Springtime greetings, friends! Here’s all the latest news we have for you as the season of life renewal cycles back around throughout the desert southwest:
• First, we want to remind you that coming up in just a few short days (Saturday, March 30th) we’ll be hosting the 2nd annual Moctoberfest Spring Carnival, a fundraiser for the All Souls Procession! Moctoberfest will again be held at the Mercado San Agustin, located at 100 S. Avenida del Convento and Congress just west of 1-10. Admission is only $5 and kids under 10 years old are free with paying adults! Of course, as a benefit for All Souls Procession, if you’d like to offer more as donation, by all means please do!
And what will you get in return, aside from supporting your Procession? Quite a lot! Presently we have the following performers on the line-up for your amazement and amusement:
Flam Chen, Chicha Dust, Vox Urbana, Tom Heavy, the Missing Parts, Black Ginger, The Birds of War, Flight School, Tucson Circus Arts instructor Katherine Celeste & Aerial Crew, aerial acts by Air Loom, Mamaxé (West African dance), Planet Djembe, the Circus Electric (Tesla Coil stunts with Carl Nagual & Co.), DJ Carl Hanni, Burlesque Cabaret including Skirt Full of Fire, magicians Kenny Stewart & Nate Anderson (The Brothers Macabre), Richard Noel of Sticks n Fingers, Tygel Pint (flute/beatbox), Saguaro Stompers (clog dancing), DJ Joshua Pocolips, Orbital Evolution, Flight School, STWTS DJ Matthew Cassidy, DJ Fix aka Adam Gilliland, Oud with Michael Henderson, Phaebulous Phoebulous, Moisafari Shadow Box Theater and possibly more to be announced!
AND: afternoon workshops with Flight School (Partner Yoga), Mamaxe (West African Dance), Saguaro Stompers (American clog dance), Orbital Evolution (hula hoops), Tucson Circus Arts (aerial silks and various circus arts demos), Fire Mecca & Morning Fyre -PHX (poi and glow/flow/fire-spinning arts), and possibly more to be announced!
PLUS: a dunking booth, a giant swing, an huge inflatable slide, Open Fire Circle, and possibly more to be announced!
All this in addition to vendors, artisans and a beer garden….for ONLY $5!
At such a low price, we’re hoping that many of you will come out for a memorable day of fun and foolery and support the All Souls Procession!
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• The debt on last year’s All Souls Procession still stands at roughly $14,000. While we hope that the profits from Moctoberfest will help to settle some of that, it is unlikely that they will provide for the entire sum remaining. Flam Chen’s post-Valentine’s Chicken Sisters benefit show for the Procession on February 16th at the Whistle Stop Depot, though a great evening, was not a profitable event, unfortunately.
We want to reiterate that if everyone who attended the All Souls Procession Weekend were to give a mere $2 or $3 –and these days the estimates of attendance are in the 30,000 to 50,000 range, in the streets and at the finale site– this simple contribution would likely more than cover the cost each year. That’s all it takes. Then what we would have is an event that is powered entirely by all its constituents, a true grassroots-driven experience that is open to everyone, created by and for the community. How beautiful! Everyone is participating, everyone is collaborating, everyone is creating this celebration of life, death and love that brings so many different people together each year to share in our common human spirit.
If you haven’t yet given a few dollars and the All Souls Procession provides you with some kind of fulfillment or joy –even if that only means watching it all go by from the sidewalks– please do help. You can also help by putting this same word out there along with us, letting people know of the need and the ease of which it can be attained if all of us are participating. To help, go to the donation page at our website to submit a contribution by Paypal or Network For Good; or submit a check to us via snail-mail made out to Many Mouths One Stomach at P.O. Box 15, Tucson, AZ. 85702.
Typically what happens each year is that the proceeds from our Tucson Circus Arts summer Circus Camp pay off the last seven or so thousand dollars of the previous year’s Procession debt. We are very much looking forward to the day when this will not be necessary and those funds can be put toward something different! We want to aim for this year’s All Souls Procession to be paid for by New Year’s Eve, and in 2014 to have raised the money to pay the bills by the end of that very same Procession Weekend! We can do this….together!
