Creating an Arts Parade for the Ellensburg Downtown Associations event “Buskers in the Burg” by Brian Kooser
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC 137A
Start Date
16-5-2013
End Date
16-5-2013
Abstract
The first weekend of October 2011 was the first annual Buskers in the Burg festival. Held in Ellensburg and organized by the Ellensburg Downtown Association, the event was designed to highlight street performers on various corners downtown, performing in a variety of different ways. One of those performers, Brian Kooser, wore a 12-foot tall robot puppet which proved to be popular at the poorly attended event. In preparing for the second annual event, Carolyn Honeycutt, with the Ellensburg Downtown Association, approached Brian about increasing his presence at the event and he began to organize and plan. Grants were written and earned through the Ellensburg Arts Commission and the College of Arts and Humanities at CWU. Workshops were organized with Monica Miller at Gallery One to open the creative process to the community. Children’s costume workshops were devised through the Children’s Activity Museum to include the youth and families in town. Various businesses donated materials and building space to help create a parade that would kick off the Buskers in the Burg event. Volunteers included local and visiting artists, community members, residents, Rodeo City Rollergirls, university faculty, and students who worked together with Kooser to create a mostly recycled, arts based spectacle of floats, dozens of giant puppets, costumed individuals, and musicians that flowed through downtown and drew hundreds of visitors to the community to enjoy a very successful new festival in its second year.
Recommended Citation
Kooser, Brian, "Creating an Arts Parade for the Ellensburg Downtown Associations event “Buskers in the Burg” by Brian Kooser" (2013). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 18.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2013/creativeexpression/18
Additional Mentoring Department
Art
Creating an Arts Parade for the Ellensburg Downtown Associations event “Buskers in the Burg” by Brian Kooser
SURC 137A
The first weekend of October 2011 was the first annual Buskers in the Burg festival. Held in Ellensburg and organized by the Ellensburg Downtown Association, the event was designed to highlight street performers on various corners downtown, performing in a variety of different ways. One of those performers, Brian Kooser, wore a 12-foot tall robot puppet which proved to be popular at the poorly attended event. In preparing for the second annual event, Carolyn Honeycutt, with the Ellensburg Downtown Association, approached Brian about increasing his presence at the event and he began to organize and plan. Grants were written and earned through the Ellensburg Arts Commission and the College of Arts and Humanities at CWU. Workshops were organized with Monica Miller at Gallery One to open the creative process to the community. Children’s costume workshops were devised through the Children’s Activity Museum to include the youth and families in town. Various businesses donated materials and building space to help create a parade that would kick off the Buskers in the Burg event. Volunteers included local and visiting artists, community members, residents, Rodeo City Rollergirls, university faculty, and students who worked together with Kooser to create a mostly recycled, arts based spectacle of floats, dozens of giant puppets, costumed individuals, and musicians that flowed through downtown and drew hundreds of visitors to the community to enjoy a very successful new festival in its second year.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Gregg Schlanger