When you get a phone call from the White House you’ve got to admit, it doesn’t matter who you are – it tends to make you feel pretty important.
That’s what happened to us. We got the call and it made us feel like we had conquered the world, that we had an opportunity to put Redmoon on a national platform. “To expose,” as one Redmoon supporter put it: “Chicago’s local treasure to everyone!”
Here we were, in this one phone call with the White House, given the opportunity to take our Chicago spirit and make it as big as it could possibly get. The White House was creating a Halloween celebration, largely for members of the community. 2500 school children from the DC area were to be invited to enter the grounds of the President’s home and trick or treat at the steps of the White House.
We were asked to perform at this event because they wanted to create a civic Halloween experience – Chicago Style. Redmoon has a 19-year legacy that began with a neighborhood Halloween celebration focused on community which ran for over a decade.This has become a unique brand of spectacle theater that we now perform throughout the city of Chicago – in public places and a myriad of indoor venues from theaters to churches to schools. We also have a great reputation in the events market since implementing Redmoon for Hire, allowing us to provide our art to all manner of private functions and events. This is why they called.
In this invitation we were gifted an opportunity to make a real impression on the people who frame the criteria and policy around arts and cultural provision in this country. And in that moment we took the idea of that opportunity and did what we do at Redmoon so well, we got expansive.
Four weeks of production planning and numerous phone calls to old friends and future contacts in DC later, we departed Chicago with 1 truck packed full of Redmoon objects and art, a 20-person team of performers, artists and crew; we were off to the White House! In our inventory we bought skeleton costumes, miniature day of the dead installations, a table lady, a wine bike, a band, two ancient deep sea diver costumes complete with mobile bubble machines attached and our favorite spectacle object: the bombastic drum cart.
Myself and Sean Kaplan in Development arrived to DC early with the idea that if we were as audacious in our daily conversations as we are in our art-making, we would aim to meet as many people in DC as time and permission allowed us. Over a two-week period, before the event at the White House, Sean called, emailed and even wrote letters to single-handedly arrange, schedule and juggle meeting times with the highest levels of the administration: the Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the West Wing; Secretary Duncan at the Department of Education; the Chairman at the National Endowment for the Arts; Senator Dick Durbin at the Capitol Building, Congressmen Davis and Gutierrez in the House; Senator Roland Burris at the Senate; the Executive Director of The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, in addition to representatives at Americans for the Arts, and the National Assembly for State Arts Agencies… It seemed that there wasn’t a door he couldn’t open.
Upon our arrival, people welcomed us, genuinely wanted to hear more about what Redmoon is, how we do it, and share in our celebratory spirit.
We took photos, gave tokens of our appreciation for their support and commitment to the arts, but most importantly shared with them the uniqueness and power of the Redmoon story.
A story that takes us from Logan Square producing grassroots community celebrations in the form of the All Hallows Pageant, to the professional annual spectacles of 2004 through 2009, to our commitment in creating and building community through an art that focuses on public engagement. We shared with them our plans for 2010-11, to merge our Neighborhood Arts Programming with our ability to create public work of the highest caliber in the form of a Children’s Spectacle, authored and engineered by children, with professional production values, as a cultural public celebration of their work in our city.
We even received a letter from Mayor Daley that was left behind at each of our meetings, acknowledging Redmoon’s contribution to art for the community and our Chicago-centric, populist vision of public works, any place, any time: “We in Chicago are very proud of Redmoon Theater…you have enriched the cultural life of our city and strengthened Chicago’s international reputation for great theater,” wrote the Mayor.
It turns out that DC also thinks very fondly of Chicago and when Redmoon shares its story, people listen and take notice. They’re interested in our mission, they see the uniqueness of our work and they hear the value of our model. We have a real opportunity to leverage these conversations, create a national conversation about Redmoon’s artform and the real impact we have on our communities. That is, according to the National Endowment for the Arts. The Department of Education. Americans for the Arts…we had that response everywhere we went.
The reason we’ve been able to accomplish all of this and get to the level we’re at is because of you.
Because you have consistently shown up to support us.
To let us know, what we’re doing is valuable to you and that we provide you a kind of art, experience, theater that is unique to this organization.
And that you like it.
This grassroots recognition and national validation means we will only get stronger, better, louder and more vital in the art we make for public engagement.
As Redmoon’s Artistic Director Frank Maugeri was quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times: “It was absolutely a Halloween I will never forget.”
Also, we congratulate Redmoon’s Resident Artist Jim Lasko for his appointment by the City of Chicago as the first ever Artist-in-Residence. An honor that is the first of it’s kind in the country. We hope that working in these two roles, both at Redmoon and with the Office of Tourism, Department of Cultural Affairs, will fulfill you to no end! As a friend to Redmoon and former, long-time Artistic Director, we look forward to the opportunity of the work we’ll create together. Thank you, Jim.
Be Bombastic,
Rebecca Hunter
Executive Producer
For related press on our adventure, click on these links:
“Redmoon to do Halloween show at the White House“, Chicago Sun-Times
“Redmoon Theater to perform at White House on Halloween“, Chicago Tribune
“Obama to Howl at the Redmoon”, NBC Chicago
“Halloween at the White House”, Washington Post
“Redmoon’s White House plans become less ghostly”, Chicago Sun-Times
“Obamas turn White House into Halloween central“, Reuters
“Redmoon Theater part of White House Halloween“, Chicago Sun-Times
“Michelle Obama ‘Cat Woman:’ Halloween“, Swamp Politics
“Halloween Festivities“, The Official White House Website
White House Halloween Facebook Album
