Oyez Roslyn! got hit with COVID-ization, like almost every other arts organization and/or performance venue. It is safe to assume that we will not be shaking and a-making until at least 
fall of 2021.
That being said, we are only in hibernation, not ending our existence. (And we are still trying to find a venue.)
Good thoughts to you, and hopes you are finding other ways of cross-pollinating with challenging ideas and art as it pops out.
Two and a half years since the last post, approaching three years without an event.
Oyez Roslyn! is still alive, but not kicking (as in kicking out events), for now.
There have been two ongoing “challenges”:
1) It has been a struggle since our inception to find a venue that meets our criteria: available on a weekend night for free or a very minimal fee, provides food and drink, seats at least 30 (we average close to 50 folks+), and (of course) has some corner we can use to set up a podium or minimal performance space. IN ROSLYN.
2) Volunteer gusto. Everything we’ve done has been all-volunteer: scheduling, figuring out a mix of interesting people who are willing to present for a nominal honorrium. A mix of local and regional, a mix of intersts and ways of presenting, etc. Setting up and taking down. Doing the PR. Etc. Everybody who does volunteer events knows the drill.
Those of us who did the Oyez Roslyn! drill needed a winter season where we were not pre-commited to a full weekend of work once a month.
We are brooding, like hens, for now. Perhaps single events. Perhaps outdoors. Just not right now.
Wishing you patience, compassion, and courage as WInter Solstice launches us into a new year.
Perhaps you noticed: there has been not one Oyez Roslyn! event during the 2017-18 season, and now it’s SPRING!
Oyez! organizers took a sabbatical to get caught up with our lives. During this time, it became clear to us how much time and energy we have been pumping in Oyez Roslyn!’s winter series of events.
And honestly, we can’t keep it up right now. So we’re taking a longer break.
In the meantime, Oyez Roslyn! will remain a legally existing 501-C3 nonprofit, with the ability to co-sponsor events, and to act as an umbrella organization for proposals that are in keeping with our mission statement.*
Stay in touch.
We had a great January event, but since then Snoqualmie Pass has received 81″ of snow. So here’s something worth digging out for—the season finale of Oyez Roslyn! On Feb 25th 8PM @ Basecamp there will only be two acts:
Marc Brown and Nova Devonie: Song, Guitar & Accordion
A sample of one of Nova Devonie’s musical projects relating to Alice in Wonderland…
Donald Byrd, Executive Artistic Director Spectrum Dance Theater: Making the Invisible Visible
more about Marc Brown and Nova Devonie:
Marc Brown, a Cle Elum neighbor, is a musician (guitarist and singer) and architect who has worked in the Pacific Northwest for the past 30 year
s. Both disciplines call for collaboration and creativity; on February 25th, Marc will play joined by Seattle’s Nova Karina Devonie, who once caused Garrison Keillor to blush and become tongue-tied as he attempted to pronounce her name. This vile temptress of the accordion has been delighting audiences with her sensitive (and sometimes humorous) playing, sonorous singing style, and sideways fashion sense since the early 1980’s.
Nova moved to Seattle to join swingabilly cowgirl band “Ranch Romance,” and stayed to make it her home after that band ended their touring days. She now performs with several bands including Miles and Karina, The Buckaroosters, and The Rolling Blackouts.
more about Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd, choreographer extraordinaire and Executive Artistic Director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater, will be sharing his thoughts about d
ance and a form he has developed called “theater of disruption”
which combines dance, text, fiction, music and voice. Byrd has created and produced more than 100 works to date, many of which consider intractable social issues. Spectrum’s 2016-17 season consists of three world premiere pieces by Byrd. Each uses theater of disruption to revisit racism, police shootings of unarmed black men, immigration, and violence against LGBTQ people, creating harmonic beauty and wrenching tragedy.
Donald Byrd has won more awards than we have space to list. A sampling: TONY nomination; Bessie Award; Masters of Choreography Award from The Kennedy Center; a Fellowship at The American Academy of Jerusalem; a James Baldwin Fellow of United States Artists; and the Mayor’s Arts Award for his sustained contributions to the City of Seattle. In addition, he has received support for his projects and productions from the Rockefeller Foundation, New England Foundation, Map Fund, Jerome Foundation, Seattle Foundation, and New York Foundation for the Arts; as well as local and national government agencies including 4Culture, The Office of Arts and Culture and The National Endowment for the Arts.