April 13-May 13: City as Canvas with free art and innovation programs
May 11-12: Ticketed Music Festival with 50+ bands

Tom Tom Fest Art Series Focuses on Community Creativity

April 18, 2012 | By: pbeyer | Tags: arts, mcguffey, city as canvas

April 18, 2012

The Tom Tom Founders Festival of music, art and innovation, taking place in Charlottesville from Apr. 13 to May 13, today announced details of its free series of arts events. The series, part of a month of free public events known as the "City as Canvas", and sponsored by the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau, features two free community days, TTFF Artists in Residence, and collaborations with various local arts groups including the Charlottesville Jazz Society and the Piedmont Council of the Arts.

The two largest events are the community days at the McGuffey Art Center on April 13 and the IX Project on May 13. The McGuffey event, which took place on Friday, April 13, featured a 13 band block party and a street food fair.


Nick Strocchia Photography

The IX Project, a 17 acre site downtown, will host the concluding community concert on Sunday, May 13 (Mother’s Day) in collaboration with the Music Resource Center (MRC) and First Baptist on West Main Street. In addition to children’s games, “Field Day” activities, food, and public art, there will be student performances from the MRC featuring original student hip-hop, rap and dance. The day will also feature performances from professional musicians in gospel, r&B, bluegrass and rock. Darlene Vango, a gospel performer and winner of the WUVA 92.7 Kiss FM 2012 Talent Competition, will sing. Pastor Hodari Hamilton of First Baptist will host the Gospel portion. Additional acts will be released later in the month.


The month of Arts programming will highlight two Artists in Residence:

- Ed Miller & Kate Daughdrill. Ed Miller is a visiting professor in UVA’s Fine Art Department. The public sculpture Ed is creating on April 13 & May 13 will ultimately be placed at Baker-Butler Elementary School. He will be giving a talk about his work on April 23 at 7PM at Tom Tom Headquarters (105 S. 1st St).
http://www.tomtomfest.com/events/evententry/ed-miller-sculpture

Ed Miller at McGuffey
Billy Emory Photography

- Detroit-based Kate Daughdrill has been featured in national publications numerous times for her community engagement work. Daughdrill will be creating public street art from April 19-22 on the Downtown Mall and adjacent streets with a bird-seed stencil. Daughdrill will lead a workshop as part of Tom Tom on April 22 at the Garage (250 1st St N) to discuss her process.
http://www.tomtomfest.com/events/evententry/kate-daughdrill

Festival Director, Paul Beyer, notes: “Tom Tom arts is an exhibition of the City’s creativity and hospitality to artists. One reason Tom Tom is a month long is so that the stage can be opened up to everyone.” All Arts events are free.

Tom Tom is also collaborating with a number of arts and community organizations throughout the month. “The intention was to take what everyone was already doing,” Beyer notes, “And join it together into something larger and cohesive.” Partner events include:

• Latte Art Competition. 4/21 – Para Coffee sponsors competition with barristas across the commonwealth. (Para Coffee, 7-9PM)
• Poetry Competition – 4/24 – Poets from around the City square off in an hour long writing contest followed by a performance of all work created. Co-sponsored by Presence, Para Coffee, and Verbs & Vibe (Tom Tom Headquarters, 6:30-9:00)
• Jazz From the Library Steps – 4/26 – In conjuction with Jazz Appreciation month and the Charlottesville Jazz Society, a free live jazz performance and a jazz film screening. (5:30-7:00)
• School of Rock Workshop – 5/6 – Local photographer Tom Daly will give a workshop to aspiring entertainment photographers, with skills that can be put to use in the festival weekend! (Tom Tom Headquarters, 7PM)

Full details and schedule at http://www.tomtomfest.com/city-as-canvas

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Nick Strocchia Photography