FREQUENCIES, Round 2: Bringing the Joy to Warm Up the Winter
Happy 2022 and welcome to another year at mfD! It’s been a little bit since our last blog update, and we’re happy to report that 2022 will feature even more entries. We’ll not only feature our upcoming projects, but also dig deeper into topics like the creative process: from idea to opening night, spotlights on our collaborators and other individuals in the mfD sphere, entrepreneurial mindsets and much more! Moving forward, we see this blog as not only a place to showcase all that mfD currently has in the works, but also as a compendium of topics about creating large scale art in the 21st century.
Fittingly, for our first blog of 2022 we are revisiting the subject of our last blog of 2021: FREQUENCIES. Way back in September 2021, we told you all about this collaboration between mfD and visual artist, Allison Tanenhaus at the Harvard Ed Portal, in which crowd-sourced multimedia material of the Allston-Brighton neighborhood would be turned into an audio/visual mural to be beamed nightly for a first round showing in November and December. At the time, “Frequencies” was just in it’s beginning stages, but since then, it has lit up the night and will continue to do so every night from 5:00 - 10:00 PM through February 28.
The Harvard Gazette recently covered FREQUENCIES run and its consequential impact on the community. Assistant Director for Arts Programming at the Ed Portal, Eve C. Alpern commented, “When the artists first pitched this project, we all knew it would be a bright star in Boston’s long, cold winters, but none of us expected we’d be this deep in COVID exhaustion too. ‘Frequencies’ really energizes the neighborhood.” Kara Elliott-Ortega, the Chief of Arts and Culture for the City of Boston– whose generous Transformative Public Art Grant helped bring Frequencies into fruition– added, “‘Frequencies’ engaged with several of the themes of the program this year, including addressing our current sense of place and interrelatedness, providing a space for people to come together in a way that was safe, and finding a way to celebrate aspects of our daily lives during what continues to be such a difficult moment in time for so many of us.”
When we first wrote about “Frequencies,” we had no idea what kinds of source material would emerge as a result of our calls for submissions. We’ve been absolutely amazed and delighted to have amongst our participants individuals from organizations such as Campus Childcare and Providence House Assisted Living, and of particular note, students in a visual arts class at Brighton High School. “Frequencies” truly would not have been possible without these contributions, and the joyful imagery that leaps off of the Ed Portal each night is totally representative of our gratitude towards all who took the time to stop, look, and listen to their surroundings so that we could create this original work. Check out the full list of collaborators for rounds 1 and 2 of “Frequencies”
If you haven’t had a chance to check out “Frequencies,” yet, you can still view this dazzling, vibrant celebration of one of Boston’s most funky neighborhoods every night through February 28. This showing will feature some new source material since the first run in the Fall, including some special guest cameos by two of mfD’s littlest fans, Lillian and Azalea. The weather might be cold, but “Frequencies” will warm your soul.
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!
FREQUENCIES ALLSTON-BRIGHTON, Round 2 contributors:
Organizations
Brighton High School
Providence House Assisted Living
The Sound Museum Rehearsal Complex
Individuals
Amare Nia Dancyherbert
Brehytor Pimentel
Brenda Morris
Bruce Blake
Daniel Steele
Dannievi Pantoja
Dez DeCarlo
Elijah Lopez
Elizabeth Westraye
Eve Alpern
Fran Gardino
Giovany Maldonado
Imran Chodhury
India Monet Jackson
Jai’ Reona Brown Carter
Jason Rosenman
Jhayden Amir Finklea
Joe Tully
Joshua Alexander Adams
Juleisi Santiago
Junior Teixeira Mendes
Justine Sisterafua
Lauren McGrath
Marissa Debrito
McKaila Sinletary
Olivia Wong
Oscar David Ruiz
Philana J. Brown
Ron Newman
Sadoni Kanu
Sarah Ilda Verneret
Sincere Tkal Burns
Steph Davis
FREQUENCIES ALLSTON-BRIGHTON, Round 1 contributors:
Organizations
Artisan’s Asylum
Campus Child Care
Individuals
Eve Alpern
Robin Amos
Bruce Blake
Clara Choi
Steph Davis
Ben K. Foley
Leticia Lee
Jaden Morris
Denver Nuckolls
JoEllen Yannis
VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Extra Thanks
Jane Long
Eve Alpern
Philana Brown
Eric Krauter
Bianca Mauro
Shawn Faherty
Ben K. Foley
Clara Choi
Tessa Castellani
Aram Boghosian
