MAJIC Holiday Concert with the GR Cantata Choir

Last Friday Grand Rapids was treated to an interesting program of Latin American Christmas music. Grand Rapids Cantata Choir director, Suzanne Tiemstra, an expert on Latin American chorale music, conducted a program that covered centuries of Latin American works from the Spanish Renaissance to music of the still living Argentine folk/classical composer Ariel Ramirez. The turnout of over 100 people made for a lively evening and a good feeling of continued support for the MAJIC concerts to come in 2008.

Thanks to all of the guest musicians!!!
Mary, Josh, Jen, Julio, Wally, Monday's Joy recorder septet, and Daniel.

What we think we know about homelessness....

With two MAJIC concerts down and six left to go in the season I have had a lot of folks express their doubts about the realistic goal of the Coalition to end homelessness by the end of the year in 2014. As a friend said to me when I told her about the project, "there is a coalition to END! homelessness?"

My response is, "absolutely!" Is seems to me that we first need to change our attitude from assuming that homelessness will always exist to engaging in the process of making permanent housing a right for all people.

Some other typical responses to the the topic of homelessness are somethings like, "oh, yeah, you know that people who are homeless choose to live that way", or "homeless people are just in it so they don't have to get out there and work."

The Grand Rapids Area Housing Continuum of Care recently published a document that provided facts about homelessness in Kent county. It reported that only 10-15% of people who are homeless are chronically homeless. That means that 85-90% of people who are homeless don't chose to live that way. There are any number of circumstances that result in homelessness: physical and mental illness, loss of a job, inability to find a job with a living wage, domestic violence, and inadequate access for help in coping with trauma and/or additions.

Here are just a few examples of real homelessness that people in our congregation observed during a Sunday night service dialog:

A teacher in our congregation found one of her middle school students sleeping behind the school dumpster. The student couldn't stand to go home any more because of a violent father.

A member of our church spent 15 months living out of his car. He was so sick that he couldn't work and had no other place to go.

NPR did a story a few days ago based on a New York Times article about the rise of the number of Iraq war veterans who are returning to the U.S. and ending up in homeless shelters (see story here) . After experiencing the any number of horrors abroad, they can't find their way back into "normal" society.

It seems that most of us with a permanent shelter to call "home" forget that people who are homeless or on the brink of homelessness are people just like us, and that they deserve the same dignity and rights as the rest of us.

MAJIC Continues with Eastern Blok

Last night the series was graced with Eastern Blok from Chicago, our only group to play on the 2007-2008 series from outside of Michigan. In addition to being fabulous musicians and composers all of the guys in the band are GOOD PEOPLE who really understand the importance of community and the importance of a grass roots project such as MAJIC.

Reb Roberts and Carmella Loftis from Sanctuary Folk Art Gallery, just around the corner from Bethlehem Church, had their art hanging in the narthex of the church. It was nice colorful mix that went well with the Balkan-folk-jazz-klezmer blend of music by Eastern Blok.

Andrew and I thew a huge party for everyone afterwards which brought a lot of Grand Rapids artists, musicians, tango dancers, and Bethlehem Church folks together. Don't forget to click on the photo album at the top right of the blog to look at the photos by David McGowan from the 2:00am jam session! (The Fantastic Merlins stopped by via Hugo Claudin)

MAJIC Begins: Steve Talaga and Mind's Eye

We had our first concert last night and it was a great success! There were about 70 people who showed up for the concert, a great start for a first concert on a first series of its kind in Grand Rapids.

So great to have a tight jazz group performing in a concert venue in Grand Rapids! The biggest comment I received was that folks couldn't believe that the four guys in the band are in the Grand Rapids area. Who knew we had such amazing jazz musicians in West Michigan? Steve Talaga told me that it is a treat for Mind's Eye to play together. They have a whole book of original tunes, each by different members in the band and when they play together (which Steve Talaga told me unfortunately doesn't happen enough) it is very special.

Paul Petersen brought a nice group of folks down from Muskegon to see his photographs; that helped boost our crowd as well.

Thanks to the MAJIC task force members, and all of the Bethlehem folks who made for a nice reception at our first concert!

Sound Check by John Sinkevics

A concert series to embrace

Posted by John Sinkevics | The Grand Rapids Press October 12, 2007 00:40AM

Categories: Concerts

Steve Talaga and Mind's Eye, one of West Michigan pre-eminent jazz outfits, kick off a special concert series tonight at Bethlehem Church, 250 Commerce Ave. SW.

The monthly, eight-show lineup is sponsored by MAJIC (Musical Arts for Justice in the Community, a ministry of the church), with all donation proceeds benefiting the Grand Rapids Coalition to End Homelessness.

The concert begins at 7; admission is free, but a donation of $10 is suggested and the bands that are playing are worth way more than that. Future shows will feature:

• Eastern Blok (Nov. 9)
  
• Grand Rapids Cantata Choir (Dec. 14)
  
• Shakuhachi Grand Master Michael Gould, with Brian Hedeen (Jan. 11)
  
• Dean Windemuller (Feb. 8)
  
• Sunny Wilkinson and Ron Newman (March 14)
  
• Grand Rapids Guitar Quartet (April 11)
  
• Folias Latin Dance Project (May 9).

As the pianist Talaga so aptly put it:

"I am thrilled to be part of such a noble effort. I hope they raise a ton of money for this worthy cause. To me, this is the best of what the arts are all about.

"Through the power of art, social change can come and it happens in a much more positive way than via some alternative methods. I really hope we start to learn in this country how valuable and indispensable the arts are. ... I'm very proud to be a part of this endeavor to use the arts to help make a positive impact in our community."

Well said. Now, let's hope folks turn out and chip in, too.

E-mail John Sinkevics: jsinkevics@grpress.com

Formation of MAJIC (Musical Arts for Justice in the Community)

I had the idea for the MAJIC series for a year, and it wasn't until I brought it up to Pastor Jay Schrimpf at Bethlehem Church that I felt it was something that was possible. The thought of putting something together that combined social justice efforts with supporting local music artists seemed like a project out of my reach-- too big, too risky, and definitely not profitable for a woman who is a free lance artist herself. But isn't that the point?

I realized over the past six months of actually putting MAJIC together how important the project is for Grand Rapids in terms of artistic outreach and how appropriate it is for me, others on the series, the congregation, and for all those that will attend the concerts to support a cause for social justice through participation in music. What better way to encourage people in the greater Grand Rapids area to get involved in their community and help other than to offer donation based concerts held in the Heartside district of Grand Rapids?