From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-264-disneys-little-mermaid-at-bpa/

Working together to create underwater ambience for a truly magical Little Mermaid has been the undertaking of a lifetime for Music Director Josh Anderson and Choreographer Debbie Pierce.

In this podcast Josh and Debbie talk with BCB host Channie Peters about the challenges of producing Disney's popular musical, The Little Mermaid, for Bainbridge Performing Arts. (Director Joanna Hardie planned to join the interview but the ferry left Seattle without her.)

Based on one of Hans Christian Andersen's most loved and popular stories, Disney's Little Mermaid features Academy Award winning composer Alan Menken's music, so Debbie and Josh have lots of great opportunities to bring their own unique magic to the BPA stage.

In this interview, the two talk about how they do this, and the special challenges of creating an underwater ambience with the dancers' movements, the music and the lighting.  Their conversation provides intriguing behind-the-scenes insights into how a complex show like this comes together.

Josh Anderson, who has directed some very diverse shows this season (Hair, Mary Poppins, Amadeus), talks about the similarities and differences between Disney's animated film of the The Little Mermaid and a stage production such as BPA's.  While the actual songs must remain as written, the music performed on BPA's stage is infused with Josh's energy and enthusiasm.

Disney's Little Mermaid opens May 13th and will run through May 29; tickets are on sale now at bainbridgeperformingarts.org and at the BPA box office.

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; audio editor: Barry Peters; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-263-may-at-the-bainbridge-library/

John Fossett and BCB host Joanna Pyle discuss what's scheduled for this month at the library:

Wed, May 4, 7:30 – 9pm: BOOKS ON TAP - Treehouse Cafe

Fri, May 6, 5 – 7pm: FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK

Fri, May 6, 5:30 – 7pm: Business for Sustainability,  a talk by Giselle Weybrecht,

Author of The Sustainable MBA - at St Barnabas Church

Tue, May 10, 1 – 3pm: Downloading Library eBooks & Audio -  

Wed, May 11, 7 – 9pm: Island Film Group - "Possessed" (Noir) (1947)

Wed, May 18, 7:30 – 9pm: Travelogue - Splendors of the Persian Empire with Cross Cultural Journeys

Sat, May 21, 3 – 4:30pm: The Gifts of The Artist’s Way (instructor Kate Gavigan)

Wed, May 25, 7 – 9pm: What Do You Know:  The Appalachian Trail with Tressa Johnson

Friday, May 27, 1:30 p.m: Library U - The Salon: A Forum For Conversation -

Sat, May 28, 2 – 3:30pm: Friendship Bracelets For Adults

Monday, May 30: Memorial Day: Holiday Closure

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Joanna Pyle; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

Join Eagle Harbor Books on International Workers' Day - May 1st at 3pm - for a tribute to iconic folk musician Woody Guthrie.

Seattle KEXP music radio DJ Greg Vandy will talk with Seattle Symphony bassist Jonathan Green about Vandy's new book, "26 Songs in 30 Days". It's the story of Woody Guthrie's songs to honor the hydroelectric and irrigation projects of the Northwest's largest river system, the Columbia, and the heroic workers and visions that transformed our region in the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1941, Woody Guthrie wrote 26 songs in 30 days -- including classics like "Roll On Columbia" and "Pastures of Plenty" -- when he was hired by the Bonneville Power Administration to put to song the benefits of affordable hydroelectric power, irrigation, and the building of the massive Grand Coulee Dam.

Today, Bonneville is still the northwest's main provider of low-cost, clean and renewable power, as was mentioned in a recent BCB podcast about the Island Power movement currently active on Bainbridge Island.

"26 Songs In 30 Days" plunges deeply into the historical context of the transformative vision and the progressive politics that embraced social democracy during an era that led America out of the severe suffering of the Great Depression.

For further information about Greg Vandy and events to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Guthrie's songwriting about the Columbia, see Greg's website at http://www.americanstandardtime.com/about/greg-vandy/

Credits: BCB host, audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/cafe-038-culture-and-climate-change/

Yes! Magazine Editor at Large Sarah van Gelder recently hosted University of Montana Professor George Price on Bainbridge, and they sat down with BCB host Reed Price for a discussion about climate and culture.

