Community invited to come out for Rochester's first-ever Creative Crawl
A planned Creative Crawl will merge reggae with flash poetry and jazz with printmaking as part of an immersive arts experience making its debut Saturday in Rochester.
The event is set to take place from 1 to 4 p.m. at six different locations downtown, including the Rochester Art Center, Threshold Arts, and the Rochester Civic Theater. Different musicians and artists will be at each venue throughout the duration of the event.
(Note: Activities are moving indoors due to inclement weather.)
Funded in-part through a Start-Up Grant from the Downtown Alliance, the Creative Crawl is being organized by John and Beth Sievers, who applied for the grant as an opportunity to enliven downtown with art after more than a year of Covid-related restrictions.
This event will give participants the opportunity to walk through downtown Rochester and experience different forms of art, from hip-hop and bluegrass to painting and wool spinning.
“We [will] put different artists and musicians spread out around downtown so that there’d be a lot of things to see and a lot of variety in terms of music and art, but maybe not so many people crowded together in one spot,” said John Sievers.
Beth Sievers, an encaustic artist herself, said artists representing a multitude of talents were encouraged to participate in the event. With the arts making their way back into communities as the pandemic slows down, she said the Creative Crawl will give artists greater public exposure after more than a year of behind-the-scenes work.
“I think that a lot of creative people have really missed that outlet, so I think that this is providing that to some people who have been missing that piece in their lives,” Beth Sievers said.
Not only has the artistic aspect to Rochester been missing for the artists, but also for the rest of the community, added John Sievers. He said the Creative Crawl will offer a space for safe gathering and the opportunity to welcome back Rochester’s creative side.
“Oftentimes embracing art or music or dance is a way to deal with what’s bothering you or to celebrate what you want to celebrate so it’s important to me,” he said. “Especially after the hard year to just provide some opportunities for people to feel like they’re part of a community that’s engaged in the celebration or the stress relief that creative endeavors can allow.”
The locations and artists featured at each location are listed below.
Bleu Duck Kitchen, 14 4th St. SW
Becky Schlegel, Folk-Country-Bluegrass
Willow Gentile, Painting
Café Steam, 315 South Broadway
Sothea Lam, Reggae
Jennifer Jesseph, Flash Poetry
Canvas and Chardonnay, 317 South Broadway
LaidEe P, DJ / with Jae Havoc, Rap
Flower Joy Bee, Painting
Threshold Arts, 311 South Broadway
The D’Sievers, Jazz
Olivia Allen-Wickler, Printmaking
Rochester Civic Theatre Patio, 20 Civic Center Dr. SE
Voices of Eloquence, Pop-R&B-Jazz-Neo Soul
Amarama Art, Needle Felting and Wool Spinning
Rochester Art Center, 40 Civic Center Dr. SE
Miriam Haacke, Singer-songwriter
Cassandra Buck, Chalk Art
Catey Ackerman is a summer news intern for Med City Beat. A graduate of Mayo High School, she now studies criminology and English at Penn State University.
