Summer salutations to all, from your friends at Many Mouths One Stomach! Here now for your review are some of the latest developments for both MMOS and the All Souls Procession. There’s lots on tap for you this quarter, so read on to learn more!
• Together, as a community, we are finally beginning to cap off the debt on All Souls Procession 2012 to begin fundraising for this year’s Procession, less than five months away! In the last few weeks, three efforts contributed largely to this:
The Mini-Carnival fundraiser at La Cocina on May 28th raised just a shade under $500 in merchandise sales, straight donation and percentage from food and drink sales contributed by our friends at La Cocina. Special thanks to Sol Axé, Mitzi Cowell, DJ Fix and Athena Hagen for providing their talents to the evening, to La Cocina for having us over, and to all who made it out in support!
The Night of 1000 Parties on June 14th brought in over $6,000 to help bring us so much closer to paying the debt!
And finally, Tucson Circus Art’s summer Circus Camp, which was filled to capacity with happy camper kids in all sessions, raised another $3-4,000 to make the ends meet. For the past several years, the income from Circus Camp sessions has provided the final push to close the gap on outstanding debt from the previous year’s Procession.
Now, to begin raising money for this year’s All Souls Procession! Our aim is to make 2013 the first year the Procession bills are paid off entirely by New Year’s Day 2014. And we can do this! Given the current turn-out, if everyone attending Procession were to give a mere $2-$3, that alone would be sufficient to cover all expenses. Very affordable, when you look at it that way. And easily attained, if we’re all in on the effort together. Our goal by 2015 is to have this event flush with funds to produce this amazing cultural phenomenon!
The Night of 1000 Parties may be over, but anyone can always produce their own mini-fundraiser for the Procession, even one as simple as a yard or bake sale. And our online donation page is always available for you to make a contribution at any level, including monthly recurring donations through Network For Good. Just go to www.allsoulsprocession.org/donate to make your contribution now for All Souls Procession 2013.
• Next, we wish to announce that Many Mouths One Stomach is in need of directors for the following areas this All Souls Procession season and beyond. What follows are general summaries of the positions and their duties; please do contact us for more information.
Merchandise Director: heading up sales (setting up and manning our merch booth on Procession night and at other events during the year, processing online sales, updating inventory) and marketing (finding vendors and advertising opportunities, updating our webstore) of our line of items that help to fund the All Souls Procession. This is a year-round position and an important area of activity that provides the All Souls Procession Weekend with much-needed financial sustenance! A real go-getter position. If you’re highly motivated to help fund the Procession and this sounds like something for you, let us know!
Assistant Volunteer Coordinator: providing in-season email and phone-call support with the Volunteer Coordinator in communication with volunteers and crew leaders for the All Souls Procession, particularly in the final week or two before event day. This can include helping to produce publicity for Procession volunteer opportunities online or in the media, and conveying needs for volunteer assistance from Procession directors to our social media administrators. Melanie Cooley will greatly appreciate your help!
Children’s Altar Project Outreach: this position involves making contact with the community via media or direct dialog with pertinent groups and organizations to increase awareness of the Children’s Altar Project and its opportunities for creative memorialization. The Children’s Altar is a community memorial project that appears each year at the Procession of Little Angels, dedicated to the living memory of those Little Souls who have come and gone so quickly but remain alive in out hearts, our minds, and our deeds. If you’re inspired by the loving spirit of this project and you’d like to help inspire others to participate, do consider this position. It needs the love and attention that can be provided by one dedicated individual.
And also:
All Souls Procession Workshop Assistants: The All Souls Procession Workshops are looking for some helping hands and giving hearts!
We are in need of several community-minded volunteers who can lend a hand at the workshops, help to organize and promote the workshop series and who would be willing to help solicit financial and material support, or even just to help Mykl clean up at the end of the day.
The All Souls Procession Workshops are more than just free public workshops, they are the very life-blood of the Procession community. Participants from all walks of life from 9 to 90 meet and create unique projects there for the All Souls Procession. By volunteering, you are making a valuable contribution not only to the Procession itself but to the individuals of the community who will utilize the resources of our workshops this season, helping them to achieve their vision of what the Procession can be.
These are basic descriptions of the various areas and their duties. More information on these positions will be gladly given to those interested in becoming part of the team at aspvolunteers@gmail.com.
• We are very pleased to announce that Procession of Little Angels Costuming, Spirit Group Ambassadors, and the All Souls Procession Workshops all have found new host homes for their respective events and gatherings in the weeks leading up to Procession night!
