Final ‘Get on the Bus’ trip visits Onondaga Historical Association and Downtown Writer’s Center, April 17

Final ‘Get on the Bus’ trip visits Onondaga Historical Association and Downtown Writer’s Center, April 17April 11, 2008Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

On Thursday, April 17, the public is invited to the final “Get on the Bus” free Connective Corridor bus trip, which will travel to the Onondaga Historical Association and the Downtown Writer’s Center. The Connective Corridor is the 1.5-mile signature strip of cultural development connecting University Hill with downtown Syracuse.

The trip starts at SU’s Connective Corridor bus stop at College Place at 5:15 p.m. and returns there at 7 p.m. Free parking is available in the Quad 4 lot, accessible from College Place.

At 5 p.m., before riders board the Connective Corridor bus, they will have an opportunity to view the Mobile Literacy Arts Bus (M-LAB), which will be at College Place. The M-LAB is the recently completed project for the Partnership for Better Education; 10 SU students and their instructor, Marion Wilson, director of community initiatives for the College of Visual and Performing Arts, turned a traditional RV into a functioning, mobile digital photo lab and writing classroom, where SU students will collaborate with Syracuse city high school students on projects throughout the academic year.

Once aboard the Connective Corridor bus, guests will be met by Scott Peal, a dramatist from the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA). In character, Peal will explain to riders the OHA’s Freedom Bound exhibition, a show that takes a look at the role of slavery in the City of Syracuse through a sound and light performance.

Participants will then visit the Downtown Writer’s Center for the gallery opening of “The Materials of Color” featuring the Italian artist Maria Grazia Facchinetti. Visitors are also welcome to explore the many resources that the Downtown Writer’s Center offers for those interested in the visual arts, poetry or literature.

In the return back to campus, the Connective Corridor bus will become an open- mic space. Riders are invited to bring poetry to share or simply to sit back and enjoy the performances of poetic verse.

This evening event is the last of five “Get on the Bus” events, a series curated by students in the SU course “Art in Action.” In each case, a Connective Corridor bus travels to two cultural venues currently operating along the Corridor. These venues have included the Community Folk Art Center, the Syracuse Symphony, Jazz Central, the Red House, Light Work and the Delavan Art Gallery. The students coordinate brief events at the venues and additionally describe to the bus riders one cultural richness that no longer exists downtown — including the 15th Ward, Native American presence and the Erie Canal. At the end of the semester, students will offer proposals for ways of engaging the arts and culture more deeply in the revitalization of Syracuse’s downtown.

For more information, contact Imagining America at 443-8590.