Donnell Leahy (photo by Richard Beland)

Born in 1972, Natalie MacMaster was part of a musical family in a very musical environment; Natalie’s uncle, Buddy MacMaster, was one of the premier fiddlers in the area and the biggest influence on her fiddling. Natalie began playing fiddle at a young age, giving her first public performance at age nine. She recorded her first album when she was 16, about the same time she began step dancing.

“That happened very naturally,” she says of her recording debut. “I just played, and people started asking me to play at concerts, so I did, and one thing led to another. I remember hearing another 16-year-old on the radio who made a recording. I thought, ‘If he can do it, I can do it too.’ I did the whole thing [recording and mixing] in a day. That’s kind of unheard of in this day and age. It was just a lovely little project back then, and I don’t think there’s been any record that’s meant that much to me.”

The traditional music that MacMaster began playing at a young age is community music (as opposed to “at-home” music) that’s primarily played on the fiddle and piano. “Its rhythms come from the dancing,” says MacMaster. “It’s dance music. The traditional Cape Breton style of dance has been partnered with the fiddle music forever. A sign of a good fiddler is one who can accompany the dance and keep the beat. That’s why the very deep groove of the music stays.

“The Cape Breton style is almost like a genealogy, the music of our ancestors. I play and dance to music that carries on a bloodline, and that’s very powerful.” The music is highly rhythmic and highly infectious. “It’s such a pure, honest music,” she asserts. “It doesn’t come from wealth and popularity. It comes from tradition and family. Therefore it has longevity. I don’t think it will ever stop being appealing to people of all walks of life.”

Even so, MacMaster prepared for a career as a teacher rather than as a musician. “It never dawned on me growing up that I’d be doing this as a career,” she says. “All the fiddlers I knew had day jobs.”

MacMaster’s most recent album, is Cape Breton Girl, her first studio recording in five years. It represents a return to MacMaster’s traditional roots and is true to that high-spirited dance music. “While my other albums have included traditional music they have also been more exploratory, more arranged,” she explains.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8fN8YDj1iY’]

Natalie MacMaster is internationally regarded as the foremost standard bearer for the traditional Cape Breton fiddling style. She has collaborated with a dizzying array of musicians that includes Alison Krauss, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Bela Fleck, Faith Hill, the Chieftains, Luciano Pavarotti, and Mark O’Connor. The Boston Herald says that “To call Natalie MacMaster the most dynamic performer in Celtic music today is high praise, but it still doesn’t get at just how remarkable a concert artist this fiddler has become.”

MacMaster has won numerous musical honors in Canada and the U.S., including Juno and East Coast Music awards, and has earned Grammy nominations for several of her albums. She won her first Grammy last year, for her contributions to superstar cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s holiday album, Songs of Joy and Peace. In 2006, MacMaster was made a member of the Order of Canada, a lifetime achievement award (and Canada’s highest civilian honor). She is one of the youngest recipients of that honor.

Natalie MacMaster loves touring and she loves performing. She loves being at home with her husband and children for Christmas even more. She says that these Christmas in Cape Breton performances help get her in the Christmas spirit and ready to celebrate with her family back home. “We’ve done holiday songs and holiday shows, but this was our first more serious attempt at a Christmas show,” says MacMaster. “I think this is the best time of year. I will be baking and loving up my family. I am a Christmas girl.”

Natalie MacMaster:  Christmas in Cape Breton

Sunday, December 4, 2011 – 7 pm

Dayton Masonic Center

Reserved single seats: $35, $28, $20

Click Here for Tickets

­­

­­

Spotlight on Huun-Huur-Tu

By Leave a Comment

Photo by Vladislav Efimov

Back in February, lousy weather caused us to cancel the much-anticipated return of the amazing Tuvan throat singers of Huun Huur Tu. Happily, we were able to reschedule at a time when the weather is much less likely to be an issue: Tuesday, October 4. They will be in the intimate Boll Theatre on the University of Dayton campus.

Tuvan throat singing is truly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard. The range of sounds they’re able to make with their voices is mind-boggling. The last time they were in Dayton, they told the Standing Room Only crowd that the music originated from Tuvan reindeer herders who used it to give each other directions. They sang the landscape to each other! Fascinating. But enough superlatives from me. Here are some YouTube videos that will show you what I mean better than my words can.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxK4pQgVvfg&feature=player_embedded’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuqiOMdoP2c&feature=player_embedded’]