2021 Featured Artists

One upon a time in a forest lived many beautiful and colorful birds who were also great friends. 
Then one day, a crow flies in. No one had seen anything so black and the sound she made. Ugh....

This play is a deep reflection on diversity and friendship. A mix of theatre and dance, this original piece examines the power of perception and how it affects our decisions. How it creates a future, not that is, but one, we want it to be.

And finding connections in our vulnerabilities. 
 

I ARISE stands for I Am. Resilient. Informed. Steadfast. Empathetic. It is a weekly dance, theatre, and storytelling program for refugees, Immigrants and American women.

ROSHNI invites women from diverse communities to partake in the artistic process of creating an original production based on shared experiences, personal struggles, and challenges related to diversity and inclusion.

I ARISE began in 2017, but continues to evolve to best serve the participants. The initial goal was to get refugee women to connect with each other. Now the focus is to find a meeting place between them and American women.

I ARISE builds stronger communities through cross-cultural friendships, while celebrating differences.
 

Once upon a time in a kingdom, faraway lived Samba, a prince who was scared of anything and everything.

Frustrated, the Queen sends him into the world to find his courage. 

Does he find it? Come and find out.

Based on a popular African folk tale that also made it to Asia and elsewhere, this story is about finding courage at the most unlikely place and time.

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New American Stories is a program that provides a creative outlet to K-12 students. Here they write a script, learn to act and dance, and become familiar with all aspects of theatre production.  

A dance-based performance depicting the emancipation of American women from the 1920’s until the present times, using the popular songs from these eras. 

Time4Tap is a senior women group that love to Tap dance with a sprinkle of Charleston, Jazz and Contemporary thrown in. 

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Julie Whalen is the founder of this group. She started dancing at age 41 first with Jazz and Ballet and hasn’t stopped dancing ever since. 11 years later, she founded Time 4 Tap to teach and perform. Since then she has been an avid performer at various Senior homes, festivals/events including performing for the Denver Nuggets.

Julie also choreographs and performs for the annual stage production by Seniors 88. 

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Rafi’ah Ruyah is a celebrated regional and national performing artist, teacher, choreographer, and event producer of Middle Eastern, Arabic fusion, and theatrical dance. She fell in love with Middle Eastern Dance over 30 years ago and since then has been a featured performer and teacher locally and nationally. She is also a choreographer, poet, costume and clothing collector, and redesigner and produces events including the Belly Dance shows at the Mercury Cafe.

April 1990, in Denver in a halfway house for the chronically mentally ill. Stephen is passing out meds when the phone rings.
 

Stephen: Hello, Community Care, Stephen speaking. Pause Hmmm, That sounds very interesting. What a great medium for disability advocacy! Pause
Well even if that’s not your goal, I can guarantee you that an entirely disabled cast performing Guys & Dolls will achieve advocacy for the disabled whether that’s your stated goal or not. Pause

Well yes, I am disabled but I have absolutely no interest in doing a play both because I don’t have the time and even more so because the thought of performing has always terrified me. Pause

I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll see if I can entice any of my clients to come to your auditions because I think it might be a good activity for them. Pause
I’m telling you – you’ve got lightning in a bottle by doing advocacy with actions rather than words. Pause

Yeah, Yeah, whatever. Give me the address and I’ll try to wrangle some clients to bring to your audition.

Dances from around the World.

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This presentation is a special collaboration with Block 1750, a
Boulder-based Dance school

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More information and artists list coming soon...

Denise Stramel founded WestWind Productions in 1994 after spending a decade managing trade shows in the computer hardware industry. For over 24 years WestWind operated nationwide, with an average of 25 shows annually in ten states. The shows featured themes like health and fitness, home and garden, bridal, and women’s fairs.

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Currently WestWind’s main focus is the Senior Connection show, which Denise created in 2004. The community-based expo is produced in three southwestern states and features vendors, live entertainment done by seniors, door prizes, and a dessert bar to end the show.

Denise and her husband, Keith, live in Rio Rancho NM with their standard poodle, JoJo.  They travel frequently to Colorado to visit friends and family.

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Denise is heavily involved in local charities and has worked for 7 years with the Harvest Festival in Corrales, NM.  She is CEO of Native American Needs which assists pregnant women and small children in hard-to-reach areas of the Navajo reservation.  Denise also handles publicity for the annual Garden Tour in Corrales.

Block 1750 is a community space dedicated to supporting youth growth through various movement and arts based communities in Colorado.

