Ed visited Rainey Park to work with some enthusiastic staff and teens. We sampled Batman, JJ Doom, and Chief Keef to make a song about staying alive, how to represent oneself, and choosing to be non-violent.
We visited the Group for the Blind and Visually Impaired at Davis Square Park during summer camp. We collaborated on loops, made beats, and experimented with midi synths. Participants wrote lyrics addressing issues of equal access, being respected as a person with disabilities, and privacy invasion, and a little bit of romance. We learned about Beep Baseball, and got to see the brail typewriter in action!
Great staff participation, thank you!
We visited the Children First site at Homan Square Park to make a track with 17 youth there. Displaced by the Chicago Teacher’s Union Strike, these students’ opinions reveal a spectrum of perspectives. It was a lovely morning of beat-boxing, writing, and challenging young minds to observe the moment. Great staff help!
We visited Dawes Park the last three summers with great success. This year was even better. There is a very special group of kids there saying very punctual statements about their community. Kids like these can use these songs to make change in their neighborhood. As we played the songs from last year, new kids already had some of the words memorized, incredible. We shared a half day this day with O’halleran Park, so these tracks got made in roughly two hours!
Galewood Park 7.16.12. We worked with day campers and a Teen Leadership group, directly after talking-to about nutrition from a contingent of adults from UIC. The discussion about healthy living continued on these tracks, where we collectively connected the dots between eating right in order to make better decisions for a healthier community.
Gill Park was a dense but quick day. We had around 20 9-12 year olds before lunch, and around 20 teens after lunch. The teens were of course reluctant at first, but were standing in line to say there words in the last 15 minutes. This was the only park we attended all summer that had day campers reading BOOKS when we got there. PARTICIPANTS COLLABORATED ON THE BEAT PRODUCTION, AND WROTE AND READ THEIR OWN WORDS.
Here are the audio and video playlists from Loyola Park on 7.09.12 and 7.10.12. We worked with the 9-12 year old group the first day, and teen camp the second. There were many familiar faces from last summer, so both tables on both days faced little resistance or shyness. With titles like “Learn it Together”, “I Live in This World”, “Life is a Treasure”, and “Choices”, we can see and hear that these responsible youth citizens are concerned, and have solutions. Download, share, discuss, play in public space!
This song is compilation of statements about the decisions we make in life, and contains suggestions for positive alternatives to negative ones. We were at Fuller Park for a half day, split with Austin Town Hall later that afternoon. It was very active when we visited, full of day campers and a drill team. We setup in the courtyard in the middle of the field house, and got beats made, words written and read in roughly an hour and a half.
Here is the track from Austin Town Hall on 7.24.12. We were only there for about two hours, and came out with this gem of information! Bob your head, turn it up, and as always, download, share, play in your parks, repeat! Participants collaborated on beat production, and wrote and read their own words.
We served West Lawn Park during a District-wide heat advisory, and the first day we sweated over the MPD32 with the boys group outside with the help of a cool(er) dry breeze and a shade tree. The second day with the girls group was too extreme, and we only went outside to make a stop motion animation. These kids had pride in their park, and their groups were large in number, which showed us how a park really can be a vital centerpiece in a community.
Enjoy!
Noah, Alex, Jeremy, and Kyle, who are regulars of our Teen Tuesdays program at South Shore Cultural Center, remixed Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” to make their own version, which addresses similar topics of the original produced 40 years ago. Stems were taken from http://www.whatsgoingonnow.org/
This park only had about 10-15 Day Campers, so we stuck to one production table, and one stop-motion animation station. Those who weren’t working on verses and beat-making with me were working with Jayve on sidewalk chalk animation, filming flips, and swing-set stop-motion animation. Coach Simms also led by example, and hit us with the off-the-top freestyle that wowed the kids. This was one of the most relaxing parks of the summer because the weather was breezy, the park is small, and the kids were generally easy going and respectful demeanor about them. Thanks Lowe Park!
Here are the audio sets from the first day of day camp, we pulled a double at Robichaux and Jackson Park. Please download, share, and distribute this wonderful non-commercial music, brought to you by patrons of the Chicago Park District, and citizens of this city, state, and country. PARTICIPANTS COLLABORATIVELY MADE THE BEAT, AND WROTE AND READ THEIR OWN WORDS.
Teens Re-Imagining Arts Community and Environment, or T.R.A.C.E. teams up with IMRS every summer for assistance with digital media production based in the social themes being addressed at each Park. Themes addressed this summer were Bullying, Urban Gardening, and collaboration through poetry, music writing. Please download this wonderful non-commercial, socially conscious music, and share.
Here are the audio and video playlists for Blackhawk Park on 7.03.12. Some songs hit on topics revolving around Freedom and our Nation, as it was the day before Independence Day. Please download the songs from the SoundCloud page and share/redistribute throughout the Park District, and rest of the world. Also, if your internet connection allows, watch the videos in 720p HD! Enjoy!
