Good Hope and Strathmore's Blooming Musical Partnership

In this episode of Inside Recreation, host Carmen Berrios Martinez speaks with Recreation Specialist Ma'Lisa Easterling of Good Hope NRC and Strathmore's Community and Education Program Manager Kane Shimabukuro about MoCoRec and Strathmore's partnership bringing live music events and programs to Good Hope.

A transcript for this episode is available here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2320323/19604786-good-hope-and-strathmore-s-blooming-musical-partnership/transcript

Transcript

Welcome To Inside Recreation

Carmen Berrios Martinez 0:04

Hi, and welcome to another episode of Inside Recreation, where we talk about all the great things happening right here at Montgomery County Recreation. I'm your host, Carmen Berrios Martinez, and I'm excited for this great conversation today about Montgomery County Recreations partnership with Strathmore for the Bloom Concerts at the Good Hope Recreation Center. And so with us today, we've got Melisa Easterling. She's a recreation specialist at Good Hope. Hey Melissa. How are ya? How are you? And then we've got Kane Shima Bukoro with us. He's the Education and Community Program Manager at Strathmore. Hi, Kane. Hi, how's it going to be? Thanks for joining us today.

Kane Shimabukuro 0:41

Of course. Happy to be here.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 0:42

All right. So this is an awesome program. It is so unique. It's one of those things that like Montgomery County is known for doing really kind of unique, exciting programs. And this one is awesome.

Bloom Initiative Brings Arts Access

Carmen Berrios Martinez 0:55

So let's talk a little bit, Kane. First, for those who don't know, tell me a little bit about the Strathmore's Bloom Arts Access Initiative. What is it?

Kane Shimabukuro 1:04

So the Bloom Access Initiative is a really broad scoping entity that we have at Strathmore, where the goal is to bring arts access to as many communities, as many people as possible, whether that be at their rec centers, whether it be at their schools, anywhere in community, anywhere where people are already gathering, we'd like to show up and provide access to the arts.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 1:26

I love that. And, you know, Montgomery County really does a great job of supporting the arts, but you're right, there are a lot of people who just don't access it for a number of reasons, right? Financial, or we just don't know, right, that it's something out there. So in comes recreation, right? So May Lisa, tell me how did this come about? Like how did Good Hope become the place for bloom at, you know, Strathmore?

Ma'Lisa Easterling 1:47

So it happened before the building was rebuilt. Um, I believe that it was a conversation between Gabe and Strathmore, our director, who's returned home. Yes. Um, and the building

Good Hope Built For Live Music

Ma'Lisa Easterling 2:00

was rebuilt um and reopened in 2018. Um, our building is one of the first arts-integrated community centers in Montgomery County. Uh, when the building was rebuilt, we now have stadium seating. Our uh gymnasium is made with uh music in mind. So our walls are different in our social hall, um, our walls are different, made for music. Um, so that's that's where it started.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 2:27

It's really cool, right? You walk in and sometimes you just see a gymnasium, right? But then when you go to a concert, you're like, holy moly, this space was completely built with the arts in mind. So as you mentioned, your seating looks different than another recreation center. Your soundproofing, right, for the acoustics and all of that is different too. It's pretty, it's pretty cool, May Lisa. So tell me a little bit about what goes into organizing and um coordinating these events.

Kane Shimabukuro 2:56

Yeah, I can start with that. So it really starts with us at Strathmore being the people who bring the artists to May Lisa. So we sit down, we have a long roster of our artists in residence. So we have a program at Strathmore, the Artists and Residence program,

Choosing Artists And Setting Dates

Kane Shimabukuro 3:10

where we've been doing this for I think we're going into our 26th year. Don't hold me to that. But um, so we have lots of lots of artists to choose from, and we always go through it at the end of every year. Pick through who we think would be a good fit for Good Hope Rec Center. Send it over to May Lisa, we collaborate on it, say, okay, yes, maybe this, or maybe let's move this one to this month, depending on what's going on for the month. And yeah, it's been a really fun process to do together.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 3:40

Absolutely. So when do the concerts take place?