The now-under-renovation and soon-to-be-open Maker House has VERY graciously offered to host both PoLA Costuming and Spirit Group Ambassador rehearsals at their amazing and beautiful space in the historic Bates Mansion in downtown Tucson at 283 N. Stone Ave! This is really exciting for us and we hope it will be a long, mutually beneficial relationship for all involved. Little Angels Costuming will be held Sunday afternoons from 1 pm to 4 pm and Wednesday evenings from 6 pm to 9 pm October 6 through the 30th. Community Spirit Group Ambassador Rehearsals will be Tuesday evenings from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm the 8th through the 29th. If you’re interested in participating with the Urn Ambassadors this year, connect with Spirit Group co-director/volunteer coordinator Melanie Cooley at aspvolunteers@gmail.com for more information.
As for this year’s All Souls Procession Workshops, they will be held at the 105-year old Steinfeld Warehouse at 101 W. 6th st, again in downtown Tucson, thanks to the folks at the Warehouse Arts Management Organization! Dates to be announced, so stay tuned to our websites and social media for details as they develop!
• This year’s round of summer Circus Camp sessions at our own Tucson Circus Arts is presently in full swing and at maximum capacity! Over 100 students are attending four sessions of camp this year that include aerial acrobatics, stilt dancing, martial staff, clowning, acro-yoga, tumbling, samba and taiko. We were blessed with returning instructors from Flam Chen, Odaiko Sonora, Flight School and The Wonderfools, and we welcomed new instructors Ariella Gladstein, Forest Berger and Mike Larriva and new classes in staff-spinning and hand balance!
Also proud to say our first week Stilt Class presented their dance set at Second Saturdays held atop the Pennington garage to a happy crowd and second week graduates performed at the Mansfield Park Juneteenth Festival! Recitals on June 22nd and June 29th are open to the public and will be held at Rhythm Industry, 1013 South Tyndall Avenue. Come out to support our awesome Circus Camp graduates!
A good portion of the profits from Circus Camp have gone to help finish off the debt on the previous year’s All Souls Procession these past few years, so we are grateful for the packed sessions in addition to the reward of teaching new generations the arts of circus performance.
• And now, we wish to announce The Cardboard Ball, coming the night of September 27 to Steinfeld Warehouse at 101 W. 6th St in Tucson, produced by our own Mykl Wells who facilitates the All Souls Procession Workshops!
The Cardboard Ball is the annual fundraiser for the All Souls Procession Workshops, a cardboard art and dance party now in its second year! Local artists are invited to create pieces of art out of cardboard and attendees are encouraged to wear amazing cardboard fashions and dance the night away to the tune-spinning of some great local Djs!
The All Souls Procession Workshops represent the best of Tucson, free and open to the public over the 5 weeks leading up to the Procession. Though they are nominally free, like all else Procession-related they of course require funding to make manifest. With the money we raise at the Cardboard Ball we are able to buy materials, pay for workshop space and promote the workshops to the public. It’s great fun and this year promises to be the best ever!
• We have created a new website –www.allsoulsmedia.org– dedicated to the ongoing work of the All Souls Procession’s media circle photographers! Here is your one-stop info hub for everything related to Procession photography work, including all you need to know about the annual Photo Competition. Whether you’re interested in becoming involved with the Media Circle, entering the photo competition, or just want to see a few superlative examples of Procession photography, click on over and have a look!
• Lastly, we are very happy to announce that the brand new Sol Axé samba troupe has become a subsidiary project within the Many Mouths One Stomach festal family! Sol Axé will carry on with the mission of bringing Afro-Brazilian drum and dance to the people of Tucson.
Sol Axé is headed up by former assistant director for Batucaxé/now creative director Terry Tauzin, and dance director Esteban Sanchez, with Sarah Emert, Jeff Tauzin and Jaimie Lindsay as assistant directors and Bete Jones teaching Sunday dance class (along with occasional guest teachers) at Rhythm Industry Performance Factory.
The partnership with Many Mouths One Stomach is a natural fit, with Sol Axé fostering community through public celebration and collective joy. As a 501c3 non-profit organization, MMOS extends to Sol Axé the same non-profit status, and in turn the efforts of Sol Axé afford MMOS benefit with regard to grant writing presentation.
Sol Axé fully supports the MMOS mission of supporting festal culture, and is open and inclusive to anyone who would like the opportunity to learn how to play or dance to the music of Brazil and beyond. You can find them at www.solaxe.org or “Sol Axe Tucson” on Facebook.
The relationship will no doubt be a fruitful one for both groups and we hope to see it continue for many, many years!
Have a great summer everyone, stay cool and stay tuned! All Souls Procession season will be here before you know it….