Involvement Advocacy

The universal language of drumming has many layers to it. The rhythm and beat to drumming is beautiful, exotic, and spiritual. For some cultures, drumming helps with the lines of communications within their group or other tribes. Some cultures see drumming as a way of healing. For most folks, hearing the rhythmic drumming symbolizes good times, and have individuals gather around to dance with another, laughing, smiling, and being carefree. Places like the legendary city New Orleans will have groups of drummers play in the streets all day and night. These type of events that Peter Benkendorf and the group The Collaboratory got the idea that will come to life this Saturday night at Courthouse Square in Dayton. The affair is titled Drum Dayton-Feel the Beat.

The Collaboratory is part of Benkendorf’s own group which he founded, Involvement Advocacy. Involvement Advocacy was born in 1992 in Chicago, and the mission was to provide citizens the opportunity and resources to address systemic challenges facing the community, by providing frameworks for new possibilities and collaborative action. According to Involvement Advocacy’s website, they are fostering imaginative, pioneering, civic engagement and community building initiatives that touch on issues ranging from public housing and urban renewal, to the arts and the environment, from youth development and cross-cultural connections, to technology advancement and community gardens. “We really want to get everyone back to coming out and really supporting this great city”, Benkendorf explained. “This city has a lot to offer and we want people to witness that themselves.”

Drum Dayton will be presenting drum lines, drum groups, individual drummers, and collaborations, followed by a community “drum circle”. The goal is to present the elegance of communicating through drumming, and present to attendees the rich history and splendor that drumming offers. “We wanted to have everyone come and see drumming that they haven’t witness before”, Benkendorf said. “We want people to maybe even get influenced to the point that they maybe would like to get involved in drumming.”

The tentative schedule for Drum Dayton is:

4:00 Chaske Hotain Native American Drummers

4:30 Joseph Glenn Steel Pan Duo

Baoku Moses

5:00 Michael Bashaw’s Bamboo Stick Orchestra

5:30 University of Dayton Drumline

6:00 Wright State University Percussion Ensemble

6:30 Baoku – Nigerian Hand Drummer

7:00 Dayton Phil. Orchestra Percussion Trio

7:30 West Side Drum Corps

Dakota 3DI
Dayton Young & Gifted
T.R.S.S. Drumline

8:30 DrumDayton Collaborative

9:00 Community Drum Circle

Don’t worry, food trucks will be at the event all night for those who develop a hunger of watching the show. The vendors who will be there are:

• McNasty’s

• El Meson Express

• Horseless Buggy Eatery

• Courtland’s Mobile Grill

• Sweet Eats

Drum Dayton will be providing the community a shot of fresh life that will once again give the people in town even more reason to say that they live in one of the best cities in the United States.

For more info, click on the event Facebook page here.

Gallery 510 Fine Art and Involvement Advocacy announced 510project, a new public art initiative to take place in the front window of Gallery 510 Fine Art, appropriately located at 510 East Fifth Street in the Oregon Arts District.

Performance. Installation. Art Making… A window looking in… A window looking out… Artists engaging Community… Community engaging Artists… Transformation.

Each month 510project invites an artist and the community to a different kind of conversation about:

• the relevance of art in the society;

• the role of the artist and the audience;

• what it means to be a creator, viewer, participant and collaborator – and what it means to BE Dayton.

The genesis for 510project was a conversation between community catalyst Peter Benkendorf and artist Loretta Puncer. According to Puncer, who owns Gallery 510, “I think we both felt that artists who live in Dayton have much to contribute to addressing the challenges we face in the community. They just need a viable venue to begin the conversation. We are excited to have identified our first three artists, all of whom we agree have something important to say about our collective future.”

Opening Installation

Rodney Veal - "Seen/Unseen"

November 27 – December 3, 2010, Seen/Unseen with artist Rodney Veal

Friday, December 3, 2010, live performances at 7:00 and 8:00 PM, followed by artist/community conversation

Seen/Unseen is a media driven performance art installation that allows the audience to observe and interact with the work from a multiplicity of angles. It challenges patrons to really “see,” taking their participation out of passivity into active participation and engagement. When we can only see through a portal that is no larger than a peephole, what do we become as artists and audience?

Using video/sound collage and performance, independent choreographer/media artist Rodney Veal, hopes to challenge the viewers to “see” the unseen power they posses to impact and change how the performance unfolds, and ultimately how they engage with others. Seen/Unseen, ruminations on life, death and race, will only exist in the ephemeral state in which all performances exist with only the documentation serving as the finished work of art.

Upcoming Artists

December/January: Issa Randall, Dayton

January/February: Leigh Waltz, Miamisburg

About the Collaborators

Founded in 2008, Gallery 510 Fine Art has developed into a showcase for contemporary art and fine crafts with a focus on local emerging and established artists. The gallery collection features paintings, drawings, linocuts, ceramics, fiber, wood, art glass and jewelry. We endeavor to attract and include those new to the contemporary art scene, as well as serve knowledgeable collectors. The gallery is located in the heart of the Historic Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio.

Involvement Advocacy, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, is committed to strengthening the Dayton region by acting as a catalyst for imaginative, entrepreneurial, community-driven solutions to pressing social, economic and civic challenges. These collaborative solutions will include citizen, government, business, institutional, organizational and philanthropic players. Involvement Advocacy’s principle program is Blue Sky Project, (www.blueskydayton.org), a juried, international summer artist residency committed to producing ambitious and meaningful works of contemporary art. It includes a strong youth development component and an emphasis on art making as community-building. The organization was also the originator of the 2009 Ten Living Cities Symposium, a response to the Forbes America’s Ten Fastest Dying Cites list.

Show Planning On Making Community ‘Feel The Beat Of The City’

New Public Art Project in Dayton: 510project