Pre-Festival activities provide an opportunity to learn from visual and performing artists who will be involved in the Festival. Pre-Festival workshops include opportunities for both young people and adults in a variety of artistic disciplines.

2010 offerings include:

Bugs & Balloons: Annie Hickman, with her husband Allynn Gooen, have created and toured with the novelty group Bugs & Balloons for more than 20 years. Annie brings her one-of-a-kind insect costumes to the Festival, and will train young dancers to animate these living sculptures as a walk-about act. Location, times, and dates to be determined.

Find out more about Bugs & Balloons (pdf)

Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa (Kampala, Uganda/Hampstead, MD): Kinobe (pronounced “Chi No Bé”) and his group, Soul Beat Africa, will be based at Quayle United Methodist Church during Festival week. Kinobe, a leading figure in African traditional and contemporary world music, will teach workshops in choral music, dance and drumming; culminating in a Sunday “Celebration of the Spirit” performance at the Festival.

Kinobe leads his listeners into the soul of African music with traditional instruments, songs, and stories from his homeland. These musicians represent the new vanguard of Ugandan performers, gifted instrumentalists steeped in the music of their homeland, but with ears opened to the sounds of the world at large. Join Kinobe for a variety of Festival experiences, including children’s performances, our “Sunday Celebration” and a drum circle!

Quayle United Methodist Church
725 Comanche Ave.

Schedule:
Wednesday, June 9th – 7 to 9 p.m.
Thursday, June 10 – 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Friday, June 11 – 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 12 – 7 to 9 p.m.
Sunday, June 13 – Celebration of the Spirit – 10 to 11 a.m. (Oakdale Park Stein Stage)

Find out more about Kinobe here (pdf) or visit Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa online

Trio Globo: Grammy-award winning artists Eugene Friesen, Howard Levy, and Glen Velez will be “in residence” performing Festival concerts and workshops in Kansas communities including Wichita, Lucas, McPherson, and Junction City, as an outreach component of the Festival. Watch for concerts and workshops in Salina, along with time spent in rehearsal with the Salina Symphony, in preparation for their special Friday collaboration on the Stein Stage at the Festival. Location, times, and dates to be determined.

Cast Iron Pour (June 5): Cast iron has become a more contemporary sculpting material in university settings throughout the last few years. Sculptor Ed Pogue, of Lindsborg, leads a team of instructors in a community demonstration. Located in downtown Salina, this event will take place on Saturday, June 5 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Area artists will participate, making smaller molds, while Pogue will create a large-scale sculptural form from melted cast iron. Come and observe this foundry-style pour in the vacant lot north of Bank of America on the corner of Santa Fe and Ash in Salina, KS.

Digital Time-based Installation (June 7-13): Kenneth Huff, of Savannah, GA, is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose organically inspired works span more than 15 years and have been included in more than 350 public showings throughout the world. Kenneth will create site-specific digital projection works to be featured in selected downtown area windows as temporary installation artworks. Huff will work with a local artist and will conduct a presentation at one of the installation sites. Each evening during festival week; 5:30 p.m., Bergen's Gallery, 320 North Santa Fe Avenue, Salina, KS.

Distance, Direction, Event (Cultural Markers): An extension of a 2009 installation by Wichita artist Elizabeth Stevenson, which celebrated Salina’s award-winning cultural institutions. Working through a series of creative conversations with artist Randy Regier, of Portland, Maine, Stevenson will construct exterior sculptural installations specific to each cultural community location. The sculptural installations will be in place for one year, creating a visual marker. May 31-June 7; location and time to be determined.

“Catch the Wave” (all summer): This passport is your ticket to great summer activities and your invitation to get into a free pool party at Salina’s new aquatic park, Kenwood Cove. Pick up a free “passport” at any of the seven participating cultural agencies, enjoy fun activities at each location, and have your passport stamped while you’re there. Your completed passport grants you access into an upcoming Kenwood Cove pool party later this summer. Participating agencies: Salina Art Center, Salina Community Theatre, Salina Public Library, Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure, Smoky Hill Museum, Smoky Hill River Festival, and Lakewood Discovery Center. Festival Stamping Location: Information Booths.

“Waiting in the Wings” (May 31-June 13): Lawrence muralist, David Loewenstein, presents this design that will function as a backdrop for the Campbell Plaza Stage in downtown Salina. The mural metaphorically references art education in Salina, how arts traditions are handed down, imagination, and growing up through the arts. The mural design incorporates details of one of Charles Shaver’s art deco decorations as an expression of creativity and vitality, along with reference photographs that were taken of Salina kids and adults. David, along with assistant, Debbie Wagner, will be painting the mural May 31-June 13. Community participation is invited and welcomed. Campbell Plaza Stage, downtown Salina; times to be determined.

Festival Families First (any time): Do you love the Festival? Help low-income families and persons with other needs attend the Festival by making a donation to this great program. Your donations will be used to purchase buttons for families that might not otherwise be able to attend. The Festival works with several reputable service agencies to identify families and distribute buttons. Give a dollar or what you can! Donations may be made by check (marked “Festival Families”) to: Smoky Hill River Festival, P.O. Box 2181, Salina, KS 67402-2181.

“Festival Quest” Medallion Search (June 1-June 10): Get into the Festival spirit with the second annual Festival Quest hidden medallion search. The treasure-hunt begins on June 1. Watch and listen to local media for daily clues leading to the hiding place. The Medallion prize package includes: $1,500 cash; $1,500 in Festival gift certificates (to be used at the Fine Art Show, Four Rivers Craft Market, and Craft Demonstration Area); Four Festival admission Buttons; and more. A complete list of Festival Quest rules is available here.