Ballet is an art form – it can tell a story through movement of the body; it can be magical and exciting. When MCM chatted with Tara Gragg, Artistic Director of the Flint Youth Ballet (FYB), the dance students were busily preparing for their parts in the upcoming performance of “The Nutcracker”, a Flint Institute of Music (FIM) production that has been a family holiday tradition at The FIM Whiting for many years.
On October 14, Ashoka Rao, Founder and Artistic Director of Nrityanjali, a school of classical Indian dance, was a recipient of the prestigious Michigan Heritage Award. She was recognized for her dedication and lifelong commitment to preserving and passing on the traditional Kathak Dance of India.
Since its inception in 1967, the Greater Flint Arts Council (GFAC) has been a part of Flint culture. The non-profit organization is responsible for much of what we love about Downtown life – bringing to us the Flint ArtWalk, Jazz Festival, Tunes at Noon, wonderful art exhibitions of all mediums, creative workshops and education, local support and more. Since 1998, GFAC has operated solely on the ground floor of the former Peerless Furniture building located at 816 S. Saginaw Street and for the last 25 years, has had plans to renovate and open the rest of the building for programming space. Thanks to the tireless work of staff, a small army of donors and a timely grant of $1.25 million from the Mott Foundation, the renovation project has officially begun. “We’re ecstatic!” enthuses GFAC CEO, Greg Fiedler. “I’m getting old and I was afraid that I would not be able to finish what I had started.”
This past spring, Lake Fenton High School senior, Meghan Smith, entered the 2023 Congressional Art Competition. Every year, members of the U.S. House of Representatives sponsor a nationwide, high school arts competition to recognize and encourage the artistic talent in the nation, as well as in each Congressional District. Smith was notified in May that she had been chosen the winner for Michigan’s Eighth District.
After four grueling weeks of rehearsals, months of design and more than a year of imagining the production, the Flint Repertory Theatre will raise the curtain on its first performance of “Ragtime” this month. “Yes! It’s very exciting!” exclaims Producing Artistic Director, Michael Lluberes. “It will be unique – it won’t look like any other ‘Ragtime’ production.”
Earlier this spring, the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) concluded its 27th Annual Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons at the James and Anne Duderstadt Center Gallery in Ann Arbor. The PCAP brings the art and talent of those impacted by the justice system to local communities for collaboration, mutual learning and growth. “We see art as a common language for people to connect with others across distances and differences,” says PCAP Director Nora Krinitsky. “PCAP connects justice-impacted persons to others through multiple programs such as the art exhibition, creative art workshops in prisons, our yearly literary journal and more.” “We’ve represented over 360 artists from all correctional facilities in Michigan,” says PCAP Community Engagement Specialist and Curator, Sarah Unrath. “There is a beautiful community of talented artists that exists in Michigan’s correctional facilities.” If you missed the exhibition in early spring, don’t worry. PCAP’s traveling exhibit entitled “Shared Humanity” will be coming to Flint in August. “We will open the exhibition on August 11 during the Flint Art Walk at the Greater Flint Arts Council, and I’m so excited!” Unrath exclaims.
The door opened and in walked a man wearing a face of determination. Rugged and ready, like a gunfighter he stood urging me to make the first move, daring me to try to make the first joke, to get the first laugh. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, it was already too late. He struck like lightning and it was all over but the laughing. It was all I could do to catch my breath.
“Water color is a swim in the metaphysics of life … a mirror of one’s own character. Let it be unpredictable and colorful.”
As “Jaques,” one of her most cherished roles performed with the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, Janet Haley was honored to deliver one of the most iconic speeches of The Bard’s literary career. “All the world’s a stage” it begins and for Haley, the line couldn’t be truer. For her, the stage is anywhere and everywhere there’s a story to tell. From childhood puppet shows in her garage to today’s historic places and iconic stages in the city of Flint that she has always called home, Haley finds purpose in the art of the show. “Theatre feeds my sense of imagination, storytelling and sharing and that’s what brings me a sense of joy,” she states. “For me, it was never about money or being famous. It was about telling stories together with people and for people.”
Whenever and wherever you meet Michael D. Melet, you can be sure of two things: 1) He’s got something special in the works, and 2) In his coat pocket or his bag is a small sketchbook and a pencil – his steady traveling companions. “I take a pad of paper with me and I draw every day,” he states. “I draw what I see at the moment. It keeps me busy.” The pictures he dubs “waiting fors” happen spontaneously whenever he sees something that piques his interest, usually during the quiet periods when he is waiting for something else such as picking up a grandchild, waiting for a meeting to begin, or a show to start. His sketchbook contains images such as a man at a piano, the back of heads in an audience, a piece of scenery, etc. The drawings are simple but it was one of these “waiting fors” that led him to his second career as an artist and his first exhibition at Buckham Gallery in 2011.
Since 1976, Charles Winfrey has been passionate about the McCree Theatre. “I got addicted to the creativity and the artform,” he admits. “You have to experience it to truly appreciate it.” Founded in 1970, the “old” McCree Theatre was born from the Genesee County Model Cities Program and named after Flint’s first African American Mayor, Floyd McCree. The original concept ran in Flint until 1989. In 2004, the “New” McCree Theatre opened with the same commitment to excellence and with the new mission “to tell the African American Story in the African American Voice.”
If you have a budding interest in anything artistic, Greater Flint holds a few places of opportunity. One often overlooked school, sitting off of Vienna Rd. just west of Downtown Clio, may be just what you are looking for.
