Creative Activities and VSAAW Staff and Volunteers have been busy! Three wonderful events took place over the last several months; here’s the scoop on how they went!
ArtSpring!09
On May 5th and 6th, 2009, the Seattle Center House and Fisher Pavilion were alive with inclusive art and arts performances! Over 500 students and teachers created and experienced accessible art at Art Stations and Workshops during the school day; and over 1000 members of the general public joined us for MainStage shows over the 2-day festival. This year’s workshops included performances by the inclusive cast of a recent production of “Beauty and the Beast” by students from Madrona Children’s Theatre.
In celebration of the partnership between Creative Activities and VSAAW, an Evening of Special Performances and Art Exhibit was added on Tuesday evening and attended by more than 75 members of the general public. This addition to ArtSpring was so successful that it will continue to be a part of future ArtSpring Festivals and plans are already being made to make the 2010 Festival an especially wonderful evening of performances and interactive public art.
Challenge Air
On July 18th, 2009 the staff of Creative Activities/VSA arts of Washington went to Paine Field in Everett to participate in an amazing one-day annual event called Challenge Air. Challenge Air for Kids and Friends, a not-for-profit organization, offers motivational, inspirational and life-changing experiences to physically challenged children and youth through aviation. Challenge Air hosts approximately 15 fly days all over the country.
For the past three years that Challenge Air has come to Washington, we have participated by helping in the planning and hosting a booth. This year our activity booth featured a “photo booth.” The “photo booth” consisted of a backdrop where children would sit in front of, while holding a cut out of the front of a plane that was painted on foam core. As the picture was printing out, the child decorated their frame. This booth was so successful last year that we decided to do it again this year! The children have so much fun pretending like they are flying before the big moment of getting into one of the Cessna planes.
The event provided approximately 150 children with disabilities a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not only were the children given an aviation experience like no other, but they also had a wide array of activities to participate in. These ranged from face painting, dancing, playing with robotics, making paper airplanes, and interacting with clowns, Ronald McDonald and other mascots. The staff members involved had an amazing and fulfilling day. Being able to see the children’s’ reactions to the activities and the aviation experience was extremely rewarding and we look forward to being a part of this event next year.
To find out more information about Challenge Air please visit their website:
http://challengeair.com
Dancin’ Z Path
Creative Activities, through its Ida’s Fund Program, provided financial support to this innovative and collaborative, inclusive dance performance, recently premiered at the SAM Olympic Sculpture Park. Dancin’ Z Path was a site-specific dance event created by Charlene Curtiss of Light Motion and Joanne Petroff and Debbie Gilert of Whistlestop Dance Co. in collaboration with Seattle Art Museum’s Public Programs division, honoring the beauty and accessibility of the Olympic Sculpture Park. Three wheelchair and 5 standup dancers, accompanied by 2 musicians, performed dances designed to interact with – and inspired by – the art installation in the indoor pavillion, before heading outside to wind its way along the Path, where the dancers improvisionally “interacted” with the outdoor sculptures they passed along the way.
It was an amazingly beautiful weekend, the natural beauty serving as the perfect backdrop to equally amazing dance performances, shared with an overflow crowd which followed along the Path, acting as a magnet for more members of the general public to join the travelling audience. By helping to support creative, inclusive art performances such as this, Creative Activities and VSAAW fulfill their missions of offering inclusive arts expereinces which enrich both the artists and the public.