serendipity

storytelling: a talk with Pon Angara of Barkada Circle

"We remember best through stories." -- Pon Angara

 

The arts providing tools for nonprofit businesses to grow?!  As I read about branding and listen to all the balu about social media, I find the need for experience-based marketing to be  ever more relevant. I recently caught up with Pon Angara, creative director and principal of Barkada Creative to discuss his launch of Barkada Circle.  Barkada Circle provides educational arts-based programs that help participants discover and harness the transformative power of the visual arts, music, theatre and more to spark creativity in telling their organization's stories, stories that fully engage people.

 

What made you launch Barkada Cicle?
After years of years of working with nonprofits on branding, visual communication and marketing, it became apparent that a critical piece of the message was missing.  This lack of message prevents a nonprofit from taking it to next level.  I kept thinking, “Your story isn’t compelling. Why should I care?  Why should I want to be conncted to this organization?" To effectively help my clients, I realized that I had to help them tell their story.

Isn't a story the same as a mission statement?
No, a mission statement is just a statement of purpose.  One statement of why a business exists. That's it.  A story goes deeper.  It involves the emotions, relating the struggles and successes of a nonprofit, its people and its consituency. It can take many more forms than a statement.  It may be told in different mediums - word, image, sound, etc.  The key thing is the emotional part.  We remember stories because we remember the emotions running through them. 

Give me an example.  
The mission of Barkada Circle is to give nonprofits a creative forum in order to develop different ways to craft their own stories using techniques in the arts that is usable on their website, in their brochures, etc.   

One story of Barkada Circle is in why I launched it. Immersing myself in the activities of a nonprofit organization, I had the opportunity to experience the same struggles they were having in trying to get a compelling message across. Some nonprofits were more successful than others, but the challenges were there nonetheless.

I'm reading a lot these days about the use of storytelling in branding.  How is Barkada Circle different?
The Barkada Circle approach differs from the others in that the focus is on a multi-sensory experience using the arts, whether the visual arts, theater, music, writing or cooking.   The best way to really embody a story is for the storyteller to engage as many of his/her senses as possible in creating the story, so that telling it engages multiple senses for the listener. This approach was inspired by the book The Experience Economy:  Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine.  

Why have your targeted nonprofits for your program?
In my book, they are the ones that deal the most with complex emotions, concepts, ideas, and challenges.  They deal heavily with humans, not just products for humans.  It’s all about the people.  Nonprofits generally have direct impact on issues that affect the quality of life in our communities. It has become my personal choice to share in this mission.

If teaching artists are interested in working with you, what’s the best way to contact you and what will they need in terms of experience?
They have to be skilled in their craft, but also have a personal mission for educating others about it. They need a minimum of 5 years of teaching experience with adults, sharing and demonstrating their passion.  I am willing to talk to new artists after June to see what they have to offer. It's best if they read through the website and then leave of comment expressing their interest on the Our Artists page. 

 

I'm honored to have been working with Pon on this venture since its inception.  My workshop for Barkada Circle, The Power of Symbols, looks at the way symbols have inspired change throughout history.  It's an amazing experience to work with directors from small and large nonprofits, helping them to better understand and harness the storytelling potential of their organization's visual symbols.   

paper houses

 

"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams." -- Anonymous

This winter I purchased a die cut machine and am having a blast with it.  I recently used it to teach a lesson on implied versus acutal texture in art, as well as how a 2d shape may be manipulated into a 3d form.  Students in my DIY Toys class  at the Evanston Art Center each received a house blank, flat with all the pieces.  They loved seeing how paper could be used for more than just a picture.  

This haunted house was created by our yougest student, barely 6 years old.  See the ghost?  Very scary.  He placed the house in a yard with a broken fence that was strewn with "trash" and featured a large tree changing to fall colors.  It was fully thought out from beginning to end.

Students were permited to use watercolor crayons, pencils, paper and glue.  This tree house was designed by an 8 year old.  She decided her house would resemble stucco painted in a terracotta color.  Talk about sophisticated!  The front step has a built in ladder leading to a sidewalk.

She didn't stop with the house.  Her first attempt at a tree trunk for the house became a log for a little paper girl.

This suburban dream was concieved by a seven year old. Each wall of the house is a different color scheme and pattern alternating between cool and warm colors and finished with a confetti roof.  I love the car at the end of the driveway!

Another clever tree house comlete with tree branches for a more realistic setting.  At the ladder's base is a fire pit with roaring fire and logs for family and friends to gather. 

The students had such fun that they made two houses, one to take home and then the ones featured here which will be on display Young Evanston Artists Festival in late spring.

I have plans for a few of my own paper dream houses.

