Back in Brookings, SD for final residency with 'A Stream to Ponder'

   Happy to be back in Brookings, SD for my fifth and possibly final residency period at Children's Museum of South Dakota and our collaborative project, A Stream to PONDer.  The exhibit will be open through December 2015 but this is my last scheduled residency on-site and we have puppet making workshops, rehearsals with the performers, a mixed media class with our youth liaisons (group of 6-9 year olds who have been integral to project from its inception) and a visitor workshop on animal traces. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic on this visit as I think back to how this project got started a year ago when I cold-called CMSD to pitch them a project.  "Do  you have 10 minutes to chat about an exciting interactive project opportunity?"- said the script notes I wrote down before the call in case I froze and forgot what to say.  At the time I fully realized how much my pitch sounded like a telemarketer's spiel trying to sell long distance service but had zero luck connecting to anyone via email. At the time, I was committed to my future as a full-time project-based artist and decided the only way to sell someone idea was to hold their attention live, on a phone call.  "Sure, I have 10 minutes", Carrie Benson, CMSD Director of Education said.  Whoa. Wow, i'm on. I remember my voice going dry in the middle of sentences and consciously reminding myself to slow down.  "You know what I mean?" I'd throw in every once in a while just to be sure she was still on the line.  After minutes of emphasizing words like "hands-on investigation" and "inquiry-based performance techniques" I was convinced Carrie was not interested and I wasted my time.  "Could you send me some grant options to fund a project like this?" she asked and the rest is history.   Soon I was on my way to SD for the first time in February to meet a courageous team of museum staff, my partners in research and design of a new, evolving exhibit based on ecological habitats found in South Dakota. 

       More reflection in the next post