December, 9th, 2008
last updated September, 2nd, 2010

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Open Mic:

Missions

by Chris Sunami

1. The Open Mic Project

   Our first mission was to create a community where people with little or no experience could feel comfortable and encouraged as performers.
   
   
   • Season One - Monday afternoons, Fall 2004 - Spring 05
     We began as an outgrowth of the UM Church For All People youth ministry. We started with a small group of teen and pre-teen participants drawn from members of the church and the UM Free Store. Attendance that year averaged 3 or 4 weekly, with a high around 10. Around the same time, we began a parallel program with the South Side Settlement House teen group. We later combined the two programs, with South Side attending the C4AP Open Mic on a semi-regular basis.
     
   • Season Two - Monday afternoons, Fall 2005 - Spring 06
     The program began to grow and diversify, as we added adult participants. The key feature of this phase was the start of vocal and youth guitar lessons (and adult guitar lessons on another day), all with professional coaches.

2. The Talent Showcase Project

   Our second mission was to help program regulars improve their performance skills, and to build an audience for their performances.
   
   
   • Season Three - Monday afternoons, Fall 06 - Spring 07
     The vocal coaching began to pay off as regular students began to show improvement. This period saw the formation of both a youth band and a house band, and the start of our videotaping performances for broadcast on YouTube. We also moved the guitar lessons offsite to the South Side Settlement House. We also began a regular rotation combining rehearsals, open mics, and competitions. During this period, some of the Open Mic regulars began to perform occasionally at events sponsored by Harmony on the South Side, a group of professional musicians.
     
   • Season Four - Monday afternoons, Fall 07, Spring 08
     During this period, we began to focus more on families. We also moved to a new and better performance space as part of a move my our host, the UM Church For All People, which allowed us to bring the youth guitar lessons back onsite. We also staged two evening events - a rock and rap concert featuring some of our best young performers, and an evening Open Mic combining our regulars and a special group of guest artists.
     
   • Season Five - Monday evenings, Fall 08 - Present
     This year has seen the formation of a larger core of program regulars, diverse in age and race, and including participants from outside the Church and Free Store communities. Many of our longtime participants have shown remarkable progress over the lifetime of the program and we have some newcomers of notable talent and dedication.
     

3. The Motown Project

   Our current mission is to expand our pool of program leaders, both by developing leadership among current participants, and by aggressively recruiting volunteers.
   
   The overall goal is to create an all-volunteer version of Berry Gordy’s Motown --a multi-faceted artistic community covering every aspect of the music-making process, including vocals, performance, choreography, instrumentation, songwriting, costuming, publicity, recording & videography.