Lotus Workshops Around Town
Cicada Song – Mathers Museum (416 N Indiana Ave)
Frontera Bugalú – FAR Center (4th and Rogers)
Songwriting Workshop – MCPL (303 E Kirkwood)
The Lotus Festival schedule is packed! From performances with artists to interactive art exhibits. There’s something for every person of every age. Aside from performances, Lotus is holding several workshops around town with the artists! The best part? They’re all FREE!
1. Cicada Song – A Workshop/Demonstration of Music and Culture of the Dong (Kam) People of Southwestern China
Thursday, September 26 | 5:00 pm
Mathers Museum of World Cultures | 416 North Indiana Ave
Hosted by ethnomusicologist Mu Qian and performed by the Yandong Grand Singers, this workshop/demonstration will showcase Dong songs and their contexts, such as courting songs performed as part of young people’s social events. The musicians will also teach participants to sing songs like the Cicada Song, in which the singers imitate the flickering of cicadas’ wings with quick sextuplets. The event will be free and open to the public.
Sponsored by the Hamilton Lugar School East Asian Studies Center.
2. Frontera Bugalú Connecting Borders Community Celebration
Saturday, September 28 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Far Center for Contemporary Arts | 505 W. 4th St
Participate in an interactive workshop with Frontera Bugalú, learning rhythms of “border folk” music, along with some choruses to songs touching on social issues experienced by those who live on the Mexico/US border. This is a bilingual program in Spanish and English.
3. Songwriting Workshop with Sofía Viola & Dat Garcia
Sunday, September 29 | 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Monroe County Public Library | 303 E. Kirkwood Ave., Meeting Room 1C
All women and non-binary people are invited to learn songwriting from Lotus artist Sofía Viola with Dat Garcia on her debut U.S. tour. This is a bilingual program in Spanish and English, limited capacity, for women ages 12+. Instruments are not required, but encouraged. Register here.
In partnership with MidWay Music Speaks, a nonprofit that celebrates and connects women of all identities and non-binary people in music via promotion, empowerment and performance opportunities.
This engagement of Sofía Viola is funded through Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America, a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
