Ready. Set. Go. It’s time for Edible Lotus!

The annual fundraising event for the Lotus Education & Arts Foundation is Friday, May 11. Come out, have some fun with friends old and new, and help support Lotus programming while you’re at it. Here’s what’s happening at this year’s EL:

Lots of good food and drink, and a raffle for five years’ worth of Festival tickets. Check event details here. It’s tapas-style, with lots of tastes to explore. Edible Lotus takes place this year on the beautiful grounds of Deer Park Manor, and we’re expecting gorgeous spring weather.

A pretty fabulous silent auction, with items to accommodate every wallet size — from beautiful (and affordable) bling created by local artisans, to home decor, to rare plants. We’ve got some delicious culinary adventures with local chefs; hand-dyed fabrics and handwoven treasures. You’ll find Lotus goodies, too, including parade flags, silks, letterpress prints, Festival DVDs by Duane Busick, and world music CD collections. And lots, lots more. Pictured above, some Edible Lotus silent auction schwag: detail from a small mixed media canvas by painter Linda Meyer-Wright; Chinese stone Buddha head; and a delicate beeswax Lotus candle by Sally Brinser.

Lotus cufflinks, made from Festival pins. Courtesy of Laura Plummer.

We’ll have performances and diversions, too: flute and piano from Minjoo Ji and Yea Ji Lee; accordion music with Svetla Vladeva and In Accord; vocals from Kaia; hooping with the Hudsucker Posse; Chinese calligraphy; and mehndi (henna body art) by Gopi.

Come to the party; bring your friends; and help support Lotus!

• When: Friday, May 11, 6-10 p.m.
• Where: Deer Park Manor (1501 E. Hillside)
• Admission: In advance, $50 (tickets available at Bloomingfoods); at the door, $65

. . . and it’s a beauty. The Lotus brain is one of 22 enormous fiberglass sculptures created for the Brain Extravaganza, a community art event driven by Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor, author of My Stroke of Insight. They’ll be on display in and around Bloomington from May 4 through October 15, 2012, to help raise awareness and appreciation of the amazing human brain. The Extravaganza will focus on education about the brain, too, using these beautiful works of art as inspiration.

Merridee ponders the placement of another hand.

With artist Merridee LaMantia, Jill is creating the Lotus Brain, “sponsored in loving memory of Dr. Kat Domingo, who dedicated her life to the creation and documentation of world music,” says Jill. “Volunteering and participating in the Lotus Festival brought Kat true joy and was a priority in her life.”

The Lotus Brain: drum head, hands, Lotus T's

As they contemplated a design, the two artists decided to think of the brain as “the mother drum,” says Merridee. The top is the drum head, with silhouetted hands (based on the outline of Merridee’s mother’s hands) playing the instrument. Inside the large hands and on other parts of the sculpture are smaller hand-prints, cut from fabric from all over the world. “It’s like the world’s hands,” says Merridee. There are 200 hand-prints in total, cut by students in the Bloomington North High School Fabric Arts class.

A closer view of the Lotus brain design

Fabric medallions from vintage Festival T-shirts form a decorative band; the base of the brain will have footprints. The sculpture also includes the word “peace” in languages from around the world. At the base, on the brain stem, is the first-year Lotus T-shirt design. “It’s the place of honor,” says Jill.

Get a first glimpse of the Lotus brain — and all of the other Extravaganza brains — at the launch party on April 28; more info here.

Thanks to everyone — our fabulous visiting artists, the enthusiastic students and teachers, our sponsors and volunteers — who made this year’s Lotus Blossoms Educational Outreach so memorable. We made it to 13 schools this year, and four other locations, including Stone Belt. The Bazaar (hosted by Binford Elementary) was a blast, as usual. Pictured above: some of the signs we use to steer visiting students back to their buses at the end of their Bazaar experience.

Los Llaneros at Bloomington Montessori

Our archive of images is still building, and we’ll post a gallery soon to showcase some of the fun. We’re already looking forward next year!

