Dear TRENDS Diary –
Local businesses have struggled to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, and major arts organizations have closed their doors until further notice.
But culture, human connection, and the health of our communities have never been more important.
After so much isolation, the Cultural Caravan offers a fresh vision to revitalize the community: bringing small businesses that have struggled to survive the pandemic together with the countless artists whose unique voices have been silenced for over a year.
When people hear I’m a classical cellist, they assume that the Cultural Caravan will consist of string quartets all around town. I’m all for string quartets, but one surprise of creating the Caravan is that it’s led me to meet such a wide diversity of artists.
We’re bringing together musicians who specialize in Indian Raga, Brazilian Jazz, music of southern Africa, and more. What you’ll hear from us will be different than anything you’ve heard before.
We will operate not simply outside the bounds of concert halls, which may be dealing with limited audience capacity for a long time, but at the site of local businesses that need community support.
When you’re at a local business you value, sharing an experience with only 50 or 100 of your neighbors, listening to great artists who also happen to be local to your community –– I believe that inspires something deeper and more rare.
Our first events are this weekend at the Museum of Boulder (May 22) and the Boulder JCC (May 23). The museum has experienced minimal traffic this year and this will be the JCC’s first public in-person offering since the pandemic began. We’ll also be performing pop-up concerts at Spruce Confections, the Boulder Book Store, and River and Woods.
Join us for these free events, donate, and learn more at https://www.culturalcaravan.org.
– Josh Halpern, as told to Will Betke-Brunswick
