Archive for the ‘Arts’ Category

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Abigail Washburn reunites with Afterquake schoolchildren

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Afterquake EP's Abigail Washburn reunited with the schoolchildren of Shuimo

Abigail Washburn made an emotional return to The Bookworm in Chengdu on Saturday evening for a special performance reuniting her with the children from Shuimo who performed on the fund-raising Afterquake EP.

Song for Mama

As well as treating the packed room to a selection of her newest songs with Kai Welch, they also invited Chen Honglin, Luo Shuang, and the other children on stage to sing Little Birdie, Song for Mama, and sing-along-favourite Sala (which, after such an impressive earlier performance, was requested as an encore by the enthusiastic crowd).

As a special bonus for the children (and a number of excited audience members), Oscar-winner Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop wizard Greg Broadmore made a guest appearance, enjoying the show and posing for photos with the children.

A post-performance rush for Afterquake CDs, all proceeds of which raise money for SQR, made a welcome end to a wonderful evening’s entertainment.

Sala Sala dance Sala dance Abigail Washburn, Kai Welch, the schoolchildren and parents of Shuimo, and the SQR team

Abigail and Kai entertain the children of Xiaoyudong on our CSA trip

The following day Abigail, Kai and their engineer/vocalist/instrumentalist James joined parents and staff from EtonHouse International School, students from the South-West University of Nationalities, and the SQR team, on a Chengdu Sports Aid trip to Xiaoyudong.

After an hour or two of football, frisbee, basketball and other warming activities, Abby and Kai wowed the children with four or five songs in English and Chinese, and got them going with a sing-a-long version of Little Birdie. EtonHouse kindly handed out gifts of toys, games and clothing to the gathered children.

Catch! Can Kai kick it? Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch entertain the children of Xiaoyudong Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch entertain the children of Xiaoyudong
Banjo lesson

Posted in Arts, Chengdu Sports Aid, SQR Activities | 1 Comment »

Exceptional Exhibition launches to raise money for earthquake victims

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Saturday December 5th saw the public opening of The Exceptional Exhibition, showcasing the amazing talents of five-time Oscar winner Richard Taylor and his Weta Workshop, and in particular the wonderful World of Dr Grordbort’s.

The exhibition displays genuine props, sculptures and artwork from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, the Narnia series, a huge selection of Dr Grordbort’s work, and Taylor’s five golden statuettes themselves. It runs from December 5th 2009 to January 5th 2010. Tickets cost 25 RMB and all profits go towards the earthquake relief fund.

Posted in Arts, Donation, SQR | No Comments »

Abigail Washburn and Kai Welch at The Bookworm

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Abigail Washburn

Abigail Washburn, musician and one half of the group that produced the Afterquake EP to raise money for Sichuan Quake Relief, returns to The Bookworm for a one-off concert with new collaborator Kai Welch.

For an extra special treat, some of the Shuimo schoolchildren who were involved in the Afterquake CD will also be joining the show.

The show is scheduled to begin at 8pm on Saturday, December 5th.

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SAME Camps – huge success in difficult circumstances.

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

360 volunteers from China and abroad taught more than 4000 kids in 13 camps organised by SQR in various locations around the affected areas.

The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have been hugely oversubscribed, both in terms of those attending and in terms of volunteers, and have been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and well worth the effort put in by all involved.

SQR sends huge thanks to all our volunteers who worked under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions.

This summer in the quake zone, there have been large aftershocks, horrendous rock and mud slides, and many bridges and roads in the area were blocked.  The extraordinary torrential rains caused 11,000 homes to collapse in the past week alone, and scores of local residents died.  It is a timely reminder that, whilst incredible progress has been made in the reconstruction effort, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in building up an effective infrastructure in this beautiful area, in terms of roads, bridges, schools, clinics, hospitals and other facilities.