Students talk to members of the Giving Back to Africa Student Association, make bookmarks with Congolese fabrics, and learn more about the Democratic Republic of Congo

Each spring, we welcome a pair of graduate assistants from the IU Arts Administration program into the fold. For a year, they’re part of Team Lotus, and their first assignment is Lotus Blossoms. This year’s grad duo: Darlene González and Sarah Lempke.

Darlene is an administrative assistant and a member of the Lotus Blossoms Bazaar planning committee. In addition to managing an online teacher resource site for the Bazaar, Darlene is working with Development Director Kristin Varella as we upgrade our donor database.

Darlene González

A native of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Darlene has a BA in Music and Entrepreneurial Management from the University of Iowa, focusing on vocal studies (she is a coloratura soprano). Now in her first year at IU, she’s working on a dual masters in Arts Administration and Public Affairs. Post-IU and Lotus, she hopes to work with music and cultural affairs, ideally at a local government level.

“I’ve been interested in foreign cultures from a young age,” says Darlene, “and that’s one reason I’m happy to be involved with Lotus. Being a musician, and loving world culture — loving world music comes as no surprise.” Already multi-lingual, Darlene is auditing a course in Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian. She’s a fan of music from Celtic and Middle Eastern culture, but also loves Latin and Spanish traditional music. “Those are my roots,” she says.

Sarah Lempke

Grad assistant Sarah Lempke is our Lotus Blossoms coordinator, managing the full schedule of artists’ visits. Sarah is the hub of a small but intense communications network and works closely with Executive Director Lee Williams, performing artists, and school administrators, addressing logistical issues and putting together a full suite of materials for artists’ itineraries. By the time we get to Lotus Blossoms week, she has talked to many (many) teachers, principals, and school administrators to pull the program together.

Sarah is from Aurora, Indiana, and earned a B.A. in Music at the University of Louisville. She is an oboist, and says, “My love of music and the arts led me to the IU Arts Administration program.” Since moving to Bloomington, Sarah has worked with Miah Michaelsen at BEAD developing an Open Studio Tour event with a visual arts guild. In addition to working at Lotus, Sarah also is working at the Shiisa Quilts shop, coordinating special events, developing social media contacts, and assisting in public relations projects.

“Scheduling Blossoms is a unique opportunity to develop event planning skills and meet people in the community,” says Sarah. “I’m especially dedicated to the mission of Lotus Blossoms — bringing world musicians to schools.” She graduates in December, and  hopes to continue working in artistic planning for visual or performing arts venues.

In addition to our presenting sponsor, the Raymond Foundation — and the local businesses who step up to help underwrite our outreach – the Lotus Blossoms sponsor list includes many “Adopt-a-School” donors, all of whom want to help bring the Lotus experience of world music and arts into schools.

This year, Adopt-a-School donations come from donors in ten states.

They are Lotus volunteers, former graduate assistants and board members, current board members and staff, and simply fans of the Festival who believe that bringing a little Lotus into a school can make a difference in the lives of our kids. Their contributions make up 45% of the total Lotus Blossoms budget.

Deb Hutton (pictured above, in yellow shirt) volunteering at the Lotus Blossoms Bazaar

Deb Hutton is a Lotus Blossoms volunteer, a former board member, and a long-time Blossoms donor. As Assistant Director of IU’s Center for the Study of Global Change, she works with educators and students at IU and across the country to develop greater awareness of global issues in Indiana school curricula. “It’s easy for me to give to Blossoms and Adopt-a-School,” she says. “Since schools can’t up and travel the world, Blossoms is the next best thing, bringing the world’s music and cultures right to them. When a group of artists from another culture [for example, this year’s Los Llaneros, from Venezuela] performs on students’ home turf, you’ve got a dynamic and immediate experience of ‘world culture.’”

