Artpark & Company FREE Family Saturdays

Artpark & Company announces FREE Family Saturdays as part of the summer 2021 season on Saturdays from June 19, 2021-August 28, 2021, from 12pm-4pm at the Artpark Amphitheater, 450 S 4th St, Lewiston, NY 14092. https://www.artpark.net/.

Summer is for families at Artpark, where afternoons are filled with creative hands-on discovery (arts and crafts, stories and workshops) and live performances for all ages. This year, the series’ popular activities of pottery and hands-on crafts will be enhanced with a new program curated by Artpark’s Indigenous Arts Producer Michele Elise Burnette: Indigenous Ways of Knowing, a slew of educational fun activities for all ages; Treaty teachings & Wampum bracelets workshops, soap carvings, Sonic storytelling, Haudenosaunee dance performance, Corn Husk Doll workshop, as well as a performance “Branche” by an innovative circus company Cirque Barcode.

Storytelling is what preserved our past, maintains our present and is the key to our future” – Perry Ground

The Family Stage is more than a place to play; it will be a place where the audience will experience Indigenous Ways of Knowing with expressive Native American Culture through interactive, land-based workshops, storytelling and teachings by well-respected local knowledge keepers in their disciplines. Visitors will explore, discover and be part of the unique culture, traditions, and passed-down heritage of the People of Turtle Island at The Family Stage every Saturday. Talking Turtle Stories will kick off the season with Traditional Master Storyteller and Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation Perry Ground, who will share several Haudenosaunee Stories which have been passed down from time immortal, with a very energetic, fun, engaging style and makes the audience part of the story experience. 

This program is sponsored in part by Perry’s Ice Cream with additional support from The John R. Oishei Foundation and First Niagara Foundation in collaboration with KeyBank.

Admission and parking is free and all lots are accessible to the Amphitheater. For more information and to register, visit artpark.net. 

Schedule: 

Saturday, June 19, 2021: Art of Niagara and Onondaga 
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage at 1pm and 3pm:
Traditional Master Storyteller, Perry Ground: “Stories from the People of the Longhouse” traditional Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) legends 

Saturday, June 26, 2021: Art of Clay 
Pottery: 12-4pm Free Paint: 12-4pm Family Stage: 
Soapstone Carving for Kids: Pre-registration is required and limited to 20 registrants per session. Guests will learn the basic techniques of stone and antler sculpture from renown Antler Carver, Hayden Hanes. Sessions are: 1-2pm and 3-4pm 

Saturday, July 3, 2021: Art of Paint 
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage at 1pm-1:45pm and 3pm-3:45pm: 
Acoustic Storytelling – Tonemah.
Award winning Tuscarora singer-songwriter will share Native stories from his experiences and relationships he has made along his journey. His organic storytelling style has become his trademark. Tonemah’s life experiences of growing up on, and off, reservations coupled with his professional undertakings have given Tonemah a truly unique perspective that he brings to his songwriting and stories. 

Saturday, July 10, 2021: Art of Water 
Workshops under the awnings:
Gyotaku Fish Prints, Boats that Float, Mermaids, Aquatic Wind socks
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage:
Antler and Bone Uses of the Haudenosaunee: Pre-registration is required and limited to 20 registrants per session. Guests will learn the basic techniques of bone and antler sculpture from renown Antler Carver, Hayden Hanes. Sessions are: 1-2pm and 3-4pm 

Saturday, July 17, 2021: Art in Motion 
Workshops under the awnings: Mobiles, Kites, Planes, Pin-wheels Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm 
Family Stage:
Wampum Belts with Dr Richard Hamell
Display, history, demonstration and workshops: Two Row Wampum beading workshop. Pre-registration is required and limited to 20 registrants per session.
Sessions 12:30- 1:30 and 2:00 – 3:00pm 

Saturday, July 24, 2021: Art illuminated 
Workshops under the awnings:
“Stained Glass” windows, Cyannotypes, X-Rays
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage:
12:30-2:30pm – Kehala Smith: Corn Husk Doll workshop and teachings.Pre-registration is required and limited to 20 registrants
3 -3:45pm – Art of Haudenosaunee Dance performance with Jordan Smith 

Saturday, July 31, 2021: Art of Animals 
Workshops under the awnings:
Paw Prints, jellyfish, birds that bobble 
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage at 1pm and 3pm:
Traditional Master Storyteller Perry Ground: Haudenosaunee Stories: Tricky Fox and other Animal Tales & “Powerful Women” 

