Forté Handbell Quartet Offers Ringing Workshops and Handbell Concert October 12 & 13 at Church in the Wildwood
The Church in the Wildwood (CIW) often collaborates with area organizations to bring music and art to the mountains! During Arts Month, CIW, along with support from the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, is hosting an inspiring weekend of musicianship, handbell skill-building, and enchanting performance artistry.
Luke Nabeta, artistic director of Forté, explains that “The quartet formed in 2007, with the desire for an outlet for advanced ringing, and to push forward what handbells are capable of.” Since then, the quartet has changed ringers five times. Luke is the only original member in the current quartet, which has been together for nine years.
In pursuit of musical excellence, Forté Handbell Quartet strives to explore, innovate, and inspire through their music. Luke states that the quartet has “two primary goals as an organization. The first is to glorify God with every note we play. Our second goal is what we call ‘Rethink Possible.’ Generally, bells are associated with churches or Christmas. The goal of our group is to push the limits of what people perceive as the role of handbells as well as challenge ourselves within the group to continually push the boundaries of what bells are capable of.”
This is their third year offering a one-day workshop with three different tracks to accommodate beginner to advanced ringers. The workshop takes place on Saturday, Oct. 12 from 8 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. (includes lunch and dinner).
The Forté Handbell Quartet will offer a free concert to the community, no tickets needed, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Both events take place at Church in the Wildwood, 10585 Ute Pass Avenue, Green Mountain Falls. Find out more and register at wildwooducc.org/handbellfortehandbells.org, or fortehandbells.org.
Green Box Arts offers two special events for Arts Month
Green Box Arts has at its roots the vision, desire and mission to support community arts and artists from around the
world. They accomplish this through various ways, including but not limited to their artist-in-residency program, their legendary and much anticipated summer arts festival, through travel with an arts focus, and through artistic events throughout the year. They continually have their fingers on the pulse of artistic excellence across diverse artistic mediums including photography, visual arts, music, dance, earth art, literary arts, pottery, culinary arts, silver smithing and more.
This month, Green Box celebrates “October is Arts Month” through two special programs offered to the community.
On Saturday, Oct. 20, Green Box brings musician and sound practitioner Judith Piazza back to the James Turrell Skyspace for two Healing Sound Journeys at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. You’ll be enchanted, mesmerized, relaxed, renewed, and in awe as you are bathed in multi-instrumental sound in the skilled hands of this local musician in the incredibly beautiful and acoustically engineered skyspace. Experience this sound journey under both open roof (weather permitting) and closed roof light sequences. Register at greenboxarts.org.
On Saturday, Oct. 26 from 2 to 3 p.m., Mk Smith Despres, Green Box’s last artist-in-residence of this year, offers a workshop on “Reading and Writing the Picture Book” for adults writing for children.
“The picture book is many things at once: a text, a visual narrative, a shared experience,” says Mk. “Picture books have the immense responsibility to reflect the world’s truths and wonders back to children. Participants will examine the picture book in all its forms – narrative, poetic, silly, rhyming, wordless, nonfiction, conceptual – and will leave the workshop with a list of manuscript concepts and the beginnings of their own story.”
The workshop is free but requires registration.
In addition, you can take the audio walking tour of the history and art of Green Mountain Falls created by another artist-in-residence, Jessica Kahkoska, or visit the Skyspace on your own during these beautiful autumn days.
For more information and to register, go to greenboxarts.org.
Arts Month in the Ute Pass area
Celebrating the arts is on the hearts and minds of many in the Ute Pass area every day. Events such as Green Box Arts Festival and artist-in-residency program, the Annual Chipita Park Arts & Crafts Fair (Nov. 2-3), various artistic events that take place at Church in the Wildwood, and the emphasis on experiential learning with the arts at Ute Pass Elementary School keep arts experiences center stage for much of the year.
However, even in an arts-friendly area such as the Ute Pass, the celebration of arts and culture known as “October is Arts Month” in the Pikes Peak region holds a special place. Orchestrated annually by the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, Arts Month elevates the visibility of arts and culture across El Paso and Teller Counties by showcasing local talent, providing opportunities for arts advocacy, supporting innovative cross-sector community collaborations, and creating new avenues for arts engagement and cultural enrichment.
October 2024 marks the 11th anniversary of Arts Month. This year’s invitation is to “Open Your World with the Arts” and to “Unite Your World with the Arts,” encouraging arts advocacy all year round.
October editions of Ute Pass News will highlight some ways that organizations and arts advocates in the Ute Pass area are doing just that.