Los Llaneros at Marlin Elementary School, Lotus Blossoms 2008

One way Deb contributes to Blossoms is via a “giving group” – a cohort of friends and acquaintances brought together under one umbrella. “It’s fun,” says Deb, “and it feels worthy to give to Blossoms in common cause with friends. I also feel that that my humble contribution is magnified in the power of the giving group.”

A Rwandan musician performs for students at Helmsburg Elementary School in Helmsburg, Indiana

Laura Hammack has seen the effects of a Lotus outreach program first hand. As an elementary school principal in Brown County and, now, a school system administrator in the Indianapolis suburb of Beech Grove, she has been instrumental in bringing Lotus Blossoms artists to her students. “A Blossoms performance instantly transforms the climate of a school. It leaves students and staff with new cultural and musical perspectives, and a rejuvenated spirit.” In 2007, while at Helmsburg Elementary School in rural Brown County, Laura scheduled a performance by Rwandan percussionist Jean-Paul Samptu and his ensemble for her students.

“Everyone was elated,” she recalls. “Lotus Blossoms changes a traditional school day and encourages students to continue to explore unfamiliar arts and cultures long after the performance is over. I support Lotus Blossoms as a donor because I’ve had the opportunity to witness the way this unique educational art programming has fundamentally changed the world view of boys and girls.”

See a complete list of Lotus Blossoms sponsors, donors, and giving groups here. You can be part of the Lotus Blossoms support team – just use the “Donate” button at left!

It happens every year around this time: crocuses emerge, the sun hangs around longer in the afternoon sky, we shake off winter — and start thinking about Blossoms. As in “Lotus Blossoms,” the Lotus Education and Arts Foundation’s annual educational outreach program.

Lotus Outreach: A Quick Backstory

In the first few years of the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival (mid- to late-1990s), outreach events for children were part of the schedule: a Youth Music Extravaganza (performances by student choirs from Bloomington schools), an interactive cultural bazaar, and special performances for families.

The Festival grew, and keeping the Bazaar and other outreach events on Lotus weekend became a serious logistical challenge. And then, in 2001, the Indiana Department of Education moved ISTEP school testing into the fall. We said: “It’s time to swing into spring.” And that’s when Lotus Blossoms was born.

Binford students staff the "Binford Ambassadors" table at the Bazaar

Lotus Blossoms Today

By committing to a separate, springtime event for outreach, Lotus was able to use the Bazaar as the anchor event for expanded programming that reached directly into schools, to young audiences. This program takes the Lotus experience directly to young students in our part of Indiana. It’s their very own Lotus, delivered directly to their gym or auditorium.

90% of Lotus Blossoms takes place in schools. Since it began in 2001, the program has served more than 93,000 young people — and we will exceed 100,000 this year.

The Bazaar itself found a home at Binford Elementary.  The event (still organized by a committee of volunteers) is populated with presenters from across the community, drawing on the multinational population of IU’s staff and student body as well as diverse community organizations without outreach missions of their own. Dive into this year’s Lotus Blossoms Bazaar

Watching Tibetan monks create sand mandalas at the Lotus Blossoms Bazaar

Originally designed by a committee of teachers, artists, and other volunteers, the Bazaar is  two days of finely tuned, joyous semi-chaos. On Friday, it’s open only to fourth-graders; on Saturday, all are welcome to attend. This bustling mini-festival of cultures, folks traditions, arts and crafts, languages, countries, and people is what “Lotus” means to thousands of students in Monroe County.

Learning about yurts at the Blossoms Bazaar

“From the start, it was fantastic. Awesome, in every sense,” recalls Lotus Executive Director Lee Williams. “Kids running from one place to another, making art, talking to IU students from different countries. Getting their ‘passports’ stamped. It’s their version of the Festival.”

The second big piece of Lotus Blossoms — bringing performing artists into schools — is also easier when it’s separate from an over-stuffed festival schedule. The focus is on Monroe County, but schools withing a 60-mile service area often host visiting artists: Brown, Morgan, Owen, Lawrence, and Greene counties — and even Beech Grove (an Indianapolis suburb) — have been part of Lotus Blossoms.

