CultureWorks is pleased to provide hands-on artistic leadership and experiences at community-wide events again this summer!
Community-wide special events are an excellent way to cultivate creativity and integrate the arts into the daily life of our community. While our primary mission is to equip and empower teens, these events allow us to serve a wider audience, while providing leadership development and hands-on work experience to our Student Advisors and Interns. We’re also able to flex our creative muscles in new ways as we consider what sort of projects are best suited to each venue or event.
At the inaugural Juneteenth Celebration in Holland, we were delighted to present the work of local artist and board member Candice Arnwine and photography student Duncan Hagemeyer, while also offering free textile printmaking using calabash Adinkra stamps. Over the winter, we licensed a few of Candice’s digital designs which she helped us turn into stencils for pochoir mono prints. We’ve used these designs with several classes and workshops this spring and hope to continue to grow our library of Candice-inspired designs. For Juneteenth, we also worked with I Am Academy to develop several dances that were performed by youth, under the direction of Jazlyn Ruiz, and we provided a free t-shirt design workshop where I Am Academy youth created several designs for shirts that were printed on site at the event.
This summer, we’re also partnering with the Critter Barn to create student-designed ceramic tiles for the bathrooms at their new state-of-the-art facilities. These hand-carved and hand-painted tiles will feature student work and will be a beautiful addition to the rustic wood and steel decor of the bathrooms. We’ve led 2 tile design workshops at the old site and the new site, and we’ll offer 2 tile making workshops in August to complete the project.
CultureWorks also provided free hands-on art experiences at the annual Macatawa Water Festival in 2021. We typically serve about 300-350 participants at this event, which hosts nearly 2,000 visitors per year. This year we brought reptile themed blocks for print making along with reference photos of native plants (taken at the cellular level) which participants painted with watercolors or homemade natural inks. We also had an informational table with clay, so kids could explore the properties of clay and water, while playing with amphibious figures and tools.
We hope to see you at these upcoming celebrations and events!
July 27: Eastcore Neighborhood Celebration at Rosa Parks Green, from 6:00-8:00pm
August 21: International Festival at the Holland Civic Center, from Noon-8pm
