October OUTREACH @theMACC! e-News 10/2018

@ the MACC in September 2018

Aloha!

One of the consistently outstanding and ongoing programs here at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center is wrapped around two KEY WORDS: Artists and Community .

The MACC’s Artists in Community program (AIC) takes our performing artists and teaching artists into the community – to senior centers, schools, community centers, libraries, around the island of Maui, sand to Lāna‘i and Moloka'i. In this way we try to insure that even the people who may not be able to get to the MACC, will enjoy the benefits of what the MACC has to offer in performing arts, visual arts, and arts education.

We always try to instill this message: the MACC is not just a set of stages – we are a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire all Maui people through personal and shared experiences of the arts. We believe in the power of the arts to affect all our lives – whether to inform, entertain, educate, or even transform. The arts have the power to elevate our daily existence ...and we try to make sure that people have access to that power, wherever they are.

Every year, the MACC conducts dozens of AIC sessions, ranging from ad hoc concerts in school cafeterias by local music heroes, to free mini performances, workshops and lec/dems by some of our wide-ranging global touring artists. See below for a description of activities in September and October – and visit MauiArts.org where you can find out about some previous AIC events.

We look forward to seeing you @the MACC … or if you can’t make it here, we may just see you THERE – wherever your "there" is, in Maui Nui.

Art Vento, President & CEO

ON LĀNA‘I

On October 3, the MACC’s education director, Chadwick Pang, along with teaching artist April Jones, went to Kaunoa Senior Center on Lāna‘i to provide seniors an opportunity to use oil pastels in an art-making session.

Later that afternoon, they went to the Lāna‘i Youth Center to work with primary and secondary school students in an arts-integrated lesson about spirals in nature as related to the mathematical formula called the Fibonacci sequence. The students created mathematical spirals on graph paper, then the teacher challenged the students to incorporate the spirals into a visual scene or object. See above for a finished masterpiece!

“We plan to continue a partnership with the MACC to provide relevant

and meaningful art experiences for the children of Lāna‘i's community.”

.- Nanci Rajaei, executive director, and Dajia Baldviso, program director.

On September 19, the MACC presented Kelly Boy DeLima (local favorite, of KAPENA fame) in free small concerts / talk story sessions at Lāna'i Senior Center, Lāna'i High and Elementary School, and Lāna'i Youth Center.

"Our students LOVED the assembly with him. Kelly Boy was so relatable and connected with our students. His sharing of music and life story inspired many of our students to play music that moves their heart." -Kerri Glickstein, Lāna'i music teacher

Mahalo to Lāna'i Community Benefit Fund of the Hawai'i Community Foundation.

for support that made this visit possible.

DANCE DEVELOPMENT

During the third week in October, the MACC programs department coordinated a series of three workshops with Minnesota-based choreographer Morgan Thorson, working with young Maui dancers at Maui Academy of Performing Arts, with the Seabury Hall dance department, and at Alexander Academy of Performing Arts.

“I loved Morgan’s outlook and the students loved her vibe. Her reasoning behind Dance was very interesting and creative. Her ideas were fun and different. She pushed the dancers to keep it simple and they were free to really connect with each other."

- Kathleen Schulz, MAPA dance director

The student reaction? Enthusiastic, appreciative, positive – rave reviews:

"The workshop had me try new things that I will definitely use in the future" ... "Expanded my knowledge of dancing"... "This really opened my mind to more creative choreography" ... "Very powerful" ... “The creative energy going around the room improved my dancing” ... “Not only did it help me connect my movement, but I felt connected to the other dancers” ... "Taught me a different way to create"

Morgan Thorson and Collaborators will present the company's dance performance entitled "Public Love " on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 in the Castle Theater. This program was co-commissioned by the MACC and Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

GET TICKETS

On October 24, Michael Sakamoto (a choreographer, dancer, and professor at the University of Iowa - and who has family roots on Maui!) taught a master class in MACC's Omori Studio for Maui dancers who had signed up for this opportunity.

The next day, Michael visited a class at UH Maui College to talk about music and world cultures -- concepts at the heart of Michael's dance theatre piece "SOIL", which weaves stories from three Southeast Asian countries by dancers native to those countries.

And after their performance, the cast participated in a Q&A session with the audience to discuss the piece in detail and give insights to its creation.

All these activities allow a free-flow of exchange and engagement between artist and audience.

Michael Sakamoto and the three international dancers in "SOIL" were also given the opportunity to put their hands IN THE SOIL at Ola Mau Farms in Wai`ehu! They assisted owner/farmer and entrepreneur, Lani Eckart-Dodd by planting several keiki `ulu trees. The artists were also able to harvest some fruits and vegetables to use onstage in their Castle Theater performance.

Many cultural stories were exchanged that day - on both sides!

Why Do We Do This?

As the MACC Founding Chairman Pundy Yokouchi often said: “The arts lift us up.”

You can see this expressed in the MACC’s ‘logo man’: a petroglyph of a human being releasing a bird into flight — which symbolizes the freedom of expression that lies at the heart of all creative endeavors.

Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Artists in Community program redefines the relationship of artist to audience, and embodies the MACC’s enduring belief in the ability of the arts to build community.

Through shared personal experiences with performers from around the world, Maui Nui residents experience the transformative power of the arts. In return, our visiting artists feel the strength of aloha from our community.

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These engagement activities provide shared benefits: the ‘aha’ moments that occur not only enrich the community, but are also insightful for the participating artists ... and therein lies the potential for great exchange, sharing and growth.