A much better day at the NJ TA sessions, with some workshops that mattered, in several ways. But what was the difference, upon thought, was the interaction at the end of the day, when the artists finally had a chance to co-mingle with some idea of who we were. I mentioned at the end session that:
1. We weren’t just poets, musicians, theater folk, but Artists.
2. There should be a cocktail hour at the end, to built on the relationships.
The first workshop was on including “sustainability” into our teaching. We played a fishing game, where we quickly learned how to cooperate amongst ourselves to save the renewable resource (fish), not fish, fish and still make it into the future. A lot of these TA sessions are focused on ‘re-thinking’ how we can shape our world models….. and take it into our classrooms.
The second session was on sustainable Teaching Artists, how to broaden our vision as working artists and survive. Again, the best part was hearing what everyone is doing to “Stayin’ Alive” (god, I hate to reference a disco song..). New NJ contacts for me, outside of YANJ. It was after this session that other artists came up to say hello, after they found out what I do.
I hitched up with Zack to play mandolins after lunch, so we did. He brought out a wonderful 1919 Gibson A model (tear-dropped) and I brought out my 1921 Gibson F model (scroll). We jammed on ‘Voodoo Chile’ and then switched mandos and played some country tune….. What a thrill to play two mandos, born two years apart, for the first time.
Still digging for gigs amongst these Edu-folk, but its connecting with the artists that really makes these seminars meaningful. and really real.
These are good sessions for my muse. ….and I need them.