spring break commences

it feels good to have a week with very very few appointments, class sessions and events planned. i spent much of the weekend nursing my neck. i wrenched it in my sleep this friday or saturday and boy nothing was right. it just super amped up feelings of goldilocks.

before she left to meet her new baby niece or nephew, christina and i had a long lunch on friday in which she assured me that i have been doing much this term. it seemed to make sense to her that i was feeling a bit well overrun and spent. her observations and the refreshing squirt i was imbibing helped make sense of things. she ran a drill with me in which she pretended to be a miami colleague asking me to do things, and i was meant to reply: "no, can't do it, no time." i spoke to my new chairperson on friday afternoon about the classes i will teach in the fall and some details. she got really excited when we talked about my plans.

one thing that i can say for sure. and i take this as a sign of growth. nearly every single thing i had done here at michigan is for the greater glory of my own CV and not some other woman's. that is, i think, good news. by this i mean, no running errands like meals on wheels, dry cleaning, grandbabies, dog-walking; no drafting paragraphs; no checking footnotes; no "other duties as assigned."

on march 31, my parents and i are hosting a party for out of town guests who are coming to visit to hang out and kick it and to participate in the first (annual?) festifools. what is festifools? here is the current 411 from mark and shoshanna. holly, nick, and i are in. i am aiming to lead a mask-making workshop on march 31 in the afternoon -- at least i think that is when it is meant to be.

i hope that you will be able to come along and join us in the mirth and merry-making it will be loads and loads of fun. shelley is in. julia, sadly will be headed to vienna, but will make a midwestern tour later in the summer. karen is in. the bunderbates are for sure too. and you?

Dear Fellow FestiFools Collaborators!

First of all, we apologize for the lengthy email that's about to follow, however, we
wanted to update everyone with the latest information we have regarding FestiFools. We also want to take this opportunity for you to share with us anything you may have planned for this event that we may not know about yet and also to let you know about some of the things that are still in the works.

If any of this information is old and erroneous (or new and erroneous) please let us
know. And if you have things up your sleeves, now's the time to show us.

We are extremely pleased that School of Art and Design's Holly Hughes and Nick Tobier, in addition to Kelly Quinn from the School of Urban Planning are all asking their classes to contribute creative pieces and student volunteers to the FestiFools event.

We are especially excited to know that Nick and Kelly are bringing Superior Monster
Concepts (http://www.superiorconcept.org/) in to work with their students. Nick and Kelly, please keep us updated on their schedule and planned activities during their visit. Hopefully they will be here for the FestiFools event itself.

Kate Mendeloff is bringing Bread and Puppet Theater (http://www.breadandpuppet.org/) from Vermont to the Residential College for a weekend workshop. The last we heard Kate was trying to raise funds for them to come here the weekend of March 23rd- 25th to do a puppet making workshop followed by a performance in the RC auditorium. Kate was looking for people to help house and feed the B&C crew during their visit. Kate, please let us know how plans are coming along, their schedule while here, etc. Also, Kate, are your students going to be constructing anything that they could possibly bring to FestiFools on April 1st?

Our Art in Public Spaces class just finished building a set for the non-profit Burns Park Community Theater Production of "Oliver". Since Feb. 1st, they've been busy creating their big "puppets". We have 17 UM students, and 2 Community HS students working in groups of 4-5, helping each other to create a total of 20 puppets. Right now they are still in the sculpting, casting, and papier mâché stages...we still have an amazing amount of work ahead of us. We are trying to dedicate March to papier mâché, painting, engineering, and putting all these pieces together. We've had a fantastic crew of about a dozen people from the community volunteering off and on in the studio, and hopefully more to come! You are ALL welcome and encouraged to come tour the studio, see what's happening (and get your hands dirty if you so desire)!

Don't forget that "Groove", a 35 member UM percussion ensemble, will be our drumbeat for the event. They'll be setting up a stage in the center of the street around which we'll be dancing, performing, and generally having a good time.

