15th Annual Flint Hills International Children's Festival Set for Ordway This Weekend

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts marks the 15th Annual Flint Hills International Children's Festival in 2015. The world-class family event - one of the largest children's festivals of its kind in the country - showcases diverse art, cultures and perspectives from more than 25 different countries. The May 30-31 Family Weekend line-up features local, regional and international artists on indoor and outdoor stages in downtown Saint Paul's Rice Park, Landmark Center, Landmark Plaza, Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and the Lehr Theater.

This year's headliner artists represent three continents, but their work circles the globe. New Orleans-based Lightwire Theater, Samite from Uganda, Italy's Compagnia TPO, Scotland's Visible Fictions and Antonio Zepeda from Mexico will perform on indoor stages for only $5 per ticket.

The 2015 outdoor highlight is A Second Life, a high-energy "crossover" circus show performed by Belgium's Cirq'ulation Locale all over Europe throughout the year. This thrilling spectacle provides a rambunctious mix of juggling, trampoline acrobatics, improvised dance and humor.

Family Weekend also features free entertainment and hands-on activities in the parks. Performances celebrating the diversity of the region and representing cultural traditions from Vietnam, Ukraine, Puerto Rico, Laos, Ireland, Mexico, China, India - and new this year, Tibet and Venezuela - include both adult and youth performing troupes.

The Xcel Story Time Garden blossoms during the Festival in an installation that will be located this year between the Ordway and RiverCentre. Artists Mark Granlund and Angela Koebler from Saint Paul's Parks and Recreation Department lead the design and creation of an intricate interactive plant and flower display built onsite in collaboration with Blooming Saint Paul. In addition, Ordway-commissioned kite artist Barbara Meyer creates colorful banners to embellish the space. During Family Weekend, the Xcel Story Time Garden features Twin Cities storytellers and musicians who share folktales and songs from around the world.

Throughout the Festival, the Clear Channel ARTwalk celebrates young artists' creativity. In the professionally-curated exhibition, more than 600 visual art projects from Minnesota's talented students appear in windows of downtown Saint Paul businesses.

"The Flint Hills International Children's Festival has become a Minnesota tradition unlike any other," said Scott Lindemann, vice president of operations and plant manager for the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery. "No where can you find a more diverse celebration of culture that includes everything from arts and crafts to world-class performances by international artists that each year inspire and entertain more than 50,000 children and their families."

"We're thrilled to be celebrating the 15th birthday of this fantastic event. Art brings people together! This is really what it's all about. We're grateful to Flint Hills Resources for its support of the Festival from the very beginning. Our special partnership gives people the best opportunity to experience world-class art from far-away to close-to-home," said Dayna Martinez, artistic director of world music, dance and international children's festival programming at the Ordway.

General admission tickets to the indoor headliner performances can be purchased ahead of time through the Ordway ticket office and online at ordway.org/festival.

In addition to Family Weekend, nearly 18,000 children from schools across Minnesota and western Wisconsin attend international performances, participate in hands-on activities and engage in artist workshops throughout the week during School Days (May 26-29).

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