UNSCENE!

Shreveport Regional Arts Council

Funding Received: 2013
Shreveport, LA
$240,000
Funding Period: 1 year and 5 months
http://unsceneshreveport.com/
Dance, Design & Architecture, Film & Media, Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Other | Economic Development, Environment & Energy, Public Safety, Workforce Development | Urban
https://www.facebook.com/unscenesb
Back
October 11, 2013

The first UNSCENE! launches on Friday, October 11 in Shreveport Common.

Update
UNSCENE! has allowed us to put a plan in action to revitalize the UNdiscovered, UNtapped beauty and potential of Shreveport Common. It is also giving us the privilege of UNveiling the many talents and skills of the artists in our community. Since the beginning of the planning process of UNSCENE! we have had an outpouring of visions and ideas from local artists.  These artists will breathe life into UNSCENE! and Shreveport Common by producing new art work, performing original pieces, and driving excitement and engagement for participants and attendees.

Furthermore, we are thrilled to partner with existing arts groups from the community who have been arts trailblazers in Shreveport Common. An UNanticipated partnership was formed with Shreveport Common neighbors Texas Avenue Community Association (TACA). On November 9, UNSCENE! joins TACA’s Makers Fair, a longstanding crafters market that has steadily grown in city support and has a loyal following of artists and artisans.

Before this event, we will partner with minicine? for the first UNSCENE! on Friday, October 11! minicine? is an organization known for creating UNexpected events in UNpredictable and UNconventional ways, so this collaboration is perfect for the UNprecedented UNSCENE!

We have also confirmed several more national artists who will come to Shreveport to become artists-in-residence, working with local artists to develop original installations and performances for UNSCENE!

SEPTEMBER_UNSCENE1

 Shreveport Common Design Manager, Gregory Free, leads a historic walking tour through Shreveport Common.

 

Recent Wins
The first UNSCENE! launches in conjunction with the minicine? McNeill Street Pumping Station New Music Festival (MSPSNMF) on Friday, October 11, 2013. (http://mspsnmf.com/) It is definitely a victory for us to collaborate with such an eclectic festival. UNSCENE! will act as the ‘Prelude’ to their Saturday MSPSNMF. This year the festival will explore experimental tendencies, legacies, and new directions in music and installation art.  There is a full line-up of local and southern based musicians that will use digital instruments, pipes and natural resources to make a UNique sound experience. They will culminate with a tribute to The Residents, an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. Joining this tribute will be Homer Flynn, the Shreveport-native who is vice president and director of The Cryptic Corporation.

The performances will take place in and around the Fairmont Apartments, a historic staple in Shreveport Common located on Common Street between Crockett and Cotton Streets. Additionally, John Durbin will blast music into the streets from a sound installation implanted into the five-story Kallenberg Artist Tower. Below the tower, artists will sell their art in an open market, the UNKNOWN! Artists’ Market. Select original art pieces priced $25 and under will be sold from Shreveport’s first ArtMobile! The ArtMobile is a renovated delivery truck from which artists’ work can be ordered by the customer from a catalogue of pictures on the side of the ArtMobile, true ice cream truck style!

We are UNbelievably close to the pilot event less than a month away!  Amidst a whirlwind of excitement and planning, we are witnessing ideas become concrete plans and the impending UNSCENE! is finally becoming a reality!

Insights
Working with so many artists, organizations, businesses, and our Shreveport Common neighbors has provided valuable wisdom in forming successful partnerships. We have been reminded of the importance of being considerate and respectful of others visions and roles. We are finding that it is necessary to find the perfect balance, so that UNSCENE! effectively serves as a catalyst for existing events in Shreveport Common without overshadowing them.

These lessons of respect and consideration led us to host this month’s Shreveport Common Walk with the focus on our neighbors—the residents, business owners and social service organizations in Shreveport Common.  On Tuesday, September 10 we hosted a “Happy Hour” meet and greet at Central ARTSTATION to update these groups on the progress of Shreveport Common’s revitalization. An UNexpected bonus was finding out that everyone was enthusiastic about being a part of the progress! There was a strong desire to continue having future monthly meetings that would keep the people of Shreveport Common up-to-date and also give everyone a chance to meet fellow neighbors and build relationships within the community. So, next month we will host another “Happy Hour” at the former Salvation Army building, which is now a renovated apartment building on Crockett Street.

As the first UNSCENE! approaches, we are certain many more lessons will come through trial-and-error. The October UNSCENE! is set to be a ‘soft’ opening with the full event taking off in November with all elements applied. This enables all of the UNSCENE! teams and artists to ease into the event series.  We hope everyone comes out to experience this ground breaking occasion, and keeps up with the latest UNSCENE! news at www.unsceneshreveport.com!