Art & Cultural Events List

Using the Arts to Solve Problems Since 1970

CAI NewsNotes is a quarterly e-communication to let CAI Core Community members and friends know about news, program successes, and upcoming activities. Please let us know if your e-mail address changes so we can keep you up-to-date on our list.
Phone: 617-524-6378 E-mail: cai@tribal-rhythms.org.
Fax: 617-522-7122 Website: http://www.tribal-rhythms.org.

CAI News Notes April, 2008

Upcoming meetings & Announcements:

• CAI Board of Directors Meeting, Wednesday, April 30 at 7:00 PM

• Peace Drum Project Annual Awards and Exhibit Opening
Tuesday, June 3, 5:00-7:00 PM @ Julia Martin House. (Details below)

• CAI's Spring Fundraiser, a Beer-tasting & Barbecue with food, fun, music, and more, Saturday, June 14, 4:00- 8:00PM. (Details below)

The Peace Drum Project:
After several changes in location this year, things finally settled down in The Peace Drum Project, after sessions were moved to CAI's offices at 311 Forest Hills St. An energetic group of Boston high school students are enrolled in the project this year, and they are developing their problem-solving abilities and social skills while exploring various visual and performing arts activities. Recent trips to Blue Man Group, AAMARP Studios, and a workshop by artist (and CAI board member) Belinda Lyons have fired up the teens creativity in preparation for working on drums for the elders in the coming weeks.

Equally inspiring are the elders we are working with from Farnsworth House, Julia Martin House, and the Bromley Apartments in Jamaica Plain. Most of the elders this year are Boston natives, but their stories are wide ranging and fascinating, and we are excited to share them with the larger community as part of our annual exhibit The 2008 Peace Drums and the elder's stories will be on exhibit from June 4 through July 3 at the Boston Public Library, Jamaica Plain Branch on Sedgwick St. The Peace Drum Celebration & Awards Ceremony will be held at Julia Martin House, 90 Bickford St. on Tuesday, June 3 from 5-7PM.

Plans for the summer and the coming year include a proposed expansion of the project to two locations, reaching twice as many teens and elders. Also in process is a curriculum guide and training package to help other artists and community educators set up similar arts-based intergenerational projects in many other locations. A workshop presenting the project's structure, goals, and assessment techniques was included in this years YouthWork Intensive conference sponsored by The Medical Foundation at UMass Boston in March.

Thanks to CAI's foundation partners who are making this year's project possible including: The Janey Fund, Robbins-deBeaumont Foundation, Foley-Hoag Foundation, and Boston After-School and Beyond. Thank you to all of the individuals who supported the project through CAI's Annual Appeal, and special thanks to Carol Hornblower and Fred Weber who contributed to the Charles Holley Memorial Scholarship Fund again this year. The Scholarship will be presented during the Awards Ceremony.

To check out the drums and elder's stories from all of the project's past years, go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/drum_exhibit.html.

CAI's Great Spring Cook-Of Festival - (Note NEW DATE)
Join us for CAI's Great Spring Cook-Off Festival— an event for adults and families where Ty dePass and Curtis Jones struggle for culinary dominance and you reap the rewards. Save June 14, 2008 (4:00 PM to 8:00 PM) so you can join us (rain or shine) at a beautiful indoor/outdoor setting in Jamaica Plain. Enjoy a fun filled, and highly educational beer tasting experience supported by a distinguished cast of domestic and international gourmet beers. Be amazed as Ty and Curtis "struggle for supremacy" in the culinary arts, which will be followed by a fine meat or meatless dinner. Your dining experience will be heightened by a live jazz performance. Help us remember and celebrate Charley's life throughout the event. We will also celebrate the release of Music For Building Your Learning Tribe, a Tribal Rhythms® music CD, and present and the new design of CAI's website. Then the celebration will continue with dancing, tribal music making, and drumming. The Cook-off is one of a string of fun filled yearly social and fundraising events for the enjoyment of CAI's Core Community. The number of people who can attend, will be limited, so to reserve your place ASAP when you receive your e-mail invitation.

Tribal Rhythms® Touring & Residency Programs:
CAI's Tribal Rhythms Touring Company has been reaching out to people of all ages this year from pre-Kindergarten children to elders in towns all over Eastern Massachusetts. The Tribal Rhythms Celebration, and The Story of The Weakest & The Strongest have visited schools and housing developments in Dedham, Dorchester, Easton, Hudson, Melrose, Roxbury, Somerville, Taunton, Tyngsborough, Upton, Wakefield, Wareham, and Worcester in recent months.

The following note was received from a parent after Tribal Rhythms performances at her child's school:

Dear Tribal Rhythms Company ,

Thank you very much for visiting our school recently to spread the important message of treating each other with respect and kindness. All students, teachers, and parents were provided with something to take from your program and implement in their own lives. Keep up the great work! I'm sure you make a difference to many!

Warm regards,
Kelli Parece
Woodville School PTO

For more information about Tribal Rhythms touring performances and residencies, call CAI at 617-524-6378, or go to http://www.tribal-rhythms.org/tr_celebration.html.

The Partnership to Achieve Whole School Change:
With funding from The Boston Public Schools for 2008, Partnership artist/educators are working with classroom teachers and their students at the Agassiz, Taylor, Haley, and Sumner Elementary Schools in Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Roslindale. Through in-classroom sessions, teachers and Partnership staff focus on implementing classroom strategies that foster "Cognitive Affective Coupling — integrating what the child feels, enjoys, and knows into his or her academic life. To accomplish this, a classroom teacher teams with a Partnership artist/educator to create engaging experiences that connect what students need to learn with their emotional world. One strategy for helping students constructively work with their emotions, and learn empathy, was to have each team lead drum-making and music making lessons. As artist/educators modeled how to present activities that emotionally engage students, teachers learned that they could simultaneously teach social skills, arts, science, and speaking and writing skills in one seamless lesson. Teachers are also realizing that the learning achieved by integrating subjects is superior to the learning achieved teaching one disconnected subject at a time. For more information about the Partnership, contact Curtis at 617-524-6378.

CommunityWorks
CAI is part of CommunityWorks, an independent partnership of 27 grass roots organizations working for social and economic justice. You can invest in just social and economic change by supporting CommunityWorks through workplace payroll contributions. Check out the CW site www.communityworks.com. CW is currently preparing to take part in workplace campaigns at Northeastern, Brandeis and Tufts Universities, and at Wellesley College. If you have contacts at these institutions, please support Communityworks as a way of supporting CAI and other social justice non-profits in Greater Boston.

CAI Most Wanted List:
One of the teens in The Peace Drum Project needs an internet ready computer for doing homework and online research. Nothing fancy! A printer to go with it would help if anyone has one. CAI needs a Mac G4 laptop to use for programs. If you have any of these and would like to make a tax-deductible donation, call CAI at 617-524-6378.

Volunteer Opportunities & Internships:
CAI needs volunteers to help with office, grants development, and program support activities. If you have a few hours a week or a day you'd like to help out with short term tasks such as on-line research, data entry, promotional mailings, or program support call us at 617-524-6378. Thanks to the amazing volunteers who have helped at CAI during the last six months including: Liz Elia & Carlos Bruna, Linda Cohen and Tori Steere. Special Thanks, also, to all of the CAI's Board members who have helped with events, fundraising, website development, and working CAI hours at CommunityWorks. CAI Internships are still available for Spring and Fall semesters to work in the Tribal Rhythms Touring program, Partnership for Whole School Change, Marketing & Public Relations, and Grants Development For more information check out CAI's website under Internships, or call Susan at 617-524-6378.