The Community Arts Workshop will start working on a new production next month: Cuentos del Pueblo (Stories of the Town) will feature community members using art to tell their own stories about the city of Santa Barbara.
Weekly workshops for participants will take place on Wednesday nights, with lessons in topics such as songwriting and storytelling. Workshops will be taught by three artists-in-residence, Joe Velasco, Carlos Cuellar, and Sio Tepper, and no arts background is required to participate.
Velasco has worked with El Teatro Campesino and City at Peace Santa Barbara, Cuellar is a muralist, photographer and teaching artist, and Tepper is a musician and co-founder of TOTEM,
The upcoming project will give community members an opportunity to explore questions about what Santa Barbara is and what it is set to become. Community members will also have the opportunity to nominate friends.
“The idea is for people to nominate people they know who have an important perspective on the community,” said Casey Caldwell, manager of the Community Arts Workshop.
Cuentos del Pueblo is not neccessarily looking for people with lots of experience in the arts.
“We’re hungry for people with something to say,” Velasco said. “If you’ve got something to say, come in here.”
Velasco was inspired to create the project in an attempt to combat some of the fragmentation he saw in today’s society.
“When you sit down with someone with a different viewpoint, you’ll find that you have a lot in common,” he said.
Velasco saw the best way to fight the polarization in America was to start in Santa Barbara.
“I’m a big fan of local and homegrown whether it’s the farmer’s market or the arts. I can’t change what’s happening in the country. America is way too big. But you can make a change in the community,” he said.
Velasco has had more than three decades of experience leading groups of artists. However, leading community members who may not have an arts background is a new challenge for him. Still, Velasco expressed confidence in the project.
“I’m great at creating safe spaces for creating art.” he said. “Whatever happens happens.”
Cuentos del Pueblo will have public performances in December, he said.
Workshops for Cuentos del Pueblo start Sept. 12 and applications are still available for community members to join Cuentos del Pueblo, or to nominate friends to participate.
This project will be the third of the year, following two previous projects this year where the CAW worked with Noah’s Anchorage Youth Crisis Shelter and the Santa Barbara Rape Crisis Center.
— Noozhawk intern Dhiraj Nallapaneni can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.