NOISE PERMIT

Every year, Ypsi youth attend workshops at the library and Ozone House, then perform what they learned on stage at a performance curated by teens and for teens that takes place in the downtown YDL-Michigan Park Plaza.

This year, you can attend online workshops to improve your digital music, photography, drawing, video editing, and lyric writing skills. Use what you learn to create music videos and digital art. Then share what you make as part of our online gallery of teen art in August.

Contact Kelly at [email protected] with questions. This activity is supported by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS and the NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.  

ARTIST BIOS

Jordan Anderson is a Black American improviser, composer and pianist based in Minneapolis. From an early age he was exposed to an array of Black music by his parents, and began taking piano lessons at seven. At eleven he was committed to focus on jazz and blues studies, seeking the mentorship of veteran improvisers in the area. Jordan studied with Benny Green, Andy Milne, and Robert Hurst at the University of Michigan, and he received his BFA in jazz studies this spring. Jordan has been an annual performer at the Twin Cities Jazz Festival and has also taken stage at the Iowa City Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival and Ann Arbor Jazz Festival, and jazz venues in Detroit and the Twin Cities. Recent collaborations include “Twin Cities Glass Bead Games Project”, a quartet dedicated to the music of Clifford Jordan and the Magic Triangle rhythm section consisting of Cedar Walton, Sam Jones and Billy Higgins, and “Sabbatical Bob”, an Ann Arbor based funk band that finished their Midwest spring tour just before pandemic lockdowns began with a second album in the works. Jordan is equally dedicated to music education as he is to performance, and cites his main influences as Thelonious Monk, Phineas Newborn Jr, Herbie Hancock, Mulgrew Miller and Kenny Kirkland for both their impressive pianistic capabilities and positive impacts on society, pedagogical innovations, and musical tastefulness.

David Ward is a drummer, producer, emcee and bandleader residing in Ypsilanti Michigan. His main musical projects include drumming and co-leading local Funk band Sabbatical Bob and producing and rapping for a Hip-Hop duo called the Fiendigods. Recently, David has begun an internet series called “Groove of the Day” where he, and pianist Jordan Anderson upload daily videos of short compositions. David’s main musical influences are in the realm of Black American Music which all of his projects reflect.

GROOVE OF THE DAY WORKSHOPS

Wednesdays, June 17, June 24, July 1, July 8, 4pm, July 29, 4pm

A series of masterclasses in the art of digital collaboration, Jordan and David will teach you how to tell a story by taking any musical idea, and transforming it into a shared visual and aural experience. Kids will take their skill sets to the next level by learning how to make simple audio tracks, layer it, and share their music with others to make a collaborative video at the end of the workshop. Participants are encouraged to trust the musical opinions of others and learn to combine their varying strengths with the goal of creating a product that is fresh and personal.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/96370040304?pwd=dlBPakx1OVM2R3B2YjR1ZzFOUWErdz09

Password: 667958

ARTIST BIO

Katelyn Rivas is an award-winning writer and artist living in Detroit. She has worked with youth-led community organizing in issues of transit justice, police brutality and education. Katelyn is passionate about art that responds to injustice and is a Master of Fine Arts in Writing candidate at Pacific University. Katelyn will be teaching two Noise Permit workshops this summer. For more information on her classes, please see below.

PROTEST ART

Wednesday, July 15, 4pm

In this class, we will learn how to create protest posters and visual art that speaks out against injustices like police brutality, immigration, food access, COVID-19, homelessness and more. Artists of all levels and disciplines are welcome to join.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97848553388?pwd=Nm1rR20yeXlYUEtPc0Y5VjRRSXJPQT09

Password: 953248

WORD WARRIORS                                                                                                                  

Wednesday, July 22, 4pm

In this class, we will explore poetry, spoken word, lyric writing, rap and storytelling. You will learn how to write and edit your work and the work of your peers. We will also practice performing your work for an audience as well as study the work of writers and performers.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92139438890?pwd=QVlwUDdISHpqZmgzZWtDKzkzZU40dz09

Password: 108243

ARTIST BIO

Yen Azzaro is an artist, event producer and consultant. For the last nine years she has helped clients like Ford Motor Co., University of Michigan, and The Kresge Foundation through the practice of graphic recording, drawing and capturing text in real time on a large swath of paper while people talk. She is also co-founder of Y-Fi, the social art group comprised of Ypsilanti Community High School students, creating performance art in physical spaces (before COVID-19 isolation) and now in virtual spaces through video and images (during COVID-19 isolation). 

Drawing Ideas

Wednesday, August 5, 4pm

Yen Azzaro will teach you how to draw upon the ideas you see in your mind and capture them on paper. The practice of “graphic recording”, drawing pictures while people talk or taking “sketch notes”, the smaller version, are great tools for memorization and studying. Bring some paper and some markers or colored pens to follow along. You’ll learn how to turn basic shapes into talk and thought bubbles, use arrows to draw your eyes to important details, and make your notebook the envy of all your friends. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95972599970?pwd=bzAyeUpSMkJWMEQxYngwbnJFeEZOdz09

Password: 638531