Artist in Action - Your COMPAS News Round-Up

Here's your mid-summer creative dream which includes 15 new ways to create, a sold-out musical tribute, and a puppy parade. Luckily for us this dream is a complete reality! 

New Faces, Same Life-Changing Creativity

Please welcome new Arts Program Manager, Marlaine Cox! Marlaine will be managing programming in older adult communities and health care organizations. She has most recently worked with Art Shanty Projects, but has experience working as a teaching artist with older adults, community organizations, and schools.

Also, new to the team is Yia Her, our Finance and Administration Manager! He will be managing invoices, payments, billings and all other administrative questions.

In addition to new staff, we have added 15 new artists to our roster of over 100 individual teaching artists and performing groups. From puppeteers and storytellers, to metal sculptors and song producers, these teaching artists are ready to unleash creativity in people all across Minnesota!

Bound for Glory

Nirmala Rajasekar at Spring Cafe

This month singer/songwriter Charlie Maguire performed a sold-out show at the Crooner's Lounge and Supper Club. This was a celebration of the 75th Anniversary of "Bound for Glory", Woody Guthrie’s famous book. The performance was so popular he was featured in the Star Tribune and they had to add two more dates!

Classical Indian Music at Spring Cafe

Nirmala Rajasekar is a renowned veena player, vocalist and composer of Carnatic music, an ancient art form from South India. Nirmala is one of the few practitioners of Carnatic music living in the United States and she was able to showcase that art at the Spring Cafe in Saint Paul earlier this month! 

Mask-Making at the Walker

All summer, COMPAS artists have worked with the Walker Art Center for their First Free Saturday's. This event is an amazing opportunity to visit the museum and get hands-on creative experiences... totally free! This month, visual Artist and animal-lover Mica Lee Anders was at the art center creating animal masks for participants to wear during the Puppy Parade. Adorable and creative: a truly great pairing. 

If you missed this one, we've got you covered. There's one more Free First Saturday on August 4th, where we'll have Shakun Maheshwari creating Sand Paintings and Rangoli! Rangolidesigns are a floor art that people in India recreate daily to bring good luck and happiness to the home. Create stylized designs with colored sand, to be displayed temporarily in the Garden. 

Creativity at the Fair!

If you're a Minnesota native you're probably already aware that fair season means lots of questionable carnival rides, high-quality people watching and of course, lots of food on a stick. While we don't have anything deep-fried or on a stick to offer you, we do have plenty of creativity that will be featured at this year's Minnesota State Fair and the Dakota County Fair!

These are rare opportunities to catch these great performances and you don't want to miss out. Many times our artists are in private spaces not seen by the general public. These are the days to get out and see for yourself the life-changing creative experiences we provide for participants everyday. Corn-dogs and cheese curds are just an extra-bonus.