REA+CH Residencies

REA+CH Resident

The Puppet Parade Project and Drum Circle were Art + Community Collaborations with YSU’s Department of Art, Dana School of Music and SMARTS. In the first have of this year’s residency program, 20 inner-city youths worked with sculptor Boris Chesakov and musician Christina Veneron to build wearable puppets that referenced junk foods and poor nutrition. They performed in a parade during the Summer Festival of the Arts and many of them took time out to converse with the crowd about the purpose of the parade. The second half of the residency was dedicated to music and performance. The kids were introduced to a wide range of percussive instruments and participated in a series of drum circles at the SMARTS Center. Musicians Todd Greene and Nathan Douds recorded the youth playing various instruments and reciting poems that they wrote during one of the sessions, with assistance from Christina Veneron. Douds mixed the recordings on a computer introducing the group to the various uses of technology in production.

The final product is a complex rap featuring the voices and musical performances of the youth. In addition to developing their creative skills through the program, the young participants continue to gain confidence and increase their overall social and communication skills.