Spring Festival Parade

When I was a student in Baltimore in 1997, my friend Ben Luzzatto and I organized the "Spring Festival Parade," a series of art workshops over six weeks leading up to a community festival and neighborhood parade. The event could not have happened without the support of all our friends (and then some) volunteering to lead the parade prop workshops at local recreation centers, the kids and families who created the parade props, the Maryland Institute College of Art helping us advertise, raise money and organize, Pat Oleszko (my performance teacher) and the local neighborhood participating and taking an interest in the project. The day began with a festival and local bands playing. Then the parade, led by a local step and drum group and followed by the children who participated in the workshops, made its way through the neighborhood. This was followed by a performance given by Maryland Institute students made specifically for children and a maypole dance. The parade and festival continued for six more years.