Artpark & Company Presents 'COVER THE WATER'

Artpark & Company presents COVER THE WATER and HER MOCCASINS TALK, the first in a series of free, visionary site reactive audio experiences presented in a mobile app designed by The Holladay Brothers, part of the outdoor season of the SONIC TRAILS festival curated and co-produced by Sozo Creative, from May 15 - September 30, 2021. With a hyper-local and equally global perspective, Sozo Creative and Artpark have brought together some of the most influential BIPOC voices in music - the Holladay Brothers, Kronos Quartet, Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma, Indigenous artists curated by Michele-Elise Burnett, and DJ Spooky - to cultivate aural experiences exploring the unique geological and historic site of the Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park located on Niagara Gorge located just seven miles from the Niagara Falls.

Throughout the summer, audiences will have the opportunity to explore Artpark to the accompaniment of a variety of artistic worlds for free, right in their own pockets - an immersive choose-your-own-adventure. To make reservations or for further information, visit artpark.net/sonic-trails.

The Holladay Brothers, composers and multimedia artists, are pioneers of location-aware experiences: they create and map music to a physical landscape, released as mobile apps, using GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener explores their surroundings. They will kick off SONIC TRAILS on May 15 with a reprisal of Cover The Water, an original music composition by The Holladay Brothers birthed out of the pandemic limitations and during their artistic residency at Artpark in 2020. The initial project evolved into a larger collaboration between The Holladay Brothers, Sozo and Artpark, who have partnered with the dynamic and inclusive group of artists to bring their compositions to life through the custom app.

Beginning May 15, Her Moccasins Talk: Honoring all our Relations is an Indigenous journey exploring the Natural World with gratitude, based on the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. Curated by Indigenous bridge builder Michele-Elise Burnett, along with local First Nations Knowledge Keepers, Storytellers, and singers who will take visitors through a mindful journey led by a nurturing matriarch voice, songs, sounds and effects based on giving thanks to all our relations. Along the path, our older and wiser relatives will share teachings, Indigenous Consciousness and ways of knowing which emerges from a space within us that is informed and governed by our natural relationship with creation, they will experience the landscape from an Indigenous lens and embrace being one with the Natural World. The path along the Mighty Niagara will help guests to look inward, facing oneself, and using this time to reflect, think analytically and critically, and with the key goal of ensuring balance and harmony with all living things.

Launching on June 19, Grammy Award-winning musician, historian and Silkroad Ensemble Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, in collaboration with celebrated Grammy Award-winning cellist Yo-Yo Ma, will debut Juneteenth: From The Past To The Living Present. Weaving banjo, folk music, and storytelling, this guided walk centers the profound contributions of African Americans on American culture, music and history, seeking to imagine a society of inclusion, connection, empathy and justice.

Later in midsummer on July 3, Paul Miller AKA DJ Spooky brings his unforgettable transcendental sound to Artpark trails with a high energy electronic music experience, premiering three news tracks for the park visitors to hear first. You can take these heart racing beats for a run or bike ride through Artpark to experience the trails in a whole new way.

The season closes with a collaboration with world-renowned Kronos Quartet and its series of global commissions, 50 for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire. Original compositions from select women composers will weave together to transport you worldwide through an intricate musical legacy of tradition and innovation. The experience focuses optimism, beauty and discovery to compose a global story of interconnectedness.

"This project perfectly brings together art, nature, culture, and technology. It opens up entirely new opportunities for park visitors to experience the constant nature transform with new sound; for artists to expand ways in which they can reach an audience directly from anywhere in the world; and for Artpark's artistic program to expand to all seasons of the year," said Sonia Kozlova Clark, Artpark President.

"As this project was conceived, it was intrinsically clear to cultivate space for the original and current stewards of the land, while centering voices of color. The highly collaborative approach to this experience is also posed to support an awakening to a greater ecological consciousness of interspecies relations at the center of these teachings, inspiring us all to imagine a meaningful transformation in the ethos of Indigenous education, artistic practices and the potent power of imagination," said Chisa Yamaguchi (Creative Producer, Sozo Creative)

"Spring awakens at Artpark and we have come together in this circle to celebrate and honor Mother Earth," said Michele-Elise Burnett, Artpark's Indigenous Arts Producer. "We are in a critical time right now with the impacts of the pandemic continuing to reveal themselves with environmental challenges. With our upcoming season, we aim to show Mother Earth our love and gratitude for all the life sustaining gifts she provides us."

The project is funded by: M&T Bank Foundation, Grigg Lewis Foundation, Cullen Foundation, Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, National Endowment on the Arts.

ARTPARK is a park and a cultural institution located on 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 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.

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