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• And on the subject of the TCA’s summer Circus Camp, registration for this year’s sessions is now open! There will again be two separate sessions. Circus Camp is held at Rhythm Industry, 1013 S. Tyndall Ave in Tucson.
On the camp curriculum for this year is poi-spinning, stilting, aerial dance, juggling, walking globe, tightrope-walking, hand-balancing and other acrobatics….and possibly more to be announced!
Session 1 is one to three weeks long and you can sign your child up for any or all of them, though we recommend at least two weeks to gain a solid grasp on the skills taught. Week 1 –for all skill levels– is June 3rd-7th, week 2 is June 10th-14th, week 3 is June 17th-21st , and a recital for the session 1 students will be held June 22nd.
Session 2/Week 4 –held June 24th-28th– will be a special new Circus Camp for Advanced levels. Students participating in this special session must have attended 3 previous camp sessions or other equivalent alternative circus training. Session 2 students will work together to create a cohesive piece of group theater to be presented at their recital, which will be held on June 29th.
The base cost of Circus Camp is $200 per week and $25 per week for stilt rental, which can be applied toward stilt purchase if so desired.
TCA provides two healthy snacks a day and fresh, purified water. We do have a clean kitchen with refrigeration available for storage of lunch. Lunches can also be purchased each morning before signing in.
So whether you’re a kid (at least 7 years old) or a kid at heart (adults can sign on, too), come run away and join the circus with us!
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• We are very happy to announce that thanks to the joint assistance of Tucson Pima Arts Council and Visit Tucson, the money that MMOS needed to raise for a tax study of the All Souls Procession Weekend’s impact on Tucson’s revenues has been secured! It was an appreciable sum to come up with, particularly given our current “in the red” status on last year’s Procession, so we are grateful for the help this partnership has rendered us.
What is the significance of having such a tax study done, and just what is it in the first place? The study –which would basically consist of interviews with the people pertinent to the study’s subject– would be carried out by a research service we hire to demonstrate to the City of Tucson the economic impact of the All Souls Procession Weekend on businesses such as hotels, restaurants, transportation services, and consequently on city revenues. This we hope will in turn provide MMOS with some future reciprocal benefit from the City of Tucson to help with the expense of producing the All Souls Procession.
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• Last but in no way least, we want to tell you about the upcoming All Souls Procession Community Gathering to be held at Cirque Roots (17 E. Toole Ave) on Sunday, April 7th from 3 pm to 5 pm, and to invite you all to attend.
This gathering is for you –everyone who attends and who loves the Procession. It’s a chance for us all to re-connect in the months outside the event season and to learn from each other about this wonderful, magnificent thing that we share and care for together; to hear the news of what’s happening with it and what it takes to make it go, to brainstorm the challenges, to inspire each other, and to learn how to become more involved in helping to make it stronger and sustainable for future generations to benefit from.
When we talk about All Souls Procession being a grassroots-driven event produced by and for the community, this is what we mean! It’s a participatory process, not only on first weekends in November but year-round, and we need you to be part of the family. Many Mouths One Stomach is just a motley bunch of dreamers organized as a non-profit to help steward such a large-scale event and ensure its continuance. We love what the Procession is and what it does for people and for our community. As someone who feels the Procession does some kind of good for you, you too share in that vested interest. So come join us, fellow dreamers. The All Souls Procession needs you!
If you can’t join us on the 7th (or even if you do intend to), we’d love if you took a moment to give us your feedback and tell us about your experience of the Procession here at http://tinyurl.com/aspcommunity. What you share there will help shape the discussion at the Community Gathering and inform Many Mouths One Stomach.
While this gathering is on the same day as the great Cyclovia, we hope those who are coming downtown to participate in that fantastic event will pop on over to Cirque Roots while you’re in the neighborhood; when Cyclovia wraps up at 3, we’ll just be getting started. Do come!
See you all there, friends! And be sure to come enjoy a day of fun and foolery at Moctoberfest on March 30th if you’re able, and support your Procession!
Much love,
Many Mouths One Stomach