Reaching out to everyman

By Lindajoy Fenley

We drove nearly an hour over straight prairie roads to give workshops to high 70 high schoolers in the small town of Marion and later to about the same number of elementary students at Litchville Elementary. This small North Dakotan school district with dwindling enrollment draws students from a 400-square-mile area.

Appreciative high schoolers were shy about asking questions but as soon as the workshop ended, they told their choir teacher they’d like to get a bus for Saturday because so many of them want to go to the Israeli Ethnic Ensemble’s concert at Valley City State University. The younger students at Litchville asked remarkably perceptive questions about playing technique and why ensemble members choose to travel and to play music.

A reporter from the Valley City Times-Record caught Talya Solan and I on our way to yoga class in the evening. He wanted to know if the reason the Arts Midwest World Fest comes to such small places like Valley City—where slightly more than 1,000 university students make up a considerable part of the city’s 7,000 residents—was that cultural experiences should belong to ‘everyman.’

In fact, the population in Barnes County as a whole has been steadily dwindling since the 1930s. The 1930 census stated the county population at an all time high of 18,804. Since then, it has decreased every decade and stands now at just below 11,000 residents.

It seems that this philosophy of making arts experiences accessible to everyone also belongs to the Bridges Arts Council, our local partner in Valley City. Ticket prices at the ensemble’s concerts on this tour have ranged from $5 to $20. Here, the concert is open to all for a free will donation at the door.

Two students and a teacher at Marion High accept Aviad Ben Yehuda's invitation to play frame drums.