All volunteers were camping, with no hot water available.  To compensate, however, there was often a plentiful supply of warm buzzing mosquitoes (thanks to them for committing to the project), and heavy rains on tap pretty much permanently in recent weeks.  The volunteers and kids showed great good humour and determination to enjoy themselves.

For the volunteers, life really was not easy at times, but they managed to keep the kids occupied and entertained for a week at a time, which is an achievement in any conditions at all.  It is wonderful to see such a tremendous effort from so many people, from students on holidays, from people giving up time from work and their families to help out, from people travelling large distances from all over the country and all over the world to make a contribution.  The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have made a difference.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who contacted SQR to volunteer, and thanks to those we said ‘no’ to as well – there were simply too many volunteers.  To stay in the loop for future volunteering opportunities, email mark@sichuan-quake-relief.org to be included on the SQR newsletter mailing list.

If you took part in the camps and have stories and photos, please email mark@sichuan-quake-relief and we’ll get them up on our Flickr account (www.flickr.com/sichuanquakerelief) and on the SQR website (www.sichuan-quake-relief.org)

Thanks again

SQR

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Posted in Arts, Civil society, Education, Living conditions, Psychological health, SQR, SQR Activities | No Comments »

First SQR SAME Camp a success: a report from the project manager

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

June 28 – July 3 SQR SAME Summer Camp Session 1 at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu

Last week 7 enthusiastic SQR volunteers trekked up to GuangJi to set up the first SAME Summer Camp at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu (2hrs from Chengdu). The GuangJi Kindergarten and Preschool was chosen as our first location because SQR already had an existing relationship with the school principal, Kang Laoshi (‘laoshi’ = ‘teacher’). SQR is actively coordinating the demolition and rebuilding of one of the buildings damaged in last year’s quake.

The 7 volunteers consisted of international students (an American and Brazilian) as well as local Sichuan university students and recent grads. We met on Sunday afternoon at the Bookworm for a short meeting to discuss the upcoming week’s plans then set off by van to GuangJi, arriving by early evening to meet with Kang Laoshi and discuss the week’s schedule and lesson plans.

Our accommodation were more than adequate in that Kang laoshi allowed us to sleep in the temporary classrooms next door to the permanent buildings. It was quite comfortable since we were provided beds and linen and had access to lighting and electricity. The worst inconvenience was the occassional mosquito bite.

The first morning and day began well with the local teachers starting the kids off with morning exercises and dances to loosen up kids for an active day of learning. It was wonderful to see, and I took loads of pictures.

Throughout the day the SQR volunteers conducted their teaching modules in Sports, Art, Music and English; working alongside the local teachers and adjusting our lesson plans to tailor to the school children’s various levels. In that sense, the volunteers are challenged to adapt quickly and be flexible to the needs of the children.

During the second night at camp a 5.6 quake struck nearby Mianzhu shaking us out of bed, but luckily no major damage was inflicted. Indeed it was a stark reminder of why we were there in the first place. Less than 12 hours later an aftershock of 5.0 occurred during napping time for the kids. The local teachers and SQR volunteers quickly scrambled to evacuate the children from the permanent building and arrange for classes to be conducted in the temporary classrooms the rest of the week. Seeing some of the children distraught and crying from the quake gave us another reminder of why we were there.

The remaining week went on smoothly. The classes and activities were fun and interesting for the kids and the experience gained by the volunteers was challenging yet every bit rewarding and life enriching.

I am lucky to have been apart of such a wonderful experience and will remember and cherish it forever. During our last dinner with Kang laoshi, I thanked her for everything she had done for us and told her that “Sichuan will forever be in our hearts.”

Leeman Now
SQR SAME Summer Camp Project Mgr
The Chinese University of HK, MBA 2011

The first SAME camp of 2009 was a success

The first SAME camp of 2009 was a success, or "A range of high marks for the ballroom dancers."

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Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Living conditions, Psychological health, SQR Activities, Seismic activity, Social welfare | No Comments »

Volunteers needed!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009
SQR SAME camps 2009

SQR SAME camps 2009

DOWNLOAD PDF INFO in English and Chinese.