Saturday, August 7, 2021: Art of Disguise 
Workshops under the awnings:
Mustachio, Masquerade Masks, Glorious Glasses, Wearable accessories,
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage at 1pm and 3pm: Stone Carving Demonstration with Hayden Haynes 

Saturday, August 14, 2021: Art of Sound 
Workshops under the awnings:
Shakers, Music Makers, Wind Chimes
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage:
Wampum Belts display, Haudenosaunee Four Sacred Direction and Mother Earth beading workshop with Dr Richard Hamel. Pre-registration is required and limited to 20 registrants per session.
Sessions 12:30- 1:30 and 2:00 – 3:00pm 

Saturday, August 21, 2021: Art of Monsters 
Workshops under the awnings:
Creature Planters, Monster Plush, Peek-a-boo puppets, toy box theater
Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage: Branche by Cirque Barcode
Pottery Lawn at 1pm and 3pm:
Traditional Master Storyteller Perry Ground: Stories from the Haudenosaunee ” Life in a Longhouse Village & Hero and Heroine Tales 

August 28: Art of Nature 
Workshops under the awnings:
Leaf prints, Sand plaster molds, pet rocks, walking sticks Pottery: 12-4pm
Free Paint: 12-4pm
Family Stage:
Family Stage:
Acoustic Storytelling – Tonemah. 
Award winning Tuscarora singer-songwriter will share Native stories from his experiences and relationships he has made along his journey. His organic storytelling style has become his trademark. Tonemah’s life experiences of growing up on, and off, reservations coupled with his professional undertakings have given Tonemah a truly unique perspective that he brings to his songwriting and stories.

The Artpark summer season runs through September 15, 2021, and also includes:
Strawberry Moon Festival – https://www.artpark.net/events/strawberry-moon-festival-1 
New Music in the Park – https://www.artpark.net/new-music-in-the-park 
Sonic Trails – https://www.artpark.net/sonic-trails 
Visual Art Camp – https://www.artpark.net/events/art-camp 
Music & Soccer Camp – https://www.artpark.net/events/music-soccer-summer-camp 
Artpark Theatre Academy: School of Rock – https://www.artpark.net/events/artpark-theatre-academy-school-of-rock 
Amphitheater Concerts – https://www.ticketmaster.com/artpark-outdoor-amphitheater-tickets-lewiston/venue/237797 

ARTPARK is a park and a cultural institution located in Lewiston, NY along the Niagara Gorge, USA. Established in 1974, Artpark is a collaboration between the New York State Parks and the cultural nonprofit institution Artpark & Company. As a National Historic Landmark, the picturesque 150 acre performing and visual arts park is located along the historic Niagara River Gorge on land rich in both Native American history, pioneer and early American history. Approximately 12,000 years ago the majestic Niagara Falls began to work its way upriver from this site to its current location. Artpark’s Mainstage theater opened in July of 1974 on land that was once the Lower Landing of the nine-mile Niagara Portage that skirted the unnavigable Gorge and Falls. Designated as a National Historic Landmark (in 1998), Artpark includes several archeological sites, including a Hopewell Mound from one of the earliest Native American mound building cultures and the remnants of the much more recent Oak Hill Mansion. Artpark is a National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat, & National Audubon Society birding site (along the Niagara River Corridor), Artpark is also a popular destination for hiking, picnics, and fishing. As a cultural institution, Artpark attracts over 150,000 audiences over the course of its’ summer season (June-August) and serves a population of approximately 1.2 million Western New Yorkers and over 1 million Canadian residents. Over the course of it 40-year history, over 2.5 million persons have attended musical and theater performances at Artpark. In addition to being widely regarded as one of the top rock music Amphitheater stages, under the artistic leadership of President Sonia Kozlova Clark, Artpark has presented a increasingly diverse program including major North American premiers by companies like the Plasticiens Volants (France) with their unique giant inflatable puppetry; the Brazilian modern dance sensation Bale de Rua mixing the traditions of capoeira and B-boy; music acts varying from Boy George to George Clinton and Thievery Corporation; the Native-American DJ duo A Tribe Called Red and Ukranian folk-punk band DakhaBrakha. A new Strawberry Moon Festival has been established in 2019 to celebrate the global influence of the indigenous arts. In 2016 Artpark has developed a unique Artpark Percussion Garden, a new place for sound and nature explorations with interactive installations created by collaboration of visual artists and musicians. Same year we launched a long-term initiative Artpark Laboratory under curatorship of Mary Miss and her City as Living Laboratory, focusing on the exploration of intersections of art, nature, science and technologies and creating awareness on the global climate change crisis. For more information, visit artpark.net.