The Minnesota Fringe Festival is fast approaching! Did you know that the MN Fringe is the "largest nonjuried, uncensored Fringe in the United States"? We're big fans of the nonjuried here at Springboard.



This year a whole passel of our fiscal sponsorship & incubator program clients have shows in the Fringe:

Partizan Theater's Something WitchyLos Angeles. August 9th, 1969. The crime of the century. Celebrity victims. And "the most dangerous man in the world." Sixteen years later, a 'family' member wants to forget. But someone won't let her.

Savage Umbrella's Love Me or Die!
A classic tale of deception and the theater, loosely based on the opera Pagliacci. Guitars, juggling, singing, heart-break, intrigue, death and fried chicken. Part homage. Totally rock and roll.



Opera Bob's Secrets Revealed: Opera Bob Opens His DrawersThese tabloid-worthy scenes from operatic potboilers are guaranteed to satisfy theatergoers, opera virgins, and fussy opera queens alike. The seldom-heard music is by Mozart, Puccini and Verdi with a running commentary by Opera Bob's own resident composer, Dr. Phil Fried. (Who IS Bob anyway?)


Four Humor's Sideways Stories From the Wayside SchoolThe creators of hit shows "Mortem Capiendum", "Bards" and "Deviled Eggs" play in the sideways world of Louis Sachar's Wayside School Novels.
Harmony Theater Company and School's The Sleuth Sisters
The mayor's daughter has been kidnapped. The Sleuth Sisters, two brilliant girls from a children's detective agency, are called in to crack the case. A suspenseful, comic, psychological, whodunit radio drama.



3 Sticks' The Traveling Musicians
Rooster, Donkey, Cat, and Dog have finally made it to the big city! Come dance the night away as they recount through song how their band made it to the top in this one of a kind theatrical rock show.

Urban Samurai's LivelihoodFrom the producers of the Fringe hit Musical: The Musical! and the author of American Apathy, part of City Pages Top 10 plays of 2008, comes Livelihood, a dark comedy that explores our corporate climate and the lure of wealth and power.

Written by 2005 Nobel Award winner Harold Pinter, two professional killers wait in a seemingly abandoned house for their next "job" until a descending dumbwaiter changes everything for the worse.


AND a few other Springboard-affiliated shows:

long-time Springboard board member, Ben Krywosz, and his company Nautilus Music-Theater's Alice UnwrappedFifteen year-old Alice Bliss is trying to cope: Dad's missing in action, Mom won't come out of her bedroom, and her precocious little sister just wants a normal family. Somebody needs to take charge.



Springboard spouse, Levi Weinhagen, and Joshua English Scrimshaw, have been using the Springboard office to rehearse their show The Harty Boys and the Case of the Limping Platypus
The Twin Cities' very own sibling detectives tackle another thrilling mystery in this affectionate parody of children's adventure novels. Action for the kids, wit for the adults, comedy for everyone!


Happy Fringe-ing everyone!!

-laura

I’m not really a crier. At least, I don’t think I am. But this summer, something seems to be getting to me. Maybe it’s just stress, or lack of sleep, or general sentimentality, but I’ve found myself getting misty, and sometimes outright weepy, especially when something reminds me of the power and meaning of art in our lives. So, I present to you, Laura's List of Things that Made Me Cry this Summer:

Heart of the Beast May Day Parade – parades always get me choked up, something about all that community spirit, pride and spectacle. This one in particular is such a big, beautiful mess – a miracle that such beauty and collaboration can come from such free spirited chaos, a delightful challenge to my micro-managing instincts.

Paperbag Princess at Stages Theater – plays with young people in them are another easy way to get me going, especially the curtain call. I know firsthand how formative and life-changing the experience of being an artist at a young age can be. To realize your own power and ability, to experience the camaraderie and friendship that grow so quickly from collaboration, to hear the appreciation of the audience’s applause—what tremendous gifts for a teenager. Oy, makes me well up just thinking about it.

South High Community Band at the Minnehaha Bandshell—we’ve been taking our 3 year old to lots of these free outdoor concerts this summer. This one in particular was on a perfect Minnesota summer evening and something about the gentle breeze, the warm dusk, the canopy of trees and the idea of this music being played by people of all generations (the band is made up of current students and alumni of South High in Minneapolis) as a gift to their neighborhood…I had to pretend my eyes were watering from the wind.

Caroline Or Change at the Guthrie—lest you think I am a hopeless softie, I can be pretty critical, too… I am frequently that annoying theater snob who stays seated while everyone else is giving a standing ovation. Because it really does mean something to me to stand. I've experienced a few of those truly spontaneous standing ovations and it has reinforced my feeling that standing ovations should be reserved for performances that are so moving, so wonderful, so hilarious, so virtuosic, or so "something" that you simply cannot stay in your seat. You are compelled to stand. The night I saw Caroline (as part of the Guthrie’s Kushner Festival), it was one of those amazing events, where the audience felt like one body, we remained seated and then leapt to our feet when Greta Oglesby, who played Caroline, came out for her bow--I also burst into tears. I was really surprised by this quiet show, I didn’t really feel bowled over until the end and then the cumulative effect of a finely crafted story, beautiful performances, critical and thought provoking themes, and the sheer stamina and skill required of the artists for a performance like that did me in.