We need volunteers! With schools out for the summer the kids living in temporary villages in the earthquake area have two months free and not a lot to do, so Sichuan Quake Relief is currently setting up several fun-based activity camps for them.

The SQR SAME Camps will focus on the four areas of Sports, Art, Music and English-language learning.

Camps will be run in 5-day modules from Monday to Friday, commencing Monday June 29, and running till the end of August.

SQR SAME Camps 2009 - 中文

SQR SAME Camps 2009 - 中文

We are asking volunteers to commit to at least one full week of teaching over the summer, leaving Chengdu on the Sunday, staying in the village teaching from Monday to Friday, and returning to Chengdu on the Friday evening. We are looking to build mixed teams to run each camp, so people of all ages, Chinese and non-Chinese, most welcome. And while teaching experience and some Chinese language skills would be great, they are not necessary. We just need flexible, enthusiastic people who have a sense of humour and are able to live and work under difficult conditions.

Transport costs to and from the camp, (very basic) accommodation, and food will be provided by SQR. We are currently building teams for the first seven SAME Camps:

  1. June 28 – July 3
  2. July 5 – July 10
  3. July 12 – July 17
  4. July 19 – July 24
  5. July 26 – July 31
  6. August 2 – August 7
  7. August 9 – August 14

If you would like to volunteer for one or more of these camps, or if you would like additional information, email volunteer@sichuan-quake-relief.org or call (86) 136 7121 2235.

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Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, SQR, SQR Activities | 2 Comments »

Danwei.org feature on Afterquake video of ‘Sala’

Friday, May 22nd, 2009
http://www.vimeo.com/4762122

Danwei.org article on the Afterquake track, ‘Sala’

From the Afterquake music project, the traditional Qiang minority song “Sala”. More about this video and Afterquake below.

One year after the May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China, the Afterquake music project has created music with quake survivors to raise money and awareness for the ongoing reconstruction.

This song is a traditional Qiang minority song called “Sala”, but all the kids in Wenchuan seem to know it whether they are Han, Qiang or from another ethnic group. They also all seem to know the dance. The kids called it a guo zhuang (锅庄) song which means that you dance around a fire while singing it.

The vocals are by the girl in the video named Luo Shuang (罗霜), a 14-year-old first year middle school student from Wenchuan County. She is Han ethnicity. Her mother appears at the end of the video, on the site where they are rebuilding their house, which was destroyed in the earthquake. The accompanying music was produced by Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang, of the Shanghai Restoration Project. The video was shot and edited by Luke Mines.

To hear more of the music, see pictures from the project and to learn more about how to support Sichuan Quake Relief visit afterquakemusic.com, or support SQR by getting the tracks on iTunes or Amazon.

Proceeds from the music help to provide much needed quake relief to the 5 million who lost homes in the earthquake through the work of Sichuan Quake Relief.

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Posted in Arts, Civil society, Media, SQR | 1 Comment »

Sichuan Earthquake Commemoration and Afterquake CD Release

Monday, May 11th, 2009

5/12/2009 @ 6:30 PM, Chengdu Bookworm

To commemerate this tragic event, and, importantly, to raise some more funds for the victims, please join us at The Bookworm from 6.30pm on Tuesday. We’ll have a great KC Meats BBQ on the go, and be entertained by a host of bands, most of whom played at our first fundraising event last year immediately after the quake struck. Entrance is free. All profits from the evening will go directly into projects assisting the victims of the disaster.

The evening will also mark the release of Afterquake. To raise awareness of victims still in need, folk musician Abigail Washburn and electronic artist Dave Liang spent two weeks in Sichuan to create Afterquake, an album that mixes actual sounds of the rebuilding with the voices of relocated school children.

The Afterquake CDs will be available on the evening, and a short film showing how the project came together will be screened. For more info on this project, visit www.afterquakemusic.com

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Posted in Arts, Donation, SQR Activities | No Comments »

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