Ma'Lisa Easterling 3:43

Every second Saturday of the month. We do not have concerts in January or February, but every second Saturday of each month.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 3:51

So between March and December, every second Saturday of the month.

Kane Shimabukuro 3:54

So then I'll even add we go outside in June, July, August, and September. Well, I'm sure we'll get to August in a second.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 4:03

Yeah, and May Lisa, so when you started doing these concerts, right, how how did

Community Learns New Sounds Together

Carmen Berrios Martinez 4:10

the community react? Because this is not a community that's kind of uh close in proximity, if we will, to a lot of the arts that we have in the county.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 4:19

Absolutely. So it was difficult at first for the community to open up to accepting different genres of music that they were not um they didn't know about. So opening the doors to to something different was hard. But now we don't have any more seating uh during the indoor concerts. Full house every time. The the walls of communication in in the community has come down. They have come around. It is now a meeting for friends to come. Um, I know that there's a family that meets up every second Saturday to come to a concert and then go to dinner after. Um, there's a few families that come at to the outdoor concerts. They bring the babies, they spread the blankets, their dogs are there. Um, and it's amazing to see them and for them to know other people now and to come together. It's it's really heartwarming.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 5:18

That's awesome. I love that through this we are able to expose individuals, not only to the arts in general, but maybe to different types of arts that we would not typically seek out.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 5:32

Absolutely.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 5:32

Right. Um, and so I think of like my young son, right? Who would probably be have I would have to drag him in there in the beginning, right? But then once he kind of sees and gets exposed to it on a regular basis, it doesn't just become something that he does, but it kind of becomes a part of who who they are. And I love that they're integrating it into family reunions and they're bringing the multi-generations out, right? That that's amazing.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 6:00

We had a set of brothers, um, three brothers that only wanted to come for the popcorn. Oh. I say you can't have popcorn until you finish the show. They did that twice, and now they come and they don't even want the popcorn first. They come and they listen to the music. They'll bother Kane all the time. Just me. But it's it's become a really big deal.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 6:24

That's that's amazing. That's amazing, right? It's it's gone beyond the the pull, right? The popcorn to something that's really impacting people's lives. I absolutely love that. May Lisa tell me a little bit about some of the previous highlights in terms of previous performers or just other things that kind of stick out. So there's a uh there's a good story there because you're already like no.

Kane Shimabukuro 6:51

We have we've got lots of stories. We've been together for many. This is our third season together.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 6:55

Third season. Um, and there's so many. Um, one of my favorites is Elijah and the Jogo band. He mixes go-go and jazz together. Um, and he's been at Good Hope in so many different capacities because he plays for other bands. Um, and he has his own band um and he does different shows for us. So when he comes, the community already knows that it's him.

Kane Shimabukuro 7:19

Yeah.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 7:19

Um, and

Memorable Acts And Steel Pan Energy

Ma'Lisa Easterling 7:20

they're like, is he gonna be there? And I'm like, Elijah's coming, guys. Uh there's another uh group called Beheld. I always audition for them, but they don't pick me up.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 7:31

So next time. Next time, yeah. I always try to see.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 7:35

I always try. A live audition after every show. A live audition after every show. And Kane's like, here we go, May Lisa.

Kane Shimabukuro 7:42

But it's the thing. If you don't know, she can say, Oh, she can.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 7:44

Did she say that out loud?

Kane Shimabukuro 7:48

Owning girl. Owning. Um, Kane, who was your favorite? Um, I have so many favorites because like I work with these artists in different capacities outside of just booking them for Good Hope. Um, but what was really great, even this last weekend, we just had a show. Um, we had Joseanne Francis, who's our artistic advancement fellow for this year, and she's working on an album. But her instrument is the steel pan. And her show was so great this weekend. She had people up out of their seats dancing and singing along, where people were asking me, like, does she perform anywhere else? Is there an album coming out? It's like, yes, there's an album coming out. Don't worry, I'll get all that information ready for you. But just seeing the response to it because people the steel pan isn't something you just see every day. And people are wanting to learn about it more. And so that kind of inspiration is really great to see coming back from that community.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 8:41

Yeah, and Joanne is also coming back because we want a steel pan drum class. Yes.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 8:47

And so I love that we're taking some of these performers, right, and then able to integrate them into the programming that we do at recreation, right? So often when people think of recreation, we think of sports, right? Leagues and karate, but we don't think about the arts, but we do arts as well, whether it's painting, ceramics, cooking, right? All the culinary arts, but then also instruments and music, right? And dance. And so there really is something for everyone in recreation. I absolutely love it.