In all, over 250 students will be creating and participating in FestiFools!

We are hoping to have more groups build and bring crazy stuff to the event.
Craig--could you speak with Matrix Theatre and see if they would be interested in and able to bring something to the event?
Everyone: If you have any connections to community groups that would like to build and bring their own pieces, please spread the word! Girl scouts, community centers, knitting circles, anyone! All of the specifications are on our website: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ startproject if anyone has any questions they are welcome to contact us at startproject AT umich.edu

Publicity:
Our poster designer Nate Chmielewski is putting the final touches on a general design that will be used to make a postcard, poster, bookmark and T-shirt. Let us know if you would like any promotional materials to send out, and how many. Maura Thomson from the Main Street Area Association will be helping us to get these things printed and distributed. We hope to have them out to the masses the first week in March. They are intended as audience builders, and sponsor recognition. Main St. Area Association and the Ann Arbor District Library will be printing bookmarks for distribution through the public library system and conducting a "crazy hat making" workshop for children just prior to FestiFools. We'll have large posters to distribute as well. Again, please let us know quantities of any of these promotional materials that you would like to have to distribute ASAP. Audience building for this first-time event is one of our primary objectives with these promotional materials.

Also, Sweetwaters, who is sponsoring our official event photographer, Myra Klarman, is going to be displaying her photographs of the event (and hopefully some ARTifacts from the event) in their cafe gallery on Washington for the month of April. We should all check in there after the event to reflect on this whole endeavor, buy a coffee, and see Myra Klarman's sure-to-be amazing photos! Lisa Bee at Sweetwater's has offered that we can have an "opening" if we are so inclined. Let us know if there is any interest, and we'll do our best to try to schedule and make the necessary arrangements for one.

Day of the Event Schedule (April 1, 2007):
Our "Arts in Public Spaces Class" will be leaving the Felch St. Studio location at
approx. 2pm, traveling by foot to the Kerrytown area, and continuing on to the Palio
parking lot staging area between 3-4pm. At 4pm the festivities officially begin with
"Groove", our fantastic 35 piece percussion ensemble providing the "beat of a different drummer". What happens next is anybody's guess--ideas are welcome, and chaos is expected!

Sponsors:
We are still lining up sponsors, and hope to have that done as soon as possible so that
we can have accurate names and logos for our publicity pieces (t-shirts, website, etc.)
If anyone you know is sponsoring this event from your end of things, or has offered
in-kind services please let us know so that they can be properly acknowledged. Our
current sponsors are all listed at the end of this email and on our website.
We are particularly interested in figuring out how/when/where to have an afterglow party for all contributing parties. If you have any ideas in this regard, we would be most appreciative.

The Future of FestiFools:
As much as we are working on making this year's event a successful one, we are equally as excited about the prospect of preparing for making this an annual event. Everyone we have worked with on this project, including our University of Michigan partners, the Ann Arbor City Council, the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, and the Ann Arbor Main St. Area Business Association, have all seen the potential in what could become an extraordinary tourist attraction showcasing the creative visual and performing talents of our students and community members.

If you are interested in helping us with any long-term planning, and hopefully benefiting from the long term results, please contact us as soon as possible. We are all about collaborating.

We look forward to hearing from you and we look forward to seeing you and your creations in 38 days! :-)

--Mark and Shoshana


FestiFools is made possible by our generous sponsors: Real Seafood Co., Palio
Restaurant, Sweetwaters, Ann Arbor Main St. Area Association, Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Resource Program, Recycle Ann Arbor, University of Michigan's Lloyd Hall Scholars Program, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Citizenship Theme Year, Arts on the Hill, Public Goods Council, Arts at Michigan, University Housing and the City of Ann Arbor.

Please be sure to patronize our commercial sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible:

Thanks!

FestiFools is a production of the START Project created by the Lloyd Hall Scholars
Program, University of Michigan.
startproject AT umich.edu
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/startproject