OUTDOOR INSTRUMENTS
Harmony in the GreenSpace
Harmony in the GreenSpace
Manta ray at work
Dustin is our official percussionist. His working conditions with Rochester Philharmonic are much nicer.
The Fassett Greenspace Project
AFRA is always interested in further transforming the Fassett lot into a place for healthy living, which includes providing outlets for creativity, such as art, music, and poetry. Phase II of the Fassett GreenSpace Project, which was funded in August of 2018, involved the installation of sculptural outdoor instruments (designed by Harmony Freenotes Park). Outdoor instruments are accessible by a wide audience, and therefore encourage group play between people of all ages and abilities, sharing the joy of music, improvisation, and expression both emotionally and physically. AFRA has installed all six outdoor instruments with the help of volunteers from Alfred State College and Northern Lights Candles.
In August of 2018, Art for Rural America received a grant from the KaBOOM! Play Everywhere Challenge, supported by the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. The Play Everywhere Challenge calls for innovative design ideas that will create opportunities for play in unexpected places. With the help of volunteers from Alfred State College, AFRA was able to lay the concrete pads for the instruments. AFRA’s board hopes that these sculptural instruments will make it easier for Allegany County residents to play every day.
Dustin Woodard, local percussionist and former Assistant Professor of Music at Alfred University and Houghton College, received a 2018 Artist in Community grant from the Tri County Arts Council to compose a theme-song for the Fassett GreenSpace. It is Woodard's hope that part of this theme will be played after the event at the park and the composition can be taught in local music classes.
In August of 2019, Woodard and student musicians played this composition called Harmony in the GreenSpace for a live audience. A video made by the composer is above, and the audio recording of the tune can be heard by clicking on the music note here.