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July 2009 News
Join Chameleon and StoneLion for A PICNIC FOR OUR PLANET!
What happens when the planet throws a picnic? Join StoneLion, Nelson Atkins Museum, Parks and Recreation and Chameleon for the answer. The ants are invited--GIANT ant puppets. An enormous picnic full of surprises in StoneLion’s latest giant puppet pageant. Bring your own picnic to watch the event of our 2009 Green Day Festival Series. Free and open to the public.
July 19, 2009
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Sculpture Garden
1pm-4pm. Showtime starts at 3pm. Puppet-making and art activities, 1pm-3pm.
What is The KC Fringe Fest?
Well . . . basically . . . it’s a festival celebrating un-censored, un-filtered art . . . THAT’S IT!
The original Fringe Fest started in Edinburgh, Scotland and from there it caught on like wild-fire all over the world. Chameleon works closely with the KC Fringe year-round, providing general support and storage for lots of great Fringe stuff. Cheryl Kimmi is director of the Fringe and Chameleon’s Administrative director, taking care of our finacials and lots of important stuff. Lets all support the Fringe and Cheryl. Learn more at www.kcfringe.org.
Chameleon will be showing artwork produced in our summer camp at the Youth Fringe Festival. Check out the Fringe program for details!
Chameleon received grants from Art Fund KC and Bank of America!
This will help with fall arts and youth development programs with Rose Brooks Domestic Shelter, Chameleon Youth Arts Internships, collaborations with our arts partners, Parks and Recreation community center events and programming for homeless youth from KCKS public schools. We thank you and our kids thank you.
Chameleon in Africa
Hugh Merrill and Emmett Merrill are off to Kenya for a month of work with SoulFari. Soulfari Kenya, Inc. provides creative hands-on service opportunities designed to connect, educate, and empower Americans and Kenyans. What was once only a dream for the Soulfari Kenya founders is now becoming a reality. In collaboration with our Kenyan family and partners, we are starting a new home and school for orphaned children in Kenya. The extended Were family has graciously committed their family property in western Kenya near Lake Victoria in honor of the legacy of the late Melitus Were. Under the leadership primarily of Julius Were, SFK co-founder and current Director of International Relations, and his sister, Florence Were, our managing director on the Kenyan end, this property is being transformed and prepared for the children who will call this place their home. The Soulfari Kenya team is excited about a rural site, which offers things that Nairobi cannot: space, fresh air, village community, a safe haven, and room to grow.
All we needed was a lump sum to get us started . . . and miraculously, we got it just a couple of weeks ago! We received a several-thousand dollar donation from a Soulfari trip alumnus who has seen Kenya with us, who has looked those beautiful kids in the face. He gets it. He wants us to start. And now we will.
This donation will get Julius to Kenya in January, to get the property functioning and ready for the move of Florence, a few staff members, and just a couple of kids from the original Villa Teag children’s home. There is no shortage of actual orphans in the area of the home, and we know if we build it, they will come.
For current updates on the work we are doing in Kenya, please read our blog. Keep up with us this July and consider a trip next year and join us.
Divergent Consistencies
Join us September 3 for a special Chameleon fundraiser at the Leedy Voulkos Art Center in conjunction with Hugh Merrill’s retrospective Divergent Consistencies. More information to follow.