Chicago Craft Social, Needle Felt Gerber Workshop

"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity."  -- Bo Bennett

I've been without a working camera for the past few months.  Though I have a cell phone camera, it just isn't up to the job, but I'm fortunate in that others send me pics they have taken.  These come from Alexis.  She and her mom were two of the 18+ participants in my  needle felted gerber daisy pendant workshop at the Chicago Craft Social this past March.  

As you can see, everyone had fun learning the technique and were successful in creating their own daisy pendants.  

Thank you to Clover for supplying us with their great tools and roving!

plant id

"Man's heart away from nature becomes hard."  --  Standing Bear

One of the greatest compliments I have received about this new collection came from the curator at the West Chicago City Museum where the work was was on exhibit this past summer.  Children who were to do plant identification while on a walk through a small stretch of native prairie were rained out.  Instead, they came to the museum and proceeded to walk through my "prairie.  To know that my likeness of the originals is close enough for children to identify is very gratifying.

Photo credits: Larry Sanders

power knitting

   

"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."  --  Chinese proverb 

I've been teaching on some level for 20 years, but tomorrow will be a first.  I've been asked to bring The Red Thread Project® to a parochial school in Aurora, IL.  Okay, there is nothing unusual in that.   Over the years, I've taught well over a 1000 people how to knit, whether with needles or knitting looms. But here is the twist - I'll be teaching 200 children, K-5th, at one sitting.  Imagine a school gym filled with lunch tables, 200 hundred children, teachers, yarn, knitting frames, and me.  Fortunately I'll have teachers and volunteers at each table to assist, but I'm just a wee bit nervous.  It's either going to be amazing or completely chaotic.  

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

last day

  

 "I am neither an optimist nor pessimist, but a possibilist." 

    -- Max Lerner

Tomorrow is my last day teaching at The Shore.  The grant money has once again dried up.  It is so frustrating.  These folks have been fabulous to teach.  They always great me with a warm smile and a hug.  We joke and tease each other.  In short, we have fun.

It's been a delightful challenge to design projects that meet the needs of a range of very different capabilities, let alone all be taught within a one hour period of time including set up and cleaning.  This is our group quilt which now resides in the tv room of their residence. 

 

I started with a series of lessons on pattern, symmetry and repetition.  It gave me the necessary time to observe skills and determine the best way to proceed with the quilt.  Each student embellished a square of fabric featuring their image and then another square with a personal textile design.  We didn't use fabric paints as I had first considered.  They were too difficult to control for some folks, so everyone used Sharpies.  I then stitched it all together.  I think it looks great!

  

The other day we worked on a series of paintings using oil pastels and watercolor paint.  Their color sensibilities are wonderfully vibrant.

  

 

There has to be a better way to fund outreach art programs.  Grants come and go.  I need to find a long term funding plan.  Any suggestions? 

red thread project st. louis update

 

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see." 

 -- Georgia O'Keefe

I don't know about you, but I always seem to be a month behind my internal ideal schedule.  I've been meaning to post these photographs for the past month.  They are from my introduction to The Red Thread Project® at three St. Louis public schools this February.  In a three day period of time I worked with over 300 children.  Every child I met was bright and enthusiastic.

Much is said of the St. Louis public schools and little of it is positive.  Statistics are statistics, but they never show the personal or emotional.  Every child, teacher, administrator and parent I met was fully committed.  There is a ton of love and hope permeating these schools, and where there is love and hope, there is a future.  

It makes me angry that the arts are the first subjects to be cut when resources are tight.  The arts are a necessary component of a well-rounded education.  For many children it is through the arts that the core subjects become concrete.  Thank goodness for the enlightened folks at the Kresge Foundation.  Their support provided Springboard the means to bring The Red Thread Project® back to St. Louis and into more schools.   

toys

 

"There are toys for all ages."  -  French proverb

A few pics from a workshop on felted toys that I taught this past weekend at Lillstreet Art Center.  Santa's elves couldn't do better.

   
  

The Red Thread Project® St. Louis - a few pics

"The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds." -- Jawaharlal Nehru

St. Louis.  440 handmade hats of which over half were made by children.  442 yards of red "thread" = 1/4 of a mile.  Scores of volunteers.  72 participants in the "Dance of Hats."  One incredible installation.  Smile.

Sewing on the hats.

The piles build up.

The "Dance of Hats" complete with music from Samba Bom.

And the installation....

patchwork pillow

"Quilters know all the angles."  -- Anonymous

Fashioned from an old fabric swatch book and lots of seam tape, Pat proudly displays a pillow she recently completed.  When you are over the age of 75, you tend to think about projects in terms of what you may actually complete.  All the others thought she was crazy, but Pat just smiled and kept stitching.  No one is questioning her sanity now, they all placed orders!  

George is another I teach.  He learned to knit last fall and since then has completed over 2 dozen scarves.  He claims to be making one to wear for every day in the month.  My favorite is the one he finished last week (not pictured), fondly nicknamed "The Carrot" as it's orange with huge green tassels and 104 inches long.