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Where's Your Tree? Receives  2023 Newark Arts Start Grant

Newark, NJ — Where's Your Tree? is thrilled to announce its selection as a recipient of the 2023 Newark Arts Start Grant program. This grant recognizes and supports the emerging non-profit organization's commitment to advocacy and urban green initiatives.

 Pamela Booker,  the non-profit's Founder-Director,  offers: "The awarded funds will be allocated to an exciting project, Squash & Shekere: Making Music in the Garden. These workshops engage families in a unique and enriching experience, where participants learn to decorate Shekeres crafted from dried gourds and intricately woven beads into net coverings that produce rhythmic-percussive sounds. Community participants also explore this musical instrument's rich African "roots" and "routes" through interactive song-making sessions.

Renowned percussionist, musician, and video artist Ahmondylla Best will lead these workshops. Drawing from her extensive repertoire, participants will gain a foundational understanding of the Shekere's technical aspects, enabling them to personalize their designs. The workshops culminate in directed and spontaneous performances where participants can play their custom-crafted instruments, showcasing the versatility of gourds, initially grown as squash, which nourish local communities while serving as musical instruments for celebrated performers.

The Newark ArtStart Grant Program, in existence since 2001, has consistently played a vital role in catalyzing cultural activities within the vibrant Newark arts community by awarding mini-grants to community members, schools, non-profits, and individual artists.