Fourth of July parade, Land o’Lakes, Wisconsin—another in my continuing affection for parades. This is a tiny parade in the small town near my family cabin in Northern Wisconsin. Usually this parade doesn’t even have a band, because there’s no high school in Land O’Lakes. This year, though, in front of one of the “floats” (which are usually more “trucks with some streamers on them”) was a solo trumpet. He couldn’t have been more than 12 years old, walking completely alone, playing Grand Old Flag on his trumpet. I’ll spare you the moving backstory I immediately invented for this poor kid, but whatever his reasons, it takes real guts to commit to a hour long solo gig in front of, literally, everyone you know.

Kooza, Cirque du Soleil—this was the fifth time I’ve seen Cirque du Soleil. Always an impressive spectacle, during this show I was especially struck with the way that Cirque can combine what has become a huge, for-profit, concession and merch selling machine with the distinct, intimate, artistic integrity that made them successful in the first place. There was a man sitting behind us, a loud-talking, suburban, 40-something…my husband and I exchanged looks as we sat down, “Great, that guy.” But in the end, I kind of loved him. He and my 3 year old were equally awestruck by the acrobatics, equally delighted by the clowns and both enjoyed screaming and clapping at the end of each act.

Maybe it's the pressure of "the economy these days" or the chance to experience art through the eyes of my child, or perhaps I am just overtired. But something about this summer has felt different, and I've realized in a new way that even as we are bombarded with images and messages of fear, instability, disaster and crisis – it is art that provides hope, joy, community, understanding and spirituality to my life.

See you out and about…I’ll be in the one weeping in the corner.

-laura

Ask any one of Springboard’s staff – we love what we do because we love artists and their work. The program that’s shown me the breadth and depth of our clients more than any other is our fiscal sponsorship and organizational incubator program. In the nearly five years I’ve been at Springboard, it’s grown from a modest half dozen clients more than tenfold. In that time, we've learned a lot, and also become great fans of fiscal sponsorship as an organizational model. It's a great stepping stone for small groups to take before going through the rigorous, expensive, and bureaucratic process of forming a full tax-exempt nonprofit organization; allows them to focus on their work, and not take on a lot of infrastructure before they're ready.

The best part for us, though, is watching the participants in this program grow and flourish. We've had the good fortune to be a part of so many well-deserved successes with our these clients - it's a breath of fresh air, especially in the current economic climate. I wanted to share them with you, too!

Springboard clients funded in the most recent rounds from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council:
Art of This Gallery
Rainbow Rumpus (former sponsorship client)
Fool's Productions
Theatre Novi Most
Urban Samurai Productions (former sponsorship client)
zAmya Theatre Project (former sponsorship client)
East Metro Symphony Orchestra
Red Letter Theater
Workhaus Playwrights Collective (former sponsorship client)
Sample Night Live! (former sponsorship client)
Minnesota Spoken Word Association
Explorations in Flamenco
Honeywell Concert Band
Commedia Beauregard
TU Dance (former sponsorship client)
Wicked Sister Dance
Wishes for the Sky

(Whew!)

We're also excited to support artists who've received recent funding through A Very Small Arts Fund:
Red Letter Theatre
Bethany Ford
Catalyst Dance
FTF Works


Also, big congratulations to sponsorship clients Emily Johnson of Catalyst Dance, Jila Nikpay and the Body Cartography project for their recent grants from the MAP Fund, the St. Paul Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation, respectively.

Great news (and maybe a bit of the limelight) is always fun to share. (That said, I really hope I didn't leave anyone out!) I plan to spend more space here sharing their work. These artists, as well as those not listed, definitely make my work at Springboard challenging, rewarding, and fun.

-Caly

I know lots of people are right now. The statistics on our job book are through the roof. The good news is, there's also been a noticeable uptick in the number of job postings on the job book in the last few weeks.

I've read a couple recent blogs with some excellent job seeker tips and tricks (and some venting from those who are dealing with the onslaught of resumes):

Trista Harris, Executive Director of Headwaters Foundation, has a blog up specifically about looking for work at foundations. So, You Wanna Be a Program Officer?

Adam Natale, Director of Membership & Program Development at Fractured Atlas, has a great blog with specific do's and don'ts from their recent hiring process. Job Application Dos and Don'ts

Two of my personal pet peeves?

*Don't put your GPA on your resume...especially if it's mediocre! I don't care what your GPA was, but if your resume says, "GPA 2.75", well, now I think you have bad judgment, which I care about a lot.

*Please, oh please, spell my name right on the cover letter. And make sure that you change the name and address on the cover letter from the last job you applied for!

Think of your cover letter as a work sample. You don't need to tell me that you have excellent communication skills or that you are a good writer - just write an stellar cover letter and I'll know. The cover letter is your chance to show why you are the best person for the job and how the skills and experience from your resume match up with the skills and experience in the job description. I can't speak for all organizations, but at Springboard, cover letter is, by far, the most important part of the application.

Good luck to everyone looking out there and give us a call if we can help!

-laura