ABOUT THE GRANT
- $20,250 to Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art Foundation to support H-E-L-L-O ARKESTRAL MARCHING BAND: A PROCESSION OF GRATITUDE AND ATONEMENT (MAP 2019)
ABOUT THE PROJECT
H-E-L-L-O ARKESTRAL MARCHING BAND: A PROCESSION OF GRATITUDE AND ATONEMENT is a new performance developed by Cauleen Smith in collaboration with MASS MoCA as part of Smith’s exhibition We Already Have What We Need (May 2019 – April 2020). Held in downtown North Adams, MA, on October 6, 2019, and in conjunction with the city’s beloved Fall Foliage Parade, H-E-L-L-O ARKESTRAL MARCHING BAND will be a celebratory public procession. Community members waving ceramic incense burners will cleanse the area and lead the way for a stunning, synchronized display of pageantry, unity, and community. Along with community members, musicians playing bellowing sousaphones will move and dance in sync, ablaze with color in mismatched satin uniforms created by Smith. The procession — sparkling in the sun, banners flying, smoke billowing — will unearth and honor many of the lesser-known or buried histories of North Adams, with help from local Native American, African American, and Chinese American cultural and historical organizations. Through this collective encounter, participants and spectators will experience an interconnectivity between humans and all living beings, including plant-life, water, and earth.
ARTISTIC TEAM
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