The UW Community Arts Collaboratory will celebrate youth arts with Drum Power Africa Night and Whoopensocker LIVE! this weekend in the Starlight Theater at Madison Youth Arts Center (MYArts).
Drum Power Africa Night, the 11th annual citywide recital, will feature students from grades 3-8 from Madison schools, including Lowell and Leopold elementary schools and O’Keeffe Middle School, on Friday, May 17, at 6 p.m. Drum Power is a youth leadership program, founded and led by Yorel Lashley, in which young people learn traditional West African, Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian drumming and their cultural and historical significance. Drum Power Africa Night is free to attend. Donations to support summer camp scholarships can be made here.
Whoopensocker, an arts education residency program focused on creativity, expression, creative writing, and collaboration, will feature works from students of Lincoln, Sandburg, Hawthorne, Emerson, and Stephens elementary schools. Whoopensocker LIVE! will take place on Saturday, May 18, at 11 a.m. For tickets, click here.
The UW-Madison Community Arts Collaboratory — or Arts Collab — is housed in the School of Education’s Office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE), and provides research-based arts opportunities for youth, professional development for educators, and is home to a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab.