Kane Shimabukuro 9:18

We like to say the arts are for everyone.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 9:20

They are absolutely for everyone, as is recreation for sure. All right, Mayle, so you've been there since the beginning when Good Hope was remote remodeled, right? I think it was rebuilt in 2018 and this program started. Tell me how you feel right now when you see all of those seats full and

Why It Matters And It's Free

Carmen Berrios Martinez 9:40

everyone clapping and enjoying themselves and just the right kind of that personal connection that you have to this program and to the community.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 9:49

It's personal to me because music is a language. It's uh it's something that I love, it's a passion of mine. Um, art is a language for me as well. Um and it brings me joy to see the people consistently come out, the smiles on their face, the thank you guys for inviting us, the we never knew this this place was here. And I always say welcome home. Um it becomes a second safe haven for a lot of people. Um and when they miss it and they come back the following Saturday, like, wait, I missed it. I'm like, there's more to come. So we don't have to say, Oh man. Um, and we have a list of artists, we have flyers um that Strathmore do have of of a list that comes out so they can see everything that's coming.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 10:39

And Kane, you know, Strathmore continues to partner with Um Recreation on this concert series. So tell me a little bit about Strathmore's connection and and the importance of why we do this.

Kane Shimabukuro 10:52

It's really about I think I mentioned this earlier, but meeting people where they are, right? Where you had mentioned Strathmore is uh isolated, not isolated, but located in a certain part of the county that is not super accessible, especially right now with the metro being closed down. But so we like to be able to go out and meet people where they are, where they already are meeting like Good Hope. And we build those relationships over time where I get to see the same people every week every few weeks. And it's just a pleasure to see that it's being so well received. And yeah, we're always looking to expand as much as we can to do other things. Like even right now, we're sponsoring an artist, a teaching artist at the Rec centers doing summer camp. So there are lots of different ways that we're working with Rec to make the arts accessible.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 11:43

I love that. All right, so we talked about the second Saturday of every month. I don't think we talked about the most important thing about this. How much does it cost to go to one of these concerts?

Kane Shimabukuro 11:52

Oh, these are completely free and open to the public. It costs so much free.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 11:59

Recreation loves doing free. Absolutely.

Kane Shimabukuro 12:04

That's a huge talking point for the Bloom initiative, is that all of the programs that we do are free.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 12:09

Yeah, so it's just another barrier that you're trying to take down, right, to encourage people to interact with the arts, right? So you're gonna bring it to them, you're gonna make it free. Melissa,

Big Bloom Festival Preview

Carmen Berrios Martinez 12:20

you're gonna make it a wonderful experience, right?

Kane Shimabukuro 12:23

And so hostess with the most only on Saturdays.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 12:30

Okay, so the next big one is coming up in August. Tell me about the August show.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 12:35

August 8th will be our third annual Big Bloom Festival. Um I love, I love events, absolutely. So I came to Kane and said, we're gonna make it big. He said, What are we making big? I said, Bloom, it's gonna be big. Um, one of the concerts that we had outside, like I told you, the families came out, the blankets were out. I said, we have to make this bigger than just a concert. Um, so their big bloom was. We have two artists that's coming out each concert. Each artist is an hour. Uh, we have food trucks there. We have arts and crafts for the kids that are coming. Um, it's uh popcorn, all the snacks that you need. Uh yeah, the popcorn's a big thing. I I need to go back to my supervisor.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 13:24

Yes, I understand.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 13:26

Shout out to the staff. Um it's it's a big family thing. Uh, we partner with a lot of the community members that will bring their chairs for other people to sit in. Um, the churches across the street, up the street, and around the corner have offered their help to set up or clean up or just be there. Um, so it's really become a big community thing. They even, um, one church even has uh big bloom shirts that they made for their church family. And no one had even get one. Yeah. So it's become a really, really big thing. Okay, great.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 14:06

So Saturday, August 8th from 5 to 8, yes completely free. Completely free. Two performances.