Funding comes from grants, modest fees to schools that host artists, and many, many individuals and groups.

“Unlike the festival, there are no ticketed events that provide revenue,” says Williams. “We keep the public events free, and fees to schools as low as we can. Without private support, Lotus Blossoms wouldn’t happen.” He adds, “I’m a donor. In fact, all of our staff are donors.”

Rwandan percussion at Bloomington High School North

Even a modest fee is problematic for some schools in the current economic climate. “Our dream is, one day, to get Lotus Blossoms into schools free of charge,” says Williams. “We aren’t there yet, but it’s something we’re working toward.”

The first decade of Lotus Blossoms in schools has had plenty of highlights: world music superstars Huun-Huur Tu performing at Harmony School; Rwandan percussionist Jean-Paul Samputu bringing high-school students to their feet in an impromptu mosh pit at Bloomington High School North; Australian Paul Taylor teaching a do-it-yourself didjeridoo workshop at IU’s Collins Center; the great voice of South Africa, Vusi Mahlasela, speaking to high school students about Apartheid and Nelson Mandela.

Australian storyteller Paul Taylor visit Hoosier Courts Nursery School

This year, Lotus brings Latin American trio Los Llaneros (here for Blossoms 2008) and the duo Keith Terry and Evie Ladin (body music, percussive dance, old-time banjo).

With Lotus Blossoms, the priority is programming for young people, in schools, but there are always events for the general public — performances, demonstrations, or workshops.  “At Lotus Blossoms,” says assistant director LuAnne Holladay, “it’s always possible – in fact, it’s encouraged – to ask guest artists questions and try to get to know them a bit. That’s something that the schedule of the Festival doesn’t accommodate. It’s one of the things that makes Blossoms special.” Check out the schedule of public events

Paul Taylor leads a didjeridoo-making (and playing) workshop at the Collins LIving-Learning Center on the IU campus

The 2012 Lotus Blossoms Educational Outreach Program is presented by the Raymond Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the Bloomington Arts Commission and City of Bloomington. Lotus Blossoms is also sponsored by the Lotus Hertling Education Fund, Airtime Recording Studio, Bloomingfoods, Indiana University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), St. John Associates, IU Health Southern Indiana Pediatrics, and Adopt-a-School Donors and Giving Groups. More on the sponsors who make Lotus Blossoms possible

2012 Lotus Blossoms poster art by Terry Howe

Each year, we recruit a small group of volunteer photographers to document Lotus — while videographer Duane Busick covers the digital video side. Below, you’ll find a small cross-section of their photos of the action on and around the stages of the 18th annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. This year’s photo corps included Kevin Atkins, Gerry Girman, Pat Glushko, Paula Grez, Elizabeth Hershey, Jim Krause, Andy Qualls, and Michael Redman. Thanks to all for capturing Lotus, frame by frame. {Pictured above: Movits! photographed by Paula Grez}

To peruse Duane Busick’s Lotus video archive, visit our YouTube channel.

[Show as slideshow]

One of our sponsors and outreach partners is Indiana University’s Collins Living-Learning Center. Associate Director Yara Clüver talks about the Lotus-Collins connection.

Yara Clüver is an artist, educator, researcher, advocate, mother – and during her working hours, Associate Director of Indiana University’s Collins Living-Learning Center. There, she both teaches and helps coordinate the co-curricular and extra-curricular programming and facilities managed by the Collins Arts Council – one of the Center’s many student-run governing bodies.

“The core values of Collins are academic engagement, diversity, community, student empowerment, and sustainability,” explains Yara. “We bring these values to life by offering our residents broad opportunities to explore their creativity, leadership potential, and ways to give back to the community.”

Established in the 1970s as a unique collaboration between IU’s Residential Programs Services and the College of Arts & Sciences, Collins was one of the university’s first living-learning centers. “It has a long tradition of fostering students’ engagement and involvement in determining their own academic careers,” says Yara.

