Opening Acts: Warming Up The Crowds for New Harmonies
Mendota, Ilinois has pulled out all the stops in an effort to create a buzz about the upcoming Smithsonian exhibition on roots music, New Harmonies, with a series of performance events presented over the 6 months prior to the opening of the exhibit. To be perfectly honest, as the Illinois State Scholar, I was a bit concerned about the idea of having most of the programing prior to the arrival of New Harmonies. In retrospect, it has proven to be a brilliant move, creating a wide sense of awareness and expectation for the soon-to-arrive exhibit.
The early visibility proved to be quite vital for fund raising both on a grassroots level ("pass the hat" contributions were more than double what was budgeted). And, it garnered an outpouring of support from local and regional sponsors and arts and humanities Councils (over 14 sponsors to date). Mendota also made use of its quarterly newsletter: a self-produced and printed booklet made with Windows Publisher. It is simple: three sheets of 8 1/2" X 11" paper printed on both sides and folded in half to make a booklet. This goes out to their membership via mail and was passed out at the events through the summer. Perhaps I'll devote an entire blog to this sometime and show examples from the different sites in Illinois.
MMHS Newsletter
The performance events began with a series of Sunday evening concerts in the park. Mendota will get New Harmonies on November 16th, 2007, so the concerts in the park ran through the summer. I was fortunate enough to perform at one of these. It was a beautiful July evening in the town park surrounded by 100-year-old maples and oaks in front of the Carnegie Library that now houses the Mendota Historical Museum. It was a perfect location for a roots music performance and, no doubt, had been the site of many such concert in years past. Other concerts included a local jazz band in June and a performance by members of the Northern Illinois Bluegrass Association in August. The series was deemed such a success that plans are in the works to continue the tradition next summer.
My concert was to be supported by an Artstour Grant from the Illinois Arts Council. We applied too late and the funding was gone (get the application in early in the grant cycle!) but this is a good program you should know about. Artstour is a relatively simple grant that pays up to 50% of the artist's fees. You can read more about it at the Illinois Arts Council's web site at http://www.state.il.us/agency/iac/artstour/includes/grant/htm. Many states have similar programs through their state and regional Arts Councils. Don't forget, if you are presenting live performances, Arts Councils that might not otherwise fund a museum will support your programing!
The September Barn Dance proved to be a very big hit with all that attended. I asked Museum Manager Shirley Pierson to describe the event in her own words. Here's what she had to say:
We received a large building as an in kind contribution from a member of the Mendota Museum and Historical Society, Dale Cotton. Five volunteers, including my husband and I, spent three hours the day before the dance sweeping, dusting and decorating. We asked people to bring lawn chairs, but realizing that some would not, we planned ahead. We found 4 large, heavy pews and moved them to the perimeters of the dance floor. We cleaned and supplied three restrooms with the necessary paper products and soap.
When we arrived the next evening, Boy Scout Troop 106 was already present setting up a food booth. They served sandwiches, beverages and popcorn through the night. As a special treat, later that evening they served fruit cobbler that had been prepared in Lodge kettles. It was the hit of the food stand!.
At 7:00 when the dance was to start, Martha Tyner and the band were in place and beginning to play. The floor was ready and the people came. Approximately 125 people streamed through the doors over the next 1/2 hour.
When Martha began the first squares, it was like pulling hen's teeth to get people on the floor. No one wanted to make "fools of themselves". However, three or four squares entered the dance area, after much urging, and the evening began. Once on the floor, realizing how much fun they were having, they rarely left.
Getting a square together
The greatest pleasure was seeing the variety of ages present. The youngest was 8 and the oldest was probably in her 80's. One of the oldest participants quietly sat in her lawn chair by the perimeter of the dance floor. When the dance was over, she folded her chair and as she walked to her car informed members of the MMHS that it was a fantastic evening for her.
Martha called her last dance for the evening at approximately 9:30. The majority of the people were still there and reluctantly wandered to their waiting vehicles to part for the night. The comment heard most frequently as we parted for the evening was "When are you going to do this again?"
In October, blues musician Eric Noden performed 6 assemblies for the Mendota grade schools (partially funded through the local parent teacher group and one of the schools) creating quite a stir among students there. Building on his previous experience as an Artist in Residency in Mendota, Eric shared his excitement about roots music with a whole new group of kids while re-kindling his connection with his previous students.
Each of these events was well covered by local and regional press which resulted in a continuous flow of very effective and free publicity that has helped create awareness of both the soon to arrive exhibition, and the ongoing efforts of the Mendota Museum and Historical Society. All in all, it should make for a successful showing!
-- Chris Vallillo, Illinois State Scholar for New Harmonies