Our mission is to provide a home and support system to allow these communities to flourish. We offer affordable dance instruction for adults and kids in Boulder for all levels every weekday: from Hip Hop, Breaking and House to Contemporary and Modern (full schedule here).

Most of our classes are drop-in based, and first class is free: so what are you waiting for??

This solo play is an exploration of the ways we fall apart and seek to heal. A true story that takes us on an interwoven journey of 4-year-old Jenny and her best friend Jeremy as they grow up and face broken homes, multiple moves, violent crime, depression, alcohol, and drug use, and addiction.

When we realize our parents can’t protect us from the harshness of life, how do we cope – and what is it that can transform coping into flailing for some people, or into thriving for others?  How do we heal from the pain that feels too deep to endure, and what do we do when we feel hopeless and alone? 

The writer/performer believes the secret has something to do with vulnerability and connection, and the crafting and sharing of this piece is itself a creative offering of the closest thing to an “answer” she has been able to find.

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I am learning: that life is cyclical.  Deaths and rebirths large and small, fast and slow, inner and outward, are happening all the time.

In this cycle, I am repeatedly called to discover and foster a sense of connection within myself and my surroundings.  I lose my way, I come back to it. I am learning to recognize the security in this.

Creative, performative art is one way I reach for connection, leaning into the death and rebirth process.  I act.  I create.  I cultivate characters and relationships, exploring the storytelling process as I walk this human journey.

This afternoon will be filled with magic and wonder from all corners of the world.

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From the Middle East to the South-east and the Fart East. 

From the Saharan desert to the Amazons. 

From Latin to European and even a touch of Scandinavia.

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Come and be awed!

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Detail list of the performances coming soon...

Our last day of the festival celebrates all cultures. 

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Through music, dance, food and lots and lots of drums, an unforgettable moment that will make you look forward to the next festival. 

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Information on the day coming soon...

Jamie Laurie aka Jonny 5 created an audio tapestry of the Community voices for our debut edition in 2020. 

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That eventually became Flobots's, Colorado's Indie rock band first single of 2021. 

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We are delighted for Jonny 5 to bring it to the festival as we celebrate the day of the New Americans. 

A one-act collection of monologues about the people whom we pass every day but pay no attention to, those who have been left voiceless by society, those who are labeled "underrepresented" because no one is fighting to represent them.

It is the story of America that many do not know about beyond breaking news headlines and protests. But there are stories underneath every inner city skyline, and those are the stories told in this show.

Cris began writing when he saw that his life was not being reflected on the stage or screen, at least not the experiences he lived and those of the people around him. This led to him picking up a pen and finding the words to tell his own story on his own terms.
He is now an award-winning and internationally produced writer. His work has garnered him a Bronze Remi from the Worldfest Houston International Film and Video Festival, the Christopher Hewitt Award in Fiction, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and honors from Vectis Radio, Negro Ensemble Company, Clocktower Players.

His work has been produced, performed, and published around the world, from Off-Broadway,  West Coast, and Collegiate.

May we each find in ourselves the courage we forgot we have,
while battling the demons we forgot we can slay, in a battle we forgot we can win.

Trauma is the common language among the participants. It takes great courage to speak up, lay bare the scars, and find the words that will be understood.

What are these scars, she asks. They’re battle wounds I say.
Whom were you battling with? She asks. Myself, I reply.

Art is the common language among the participants. Uplifting, Healing, Inspiring Art. It took years to make the wounds, it will take years to un-make them.

I’m afraid of opening up. I’m not sure what frightens me most, letting you in or letting the monsters out.

The New American Arts Festival is the common meeting ground for the participants. Despite differences in age, race, ethnicity, they have come together to speak up, in the hope that someone out there will be uplifted, healed, inspired. 

Curated by native Denver Percussionist Ed Contreras.

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Ed has been exploring and learning and teaching drum sets and World percussion for over 40 years.  He has toured Japan, the South Pacific, Italy, Canada and taught drums and percussion in Nicaragua. 

Ed has been teaching hand drumming at Swallow Hill Music School for over 20 years. He founded Istari World Percussion as an outreach to Elementary and Middle and High Schools, sharing the stage with Multi-instrumentalist Chad Johnson to bring the joy of World Percussion to students. 

Ed also plays for several churches in the Denver area, as well as the acoustic World Fusion band Laughing Hands, and his Doobie Brothers Tribute Band, Black Water. 

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https://youtu.be/bWFSFEhZY70