Community arts procession STRUT! scheduled for Saturday, May 2

Members of the public are invited to watch and participate with over 30 of Madison’s creative and cultural groups in STRUT!, a community arts procession showcasing stilt walking, dance, music, design, puppetry and more. The University of Wisconsin–Madison Arts Institute, the School of Human Ecology and the Madison Children’s Museum invite the public to view and participate in STRUT! on Saturday, May 2 around the Capitol Square.

The event will include special guests the Brooklyn Jumbies, a stilt dancing/walking group, and Tsitsistas/So’taeo’o (Northern Cheyenne) multidisciplinary artist Bently Spang, who holds an MFA from UW–Madison and will lead a “dance-off” at the Madison Children’s Museum after the procession. (Full program and schedule below.)

STRUT! is the culmination of Laura Anderson Barbata’s Spring 2015 Interdisciplinary Arts Residency and her course “Community Arts Practice.” For the past three months, Barbata and her students have been facilitating collaborations among groups on and off campus through weekly Community Conversations and community outreach, including hosting workshops at the Goodman Community Center and the Lussier Community Education Center and presentations at the Overture Center for the Arts. The Madison Children’s Museum has also been a key community partner and has hosted Barbata for numerous events and encouraged visitors to make masks and costumes for STRUT!

Those interested in participating are invited to make their own costume or attend an upcoming costume-making workshop. Click here for DIY costume instructions and a list of upcoming costume-making workshops.

Schedule:

• Procession: 2 p.m., Capitol Square (rain location: Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center a.k.a. The Shell, 1430 Monroe St.)
• Celebration and dance-off: 3-4:30 p.m., Madison Children’s Museum Funkyard, 100 N. Hamilton St. General admission: $8.00 (free for STRUT! participants)
• Meet & greet and book signing with Laura Anderson Barbata and the Brooklyn Jumbies: 5 p.m., The Edgewater (The Café), 1001 Wisconsin Pl.

For a full list of collaborators and confirmed participants along with an updated schedule, click here.