Music
Denver's itchy-O Marching Band: Chaos of the best variety
Imagine this: It's late on a weekend night and Denverites are out and about. Maybe they're hanging out at the latest hipster bar along South Broadway or enjoying an adult beverage at a popular…
John Haywood re-paints the narrative of what it means to be Appalachian and to be an artist
John Haywood grew up in the Appalachian region of southeastern Kentucky with dreams of becoming a rock star. But mountain folk don't become rock stars. Mountain folk don't even go to college.…
Clement Brown, Jr. celebrates Fashion, Arts, Music & Entertainment in an underserved area of Detroit
The west side neighborhood around the intersection of Joy Rd. and Meyers in Detroit can be a tough place, but theFAME Shop, located at 10608 Joy Road, is a brightening presence. FAME…
Artists as community leaders
What a journey! Three years ago, Springboard for the Arts launched Irrigate, a creative placemaking project in partnership with the City of Saint Paul and the Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support…
PAR Projects is building a home for arts education and programming in Cincinnati's Northside
Things don't always work out the way you plan, but they do tend to work out the way they're supposed to. Jonathan Sears is the co-founder of Professional Artistic Research (PAR) Projects, though he…
Afa Dworkin seeks to transform lives through the power of diversity in the arts
In 1996, when the Sphinx Organization was first founded, only three percent of orchestras around the nation represented those of Latino and colored descent. That number…
Artists U teaches artists how to make a life
The hardest thing about making a life as an artist is actually making a life as an artist. That's where Artists U comes in. Andrew Simonet is a choreographer and a writer who directed the Headlong…
Floco Torres is a self-made man in Macon
What do you do on your lunch break? Rush out the office door to grab something from the nearest fast food joint or food truck you can find? Order take-out from a nearby restaurant to eat at your…
Gonna Make You Sweat: Sweat Records promotes Miami's independent, local music scene
It's impossible to talk about the arts in Miami without mentioning Art Basel – how does this or that scene/event compare to Art Basel and how does it contrast; does it "fit in" with the culture…
Joey Stuckey is a blind musician who teaches people how to hear
Joey Stuckey is a recording artist, a recording engineer and producer, a radio personality, a television host, and an educator. He is also blind. The latter part is important not because it impairs…
A new rep for rap: Keepers of the Art educates as it entertains
Rap has a bad rep. What started out as a way for young black and brown kids in the Bronx in the 1970s to have a voice and share what was going on in their community has been co-opted and diluted by…
The media is the message: Guante uses hip hop culture to educate and engage the community
Canadian philosopher and communication theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the expression "The medium is the message" in 1964 (long before the creation of the Internet), implying that it's not so much…
Betsy Fitzgerald is a classical musician who doesn't take "no" for an answer
Betsy Fitzgerald knows that the world of the classically trained musician doesn't always intersect with the world of arts advocacy and community engagement. In fact, at the time she attended the…
Y-O's Poetic Peace Arts poetry slams give a voice to unheard Macon artists
Poet and community organizer Y-O left her native Macon, Georgia to attend Georgia College in 1991. It was here that she "officially" became a poet, writing her first poem at the age of 17. From…