She contends that “creativity” should be included as one of the core values of Collins. “Our students are very engaged and motivated…. When people think about Collins, they talk about the ‘artsy dorm,’ and while I don’t like to perpetuate those stereotypes, people interested in the arts and in extra-curricular activities that involve creative thinking and problem-solving … there is a way in which those interests mesh.”

Australian storyteller and musician Paul Taylor leads a didjeridoo workshop at Collings Living-Learning Center, 2008

In addition to supporting the festival, Collins has also hosted an artist workshop through the Lotus Blossoms program. Clüver recalls, “We did a didgeridoo-making workshop with Paul Taylor [in 2008]. It was one of our most popular events. We would love to bring more of these events into Collins.”

Each IU Residence Hall is associated with a community organization, and the Collins Living-Learning Center is a longstanding partner in the Middleway House Rise Kids children’s program and through the Collins Community Involvement group. “Collins is also an active partner in the IU Themester sustainability program,” says Clüver.

“When we get a proposal from an organization like Lotus, I talk to Arts Council members about the relevance of supporting things that we feel are important – and the students love going to the Festival,” Yara laughs. “But it also is a way of getting our name out there and letting people know what Collins stands for and what we believe.”

Well, 2011 is almost history — and we’re in a reflective mood. It’s a perfect time to look back and (what else?) make a list of highlights. Here are twelve reasons we had a great year.

1. Binford and Lotus Days at the Lotus Blossoms World Bazaar

It was our first proclamation: Mayor Mark Kruzan acknowledged a decade of partnership between Lotus and the Binford Elementary School, which has hosted our annual Lotus Blossoms Bazaar since 2002. In the Mayor’s words, “Binford and Lotus have worked together to help young people in Monroe County learn more about the amazing varied cultures of the world, paving the way for a lifetime of learning and appreciation of other peoples and their customs.”

Getting the feel of new languages and alphabets and the 2011 Lotus Blossoms Bazaar

• Here’s all you need to know about Lotus Blossoms – in less than 11 minutes.  
• For more Blossoms goodness, see graduate assistant Kathryn Rudolph’s Bazaar gallery, and a kids-eye-view of the Lotus Blossoms Bazaar.

2. Our sixth year of endowment building with the Matchstick Initiative

Each year since 2006, we’ve qualified to participate in this endowment-building project sponsored by the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County. So far, we’ve added $65,000+ to the Lotus-Fitzgerald Endowment Fund via this initiative. It’s a challenge for smaller nonprofits to do the all-important work of saving for the future – but Matchstick makes it possible by providing a matching-funds program for donors. You give, Matchstick gives, and Lotus’s future looks brighter ever year. Give now to the Lotus-Fitzgerald Endowment — just write “Endowment” in the “Designate my donation” box.

Mavis on stage at Lotus 2011; photo by Ann Schertz

3. Mavis

This year’s Lotus World Music and Arts Festival opened with a sold-out concert by the legendary Mavis Staples – a true headliner, at a festival that rarely has one. It was a show we’ll always remember.

4. Times are tough, but our sponsors came through.

We thank this year’s sponsors and individual donors for sustaining us:

• Lotus Blossoms presenting sponsor the Raymond Foundation, Adopt-a-School sponsors, and everyone else who supported our educational outreach programming
• The folks who came to Edible Lotus, our annual fundraiser
• Our festival presenting sponsors – Bloomingfoods, Indiana University–Bloomington, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA grant is the result of a group application made with a consortium of Midwest festivals working together to bring international performing artists to the U.S.
• Our Friends of Lotus donors – individuals who support our mission with annual gifts. You can give here and now, by the way — the tax-deductible donations of Friends of Lotus support our operations and programming throughout the year.

This year's Edible Lotus signature art by Deborah Klein

5. The Edible Lotus Night Bazaar

We changed up our annual fundraiser, from a sit-down affair to tapas, and a silent auction that ran the gamut from repurposed vintage Lotus T’s made into shoulder bags, to a Qing dynasty head of a Buddha.

