5/14/20
As we all navigate this new normal, we are finding comfort and inspiration through the hard work of our partners to operate within new constraints, make more with less, and to create moments for the community to enjoy. We wanted to take the opportunity to share some recent vignettes from our partners with you …
DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Like many cultural institutions, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) had to close its doors and suspend its community offerings. While this was a necessary decision, the innovation and creativity to engage community beyond the walls of Orchestra Hall has been impressive.
“Weekly Watch Parties” streamed through Facebook Live allowing visitors to interact with DSO musicians and one another in real time and free access to concert archives has been a vital opportunity for our community to experience the richness of the DSO while at home.
The DSO also launched the innovative #playonyourporch social media drive which connected musicians within the community in a united global conversation. By sharing music clips on their Instagram with fans around the world, including hundreds of clips to date, the engagement continues to expand and flourish.
DSO Principals Hannah Hammel (Flute) & Kevin Brown (Bass) play outside their houses to contribute to the global #playonyourporch initiative
Find out more about initiatives at DSO: https://www.dso.org/watch-listen-and-connect/keep-the-music-playing
DARKROOM DETROIT
In a time of isolation, it is even more important to imagine and see our community in color and in pictures. Founded by Applebaum Fellows alum, Eleanor Oakes, Darkroom Detroit is dedicated to increasing photography access, education, and visual literacy in Detroit.
Darkroom Detroit has responded to the current state of events with ingenuity and flexibility. With the inability to gather and learn in a public studio space, Darkroom Detroit transitioned and extended its reach by moving all content and public programming online and offering photography classes for all ages and levels of skill.
The transition enabled “anyone from anywhere” to participate with an optional donation to take part. The curriculum included family friendly workshops, classes on polaroid transfers, handmade photo books, and online talks with industry professionals. These efforts broadened their reach, redefined the standard classroom size and enabled access to a broader base of the community.
Guest Photographer, Gabriela Baginski shows students how to create an image without the use of a camera in a Lumen Printing Workshop
Find out more about upcoming workshops: http://www.darkroomdetroit.org/
Detroit Institute of Music Education – DIME
Making music “move” is an inspiring challenge and opportunity in a time of social distance. The Applebaum Fellows at DIME Detroit have created a unique expression of coming together to connect and support community.
An important milestone of the Applebaum Fellows Scholarship Program at DIME is to develop a community-based project that impacts the quality of life in Detroit. Their original community project, Music Moves, a curated student music performance, was intended to be an in-person performance to uplift clients at several Detroit social service organizations.
With the onset of Covid-19, the Fellows applied their entrepreneurial and leadership skills to reposition Music Moves to a virtual, weekly performance designed to raise awareness and financial support for those charitable organizations.
… they have been an inspirational team. In recent weeks, they had to shift their focus from a weekend in-person event, to a longer fundraising project in a virtual world. They have taken on this ‘real-world’ experience with energy and focus, and I look forward to seeing this project on social media and being shared around Michigan.
– Sarah Clayman – DIME Group Managing Director
Music Moves is now a social media campaign with a series of student recorded performances, created remotely using the “Acapella” app. Each “Song of the Week” features a performance of an iconic Detroit recording. The Applebaum Fellows hope to invite musicians from the area to join in the performance through digital collaboration.
Applebaum Fellows collaborate to create renditions of classic songs with the goal to uplift communities
Find out more about Music Moves:
https://www.facebook.com/MusicMovesDetroit/videos/700334247382289/
STEVE PANTON, ESSAY’D
Steve Panton, the curator of the Applebaum Art@theMax exhibition series at the DSO and co-founder of publication, Essay’d, has been hard at work collaborating with Detroit writers, artists, and social and spiritual practitioners to collectively produce a new online project, Six Feet of Distance.
This collaborative website provides a unique and creative space to showcase event listings, writings, visual essays, and online resources as well as inviting its visitors to contribute their works for inclusion.
Along with curated contributions, we invite contributions from the public in a spirit of co-creation in what we conceive to be an open-ended, emergent series of reflections bearing not only on art and writing but on care of the self and health in the broadest sense”. -sixfeetofdistance.org
In a time when artists and individuals are living in a divided world, six feet of distance unites and connects us in a common ground and a common goal.
A community collection: sixfeetofdistance.org homepage collages the community response
We are proud to share the stories of our partners and celebrate individuals and community. The creative actions of innovation and collaboration that we witness today will form the examples we look back on to guide us. Perhaps a common lesson in a time of social distance is that through these unique endeavors, we may just be finding new ways to indelibly bring us back together in the future.
