TRIAAC

brings drum­mers, dancers, singers, poets, and stu­dents of life to the com­mu­nity square to share their tal­ents and gifts, ideas and pas­sion for peace, jus­tice and creativity.

The Three Rivers Jenbé Ensem­ble is An Afrikan-centered, Mandé music edu­ca­tion and per­for­mance forum for 13–18 year olds who are inter­ested in Afrika her music, peo­ple, and cul­tures. TRJE is North­east Indiana’s lead­ing Afrikan-centered com­mu­nity arts work­shop and per­for­mance ensem­ble. Music, dance, song, and poetry are our vehi­cles for engag­ing community.

TRJE’s for­mal sea­son runs from Sep­tem­ber through May, but the ensem­ble books per­for­mances year round. Our proac­tive elder-child rela­tion­ships guide our instruc­tion and per­for­mance. TRJE builds com­mu­nity one child, and one fam­ily at a time. We’d love to have you join us for a look-see. The seven cur­rent mem­bers of the per­for­mance ensem­ble are look­ing for four more tal­ented and com­mit­ted young artists to join them. Gui­tar, sax, and mal­let play­ers, and dancers. For more infor­ma­tion sign up for an audition.

Audi­tion App

The Acoustic Spo­ken­Word Cafe is a Down­town arts space ded­i­cated to pro­vid­ing local artists with the space to enga­gae, cre­ate, col­lab­o­rate, present, and per­form new and tried works of lit­er­a­ture, music, song, dance, and the­atre. The pur­pose of this art­space is to explore and stim­u­late a cre­ative sense of community.

Spo­ken­Word Cafe is open between 7 and 10PM on the sec­ond and fourth Sat­ur­day of each month except August. Dur­ing July, Octo­ber, Novem­ber and Decem­ber the Café opens only on the sec­ond Sat­ur­day. Most evenings con­sist of mixed genre pre­sen­ta­tions by two artists plus an open mic seg­ment. Pre­sent­ing gen­res have included poetry, rap, short sto­ries, nov­els, acoustic and elec­tric jazz, blues, gospel, folk, tra­di­tional Native Amer­i­can flute, Afrikan drum­ming, and film. More than 95% of the Café audi­ence is com­prised of adults between 25 and 70 years old.

We encour­age artists to step into the mix. Bring your cre­ativ­ity to the cru­cible; test your met­tle and fire the genius of your com­mu­nity. The Acoustic Spo­ken­Word Cafe grow­ing in rel­e­vance with your input and par­tic­i­pa­tion. Artists, if you are inter­ested in appear­ing at the Spo­ken­Word Cafe, press the but­ton, fill out the form, and get with us.  Per­for­mance App

JATA Adult Ensem­ble Drum­mingis a forum for adult learn­ers who want to expe­ri­ence the power of cul­tural per­cus­sion through an Afrikan and Afrikan Amer­i­can lense. The work­shop is a project of con­tin­u­ing Mandé jenbé and dunun drum­ming occur­ring in 7-week cycles. Dur­ing the 2011–2012 sea­son, Sep­tem­ber through July, JATA will con­duct a begin­ners work­shop on Wednes­day evenings from 6–7:30PM, where stu­dents will learn the fun­da­men­tal tech­niques and rhythms of the tra­di­tional Mandé jenbé ensemble.

The work­shop series con­sists of 5 cycles of 7-week ses­sions, inter­spersed with one-week rest peri­ods begin­ning the first full week of Sep­tem­ber. Stu­dents must re-enroll for each 7-week ses­sion. The fee is $100.00 per work­shop, or $15.00 per class. Jenbe App

The Vis­it­ing Artist Forum is a project of con­tin­u­ing short and long-term res­i­den­cies for Afrikan and Dias­po­ran artists who con­duct work­shops and per­for­mances at TRIAAC and for the community-at-large. Dur­ing the 2011–2012 sea­son, TRIAAC will host an on-going series of jenbé and dunun work­shops with Abass Camara, and a col­lab­o­ra­tive 9-day res­i­dency with Moussa Bolokada Conde, a mas­ter drum­mer and folk­lorist from Guinea, West Afrika.

The work­shops will focus on the rhyth­mic pat­terns, songs, and cul­tural appli­ca­tion of Mandé music. The fee per two-day, 5-hour work­shop is $90.00, if pre-paid, or $50.00 per day. In addi­tion to the work­shops, Bolokada will teach at IPFW, con­duct com­mu­nity work­shops at TRIAAC, and IPFW’s Office of Diver­sity and Mul­ti­cul­tural Affairs, and give a free con­cert at IPFW’s Auer Per­for­mance Hall.  

To reg­is­ter for Bolokada’s 2-day, 5-hour Mande Music Work­shop at TRIAAC push the but­ton, fill out the form and hit us back. Space is lim­ited. Early reg­is­tra­tion for both days earns you a $10.00 dis­count. Work­shop App

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