Artists & Communities Host Site: St. Joseph's Historic Foundation, Inc. / Hayti Heritage Center
804 Old Fayetteville Street
Durham, NC 27702
Web site: www.hayti.org

Millennium Artist:
Tony M. Small
Composer and Playwright
Indiana

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

In two July 2000 gala performances guaranteed to lift the IQ of audience members by 30 points, the community of Durham, North Carolina was introduced to the new music composed by Tony Small during his Artists & Communities residency with the St. Joseph's Historic Foundation / Hayti Heritage Center.

The Durham "Triangle" area is rapidly becoming one of the country's fastest growing science and technology corridors. The Hayti Heritage Center elected to examine the interface and potential relationship between arts and science through their residency with Chicago-based composer and writer Tony Small. Children enrolled in the St. Joseph ARTSQUEST 2000 Summer Camp had hands-on opportunities to learn about science disciplines - site visits, experiments, workshops, and presentations. They then worked with Small and other local musicians to create music and lyrics based on their experiences and impressions.

Mini-concerts held regularly by the children and musicians focused on that week's scientific discipline. The full cycle of works was presented at the conclusion of the project as the staged musical, "Sciencequest: A Musical That Celebrates Science in the Triangle Through Art." The musical, featuring choral work by the ARTSQUEST 2000 campers accompanied by the North Carolina Jazz Ensemble, is available on CD through the Hayti Heritage Center.

In designing their innovative residency program, the Hayti Heritage Center and Tony Small created partnerships with over 10 organizations representing the changing face of North Carolina. These generous partners provided the ARTSQUEST 2000 campers and Small extraordinary access to facilities and knowledge, enabling them to learn and create new work about the disciplines of botany (North Carolina Botanical Garden), astronomy (Morehead Planetarium), entomology (North Carolina State University and the Museum of Life Science Magic Wings Butterfly House), paleontology (North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences), environmental science and ecology (National Institute of Environmental Health and the State Forest Service), medical biotechnology (Duke University Zoology Department, NCCU Biomedical / Biotechnology Institute, and the Carolina Biological Supply Company), and aquaculture (North Carolina State University's Aquatic Botany Department).

Small summarizes his Artists & Communities experience, saying, "…embracing a community's social structure, cultural heritage, and value system through the arts is one of the keys that unlocks the doors of change. It is a bridge of communication, education, and transformation."

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Tony Small is a composer, instrumentalist, playwright, and educator who has developed a unique music curriculum integrating science/mathematics and the fine arts that has been utilized through Chicago public schools.