South Dakota is among the states that have received the most refugees, per capita, in the past decade. This weekend, a specific group of New Americans celebrates its culture through music and dance in hopes of making deeper community connections.

Sioux Falls has one of the largest Kunama populations in the United States. These individuals fled a civil war in East Africa nearly 15 years ago. Moses Idris, an organizer for the Kunama Cultural Festival, now in its second year, said local Kunama residents have overcome challenges in finding stability in the metro area, but they still want others to know about their desire to feel welcome.

"That's why we're trying to raise awareness and just celebrate each other, and our unity as people, and [our] growth," he said.

A key part of this year's event will be Saturday performances on the main stage at Levitt at the Falls, which hosts free concerts throughout the year. The shows will include traditional Kunama dance and music, along with storytelling and teachings. Internationally renowned musicians will be on hand, paying tribute to cultural heritage from other parts of Africa.

Rose Ann Hofland, who leads community engagement for Levitt at the Falls, said the shows by Kunama performers might not be something all attendees are used to, but she said she feels they will get a sense of inclusiveness.

"It's a very sort of communal dancing, where everybody comes together and joins in," she said. "I think it's really in alignment with the Levitt mission, and I think it's just going to be an exciting and joyful thing for people to participate in."

Meanwhile, the larger festival includes soccer matches and cultural fashion shows and runs through Sunday. Some of the soccer teams hail from other U.S. cities with large Kunama populations, including Kansas City and Atlanta. Organizers say these activities are especially helpful in trying to engage Kunama youths and keep them on a steady path.


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Some select alleyways across San Diego are set to get vibrant makeovers thanks to a transformative community initiative.

Sue Peerson, lecturer in urban studies and planning at the University of California-San Diego, has been spearheading a project to transform drab alleys, typically used for parking and trash pickup, into greener, safer public spaces.

The "Alleys in Action" project has received a $20,000 flagship AARP Community Challenge grant, part of a broader initiative including 11 organizations throughout California.

The grants aim to help cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas become great places to live for people of all ages. With the help of her students and the Adams Avenue Business Association, they solicited community feedback through a pop-up event in the Normal Heights neighborhood.

"Our hope is that improving the physical conditions of this alleyway will create it as a public space that's a draw for people that are already in this neighborhood, that also has a connection to the business district and to these public spaces," Peerson explained.

The Normal Heights alley will see the creation of a large mural along with other beautification efforts by November. This grant program is a cornerstone of AARP's nationwide Livable Communities initiative. The grant initiative is part of its largest investment in community projects to date, with a total of $3.8 million awarded to 343 organizations nationwide.

Jennifer Berdugo, senior planning adviser to AARP California, said since 2017, the organization has awarded 57 grants totaling more than $660,000 to nonprofit organizations and government entities across the state.

"The goals are really to inspire change in communities in different areas like housing, transportation, parks, community resilience, which ties into disaster resilience as well," Berdugo noted.

Among this year's 11 grantees are PlacemakingUS, which will receive more than $16,000 for a project to build a community comal, or traditional griddle, and engage older Meso-American women to revive the weekly tradition of tortilla making.

Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates will receive $2,500 to conduct a bike audit of Rancho Cordova's first-ever roundabout project. And the Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum will receive $10,000 to transform a parking lot into an outdoor plaza, with accessible benches to accommodate older adults attending planned events in the space.

By Linda Lee Baird for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Chrystal Blair for Ohio News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration

Have you ever wanted to star in a sci-fi adventure, meeting creatures from outside the bounds of imagination? Have you ever wanted to touch the artwork in a museum? Did you imagine it would respond when you did so? Nine miles from downtown Columbus, Ohio-in a surreally reimagined corner of an abandoned shopping mall-you can do all of this, and more. Welcome to Otherworld.

Five years ago, Otherworld's Ohio-raised founder Jordan Renda took the skills he'd learned from designing haunted houses and escape rooms, and converted a former Office Max store into an experience unlike any other. "It's a place where people can interact with art," Otherworld's General Manager Jon Stewart says. "Not just looking at it; they can touch, feel, and play with it."

"It's kind of like a choose your own adventure art exhibit," Otherworld's Lead Props and Scenic Fabricator Ira Tecson explains.

Over 40 artists worked to turn the 32,000 square-foot space into an immersive-and evolving- experience, designed to delight kids and adults in equal measures, with a story slowly unfurling through nearly 50 unique rooms.

"If you follow parts of the storyline, you're a beta tester going into a sleep study. And then you're traveling from one experience to the next," Stewart explains. Whether visitors decide to begin by walking through a science lab, or studying clues in a janitor's closet, they become part of an expansive tale. Throughout their visit, guests encounter puzzles and places that Stewart says "makes the art interact with you."

Midwest creatives have played a crucial role in the space from its inception. Tecson uses the skills she obtained studying sculpture at The Ohio State University to build the exhibition's fantastical scenes, including a giant tree that anchors its center. Stewart-an Indiana native-joined the team after a stint working on cruise ships. And other local artists help keep the space dynamic, frequently refreshing and redesigning rooms. Tecson says that sometimes, "an artist will have an idea, and then we help them kind of execute their vision." Area muralists have painted interior walls, and Columbus DJs have been invited to play music during special events.

This unique redevelopment could be an innovative model for ghost malls nationwide. A 2023 study published in the blog of financial company IPX1031 notes that 68% of Americans live within an hour of a dead mall, and other experts predict the nation could have just 150 malls left by the early 2030s.

In contrast, Otherworld's popularity is having a positive impact on local businesses, with a new indoor bounce playground opening up in another corner of the old shopping center, and a nearby seafood restaurant offering discounts to Otherworld's customers.

A second location opened last summer in Philadelphia, and the team hints that there's more to come, though they're coy about the plans-not surprising for a group that's mastered the art of the unexpected. In the meantime, a visit to the original Columbus location is well worth a drive this summer.


Linda Lee Baird wrote this story for Arts Midwest.


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Advocates in Wyoming trying to get music therapy licensure recognized in the state are hitting roadblocks.

Members of the Wyoming Music Therapy Task Force fielded questions last week from the state's Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee. Music therapy can help relieve anxiety, dementia and stroke symptoms, as well as aid people living with multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.

Hilary Camino, chair of the Wyoming Music Therapy Task Force, told the committee she wants music to to be a protected title to increase access and so that practitioner qualifications are clear.

"We often work with vulnerable populations, people who cannot advocate for themselves. So it is very important that we know what we're doing when working with those very vulnerable populations in a clinical setting, " she said.

Camino, who is a practitioner herself, said she is given up to three referrals per week to provide music therapy services in a hospital setting and that there aren't enough providers to fulfill the need.

The committee asked questions about what kind of training practitioners need, what kind of funding licensure would require and under what state statute licensure would fall, before moving forward a bill draft for title protection.

Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, supported the idea of licensure and also noted the idea moves what he says is "against the tide" of the current Legislature.

"The sense that I get from our colleagues, especially with some of the new groups out there, are the work is to lessen licensing across the field. I think that is going to be kind of a strong issue in the 2025 session," he explained.

Seventeen other states have enacted music therapy legislation and similar bills have been brought to other legislatures.


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