Kane Shimabukuro 14:10

Yep. So our performers, our performers, we have Crush Funk, who is a band. They are a band that they've been on um last week tonight with John Oliver. They've traveled all over, but really drawing inspiration from New Orleans jazz and things like that. So lots of horns and things. And then we have Kanisha, who's a artist and resident of class 2025. She just actually no, 26. Excuse me. She just finished her term with us and she's ready to bring the house down with her amazing vocals, honestly. So when we choose these artists, it's really all about music that gets people up and moving and just having fun. That's always having fun. Always having fun. We always have fun. Yes.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 14:56

Absolutely. Um, some of the logistics, where do we park?

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:01

So we do have parking. There's um Good Hope United Methodist Church that's allowed us to use both of their parking lots.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:08

Wonderful.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:08

Um, so it's on

Parking Registration And Good Hope Programs

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:10

the right side of Good Hope Road. Got it.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:12

Um and parking is free as well.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:15

Parking is free.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:16

So no excuses not to come out, folks. It's completely free.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:19

Yes, ma'am.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:20

Do you need to register in advance or is it just show up?

Kane Shimabukuro 15:23

Just show up. I'll just teach people to register, but you can just show up.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:27

You can register in advance through Active Montgomery.

Kane Shimabukuro 15:30

Strathmoor website.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:31

On the Strathmore website. Okay, so Strathmore.strathmore.org.org. Okay, great. Me, Lisa. Yes. I mean, I know Good Hope loves its relationship with Strathmore. Absolutely. But you are so much more.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:43

Absolutely.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 15:44

Tell me a little bit about the Good Hope Recreation Center.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 15:47

So, of course, I always say this with pride. Good Hope is the first arts integrated community center. So we want to bring arts to the community, um, a language that people don't know they speak until it's introduced to them. So we do have Teen Night Out, uh, which is a safe space for teens on Friday nights, uh, 10, I mean 6 p.m. until 11 p.m. We provide safe space. We also have art classes then. Um we have Youth Urban Arts Expression introducing art, different forms of art to the teens in six different sessions. Um, we will be having um night of the arts for high schoolers, where they will have an art exhibit uh of the art that they created. Um, it's still in the works, don't tell my supervisor. Um but those are things that we have done. Um, and we can only go up from there.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 16:45

I love it. And in addition to all of that, you are kind of a typical recreation center as well. So you have a fitness room, dropping activities, which are all free to county residents with a rec fit membership. They just need to show up, show proof of residency, and then they get free access because all sorts of activities and programs that happen year-round, including the only spray ground that Montgomery County Recreation operates.

Kane Shimabukuro 17:12

Let me tell you.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 17:15

There's a lot to do at Good Hope.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 17:17

 Yes. A lot.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 17:18

Um, and it was recently renovated, right?

How To Get Info And Go

Carmen Berrios Martinez 17:20

Yes, and it is beautiful. It's beautiful.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 17:22

Yes.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 17:22

It's absolutely beautiful. So, guys, to find out more about the Good Hope Recreation Center, check out MoCorec.com. As always, financial assistance is available to those who need it.

Ma'Lisa Easterling 17:32

Yes, ma'am.

Carmen Berrios Martinez 17:33

And I highly encourage you, having seen some of these performances, head out to the Big Bloom Festival on August 8th from 5 to 8. Again, it's absolutely free, and it is an absolutely wonderful evening and wonderful experience for the whole family. For the whole family. Me, Lisa Kane. Thank you guys so much for being here today to tell us about Bloom. It's great program. And thank you for joining us. We'll see you here next time for the next edition of Inside Recreation. Bye. Bye.

Announcer 18:12

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