Orange County NC Website
1/ (must equal Total Cash Expenses, <br /> ` Item G above) <br /> Arts Program Grant - Spring <br /> ORANGE COUNTY ARTS 2014-15 Application Form <br /> COMMISSION <br /> Orange County Arts Commission <br /> Promoting the artistic and cultural development of Orange County, North Carolina <br /> 5 Arts Program Application Narrative <br /> This grant will partially fund the Handmade Parade, which provides a public series of giant puppet- <br /> making, costumes, music and movement workshops, culminating in an bi-annual parade. <br /> The Handmade Parade is an bi-annual community event held the third Saturday in October.in <br /> Hillsborough. This year it will be Oct 19 . The event will commence in the afternoon and continue till <br /> dusk. The theme of the fifth year's parade will be The Waters of the Eno. The theme is meant to foster <br /> awareness of our natural resources and to celebrate them. With its headwaters in Orange County, the <br /> Eno River is an important part of our community. This year the sub theme is Flight of the Eno, with a <br /> concentration on real and mythical birds. Prior to the October event, there will be a series of public <br /> workshops, and parade artists will assist participants in creating their own masks, costumes and giant <br /> moving puppets.Workshops will be designed to include all ages and local ethnicities. They will also <br /> include music, and movement with an emphasis on street theater. We are continuing to hire other artists <br /> throughout the area to teach workshops and to perform. This year as in the last parade Jane Filer will be <br /> teaching an adult puppet making class. <br /> One of the first workshops is specifically designed as a free "leadership class". This is for community, <br /> church, business and school leaders, some of who will be invited and others who will sign up when they <br /> hear about the workshop's educational and creative opportunities for their constituencies. They then will <br /> return to their groups and teach them how to make masks, puppets or floats for the parade. A goal of this <br /> approach is to ensure that the parade includes participation by diverse and minority populations in <br /> Hillsborough and surrounding areas of Orange County. We will also be coordinating with after schools <br /> programs, summer camps and schools. In past years, this coordination has been working with the Ero <br /> River Association's summer camp to involve the children in making puppets for this parade. Group and <br /> family sub-themes will be encouraged, for example, six people creating a 12-foot-long snake. Children <br /> and parents will be encouraged to create together. The purpose of this outreach event is to foster <br /> community involvement in the arts through participation in every aspect. The informal atmosphere and <br /> hands-on character of the experience allows members of the community to work directly with creative <br /> people while gaining confidence in their own abilities. We are very pleased with the enormous response <br /> we had to our previous years workshops and final parade. In 2012 there were over 600 participants in the <br /> parade and over 2000 estimated in the audience. There is a natural exchange across cultures in this, <br /> artistic process. Parading their artistic creations in and around the Hillsborough town center before an <br /> appreciative audience links the people of Orange County to the act of creativity in the most rewarding <br /> and public way possible. <br />