Concerted/Rest
Concerted/ Rest, a project for May 2024, merges Angel City Arts’ ambition of making multi-disciplinary works with outreach to an often overlooked and under-served Los Angeles audience. The idea is to ‘take the beautiful music and interaction that happens inside rooms at the festival each year and bring it to people temporarily seeking refuge in public space. ‘, says lead artist/ composer, Jacqueline (Jae) Kim. The project has received three municipal grants and anticipates complete funding by November 2023.
As of the 2023 homeless count, the amount of people living on the streets of Los Angeles has increased an alarming 10% from the previous year. While the ‘housing first’ model prevails as the most effective strategy, tens of thousands of people are living in public, waiting for this reality to take place; it is the predominant choice over residing in a shelter for many. Kim continues, ‘Musical offerings are made outdoors regularly throughout the city, but rarely for this specific population. We use the term ‘sanctuary city’; this model proposes honoring sanctuary space.’
Kim, multi-reedist Douglas Wieselman and mrudungam improviser, Rajna Swaminathan, will compose a series of pieces based on time spent at a given site. Like great jazz, they plan to take the edges of noise and sound (natural and industrial), and explore the age-old healing effects of frequency to create sonic containers within these public settings.
‘I look forward to collaborating with Jae, the other artists and the urban environment.’
-Douglas Wieselman, composer
After each Concerted performance, tensile fabric structures lit from within will remain at the site for the project’s second part, Rest, a responsive installation. Recordings of the live performances will have been edited into sequences and when a visitor approaches the sculptures, a sensor will re-activate the music, creating a temporary oasis, echoing the performance and inspiring future sanctuary spaces. Music, documentation, and stories will then be shared with the Angel City Jazz festival’s audience in the fall.
‘Thank you for taking the time to consider this project for funding. I believe it will have an incredible impact and spark dialogues that are urgent and necessary for well-being and co-existence.’
-Rajna Swaminathan, composer