A Lotus "tiny house" in the festival Arts Vilage; photo by Paula Grez

6. It was a good year for Lotus visual arts.

We started with a string of workshops with community groups, making a couple hundred banners that became the walls of a Community Labyrinth in the Festival’s Arts Village. This year also marked the return of the gallery exhibition to festival visual arts: “Woven Treasures,” works from the collection of George Malacinski and Kirstine Lindemann.

Graduate interns Emma Seeley and Kathy Varble wrote brief posts about their experiences with Lotus Visual Arts this year, and you can check out a gallery of Festival arts images.

Look for BTown Lotus again in 2012

7. BtownLotus

The creative team at the Bloomington tech firm WhimMill came up with a spiffy new app for fans who like their Lotus on the go. It worked for us, and it worked for them: they’re marketing the app – Rendezville – worldwide.

Volunteers at the Bazaar, ready and waiting for 1,000 or so 4th-graders

8. Our incredible volunteers.

From helping kids learn about world cultures at the Lotus Blossoms Bazaar, to setting tables at Edible Lotus, to taking down festival tents at 1 a.m., our Lotus volunteers are the best in the land. And that includes our dedicated board of directors, and the committee members who work behind the scenes to plan events. You rock. Every one of you. Full stop.

• Look back at the year in Lotus volunteering
• Watch graduate intern Alejandro Lance’s interviews with Festival volunteers

A Belle sways over Kirkwood Avenue on Lotus Saturday night; photo by Gerry Girman

9. The Three Belles

Thanks to the IU Auditorium and the Theatre and Drama Department, plein aire performance art and acrobatics were part of this year’s festival scene. The Belles are a creation of Australia’s Strange Fruit, and they defied icky weather to bring new experience to this year’s Lotus.

• The Three Belles perform on Kirkwood

Paul Taylor and some young "kangaroos" at the Bloomington Boys and Girls Club

10. Lotus Blossoms for 9,000 kids

Paul Taylor is officially in the Lotus Blossoms pantheon: thanks to him a few thousand kids in Bloomington know something about Australian Aboriginal dreamtime traditions. And thanks to Dennis Stroughmatt, all of us (Lotus staff included) discovered that, yes, there is a history of Creole culture in the Midwest. Dennis speaks articulately about the importance of Lotus Blossoms — and cultural exploration for Indiana students — in our Lotus Blossoms video.

Umbrellas of Lotus; photo by Michael Redman

11. Lotus in the Park. Even in the rain.

What to do, when you have to prepare a rained-on park for a couple of thousand Lotus fans? Two words: hay bales. Sure, it’s nice to have a gorgeous late-summer day for Lotus in the Park on festival weekend – but a little rain didn’t spoil a great day of music, dancing, and good Lotus vibes. Revisit Lotus in the Park with graduate intern Alejandra Lance’s look back at our day in the park.

Bomba Estéreo; photo by Elizabeth Hershey

12. The Festival — because it always surprises us.

We’re always excited about the roster and the schedule, and we have good guesses about which artists or groups will go over big. Bomba Estéreo? Check. Creole Choir of Cuba? Check. But who knew that Movits would blow the roof off two nights in a row? And then the Nordic string ensemble Frigg decided to spend some time with students in the IU String Academy – and invited them on stage during a performance. And lest we forget: Mavis Staples. And Three Belles in the rain. And Martha Sechler’s fine festival art. We could go on. And on.

• Take a look at this year’s Festival scrapbook for snapshots of your favorite artists
• Graduate assistant Wesley Lovell was this year’s artist liaison — here’s his report

Support Lotus programming –

Become a Friend of Lotus! Your tax-deductible donation helps us fulfill our mission: to create opportunities to experience, celebrate, and explore the diversity of the world’s cultures, through music and the arts. Right here in southern Indiana!