Sarah not long ago took a road trip to investigate how the efforts at creating positive futures that her magazine reports on are playing out in the field. Sarah focused not on big urban areas or the coasts, but on what she called ‘the edges,’ less populated, more gritty and often-overlooked regions of the country. She called it the “Edge of Change Road Trip,” and you can investigate her blog on the journey here: https://edgeofchange.yesmagazine.org/

One of the people she met was George Price, who lives in Northwest Montana. In this podcast, they talk about the kind of change George and the people he lives with have been a part of, and how that relates to some of the other things that Sarah experienced during her four-month long journey. (Here’s a link to her post about George: https://edgeofchange.yesmagazine.org/2015/08/28/)

This discussion took reactions to climate change as a focus, with an interest in actions people are taking in response to climate change. The answer to that question is not straightforward; as Sarah notes, climate change is a big slow process that people have a hard time responding to directly. However, there’s plenty of evidence that things are changing in communities around corporate decision-making and economics that do affect the way people would like to see non-renewable resources like fossil fuels used.

This wide-ranging conversation looks at new ways people are organizing, and how the ‘edges’ might affect those more publicized parts of our culture.

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Reed Price; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-261-fiber-arts-at-barn/

In this first podcast of a monthly series on the BARN, Operations/Program Chair Catherine Camp talks with fiber artist Caroline Cooley-Browne about the origin and plans of the Fiber Arts Studio.

“To have the opportunity to work collaboratively or at least side by side with fellow artists is just a real dream come true at BARN.” -Caroline Cooley-Browne

In this podcast Catherine Camp & Caroline Cooley-Browne treat listeners to a discussion about the history of the Fiber Arts Studio and the programs currently offered at the BARN on Sunrise Drive, and planned for the permanent building being constructed off of Brooklyn Road.  

Caroline enthusiastically describes initially getting together with other artists to form a monthly fiber group to inspire, create community, and support each other's fiber arts passion. When BARN was conceived, the fiber arts group quickly signed on, excited to contribute to and share their artistic energy with all the other studios.

Some upcoming events the Fiber Arts Studio is sponsoring:

Fancy Pants workshop with Jennifer Rhoades

Wire Crochet  with Marcy Lynn
Color Theory with Caroline  Cooley-Browne  
Long Liker with Melinda West

To learn more about upcoming classes at the barn, visit www.bainbridgebarn.org.

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Joanna Pyle; audio finishing and publishing: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-260-bioblitz-2016/

Volunteer now for the 2016 BioBlitz Survey of Bainbridge Island!

On May 14, you can learn about the biodiversity of our island home, get outside, and make a contribution to science. Islandwood, the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, and National Geographic will partner for the second annual Bainbridge Island BioBlitz. Listen here as BCB host Ellen Miyasato talks with Christina Doherty and Becca Nissley about BioBlitz 2016.

Working with friendly and knowledgeable experts, you can be part of a field survey focusing on a part of the plant, animal or fungi kingdom. In last yearʻs first-ever BioBlitz, 100 volunteers identified 454 species, including amphibians, plants, mosses, liverworts, lichens, slime molds, mammals, birds, fish, shoreline species, insects, arachnids, and aquatic invertebrates.

This year, teams will survey the Islandwood campus, Blakely Harbor Park, Hilltop, and the Grand Forest. Even if you are not on a team, all are welcome during the day at Islandwood where you can learn about the natural world through games, activities, drawing and journaling.

BioBlitz goes national this year with National Geographic. Our local BioBlitz will be one of 200 happening in our parks across the country. National Geographic will share our results at the cornerstone BioBlitz happening the week after ours on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Register online at https://islandwood.org/event/bioblitz-2016. The event is free. If you have specific questions, contact Becca at becca@bi-landtrust.org.

Credits: BCB host and studio tech: Ellen Miyasato; audio editor and publisher Diane Walker.

20 local scientists will read Bobbie Morgan's poems on endangered species Saturday, April 23 at the Dayaalu Centers.

How can art address climate change?

Earth Art Bainbridge is a program that explores how art can inspire us to better understand our impact on the natural world and encourage action on climate change. Throughout the month of April, artists and community members have been expressing their views through visual art, music, poetry, performance, experience and discussion.

In this podcast, we meet Bobbie Morgan, one of the many artists contributing work to Earth Art Bainbridge. She wrote a collection of twenty poems, entitled Keening: Cries from Creatures at Risk of Extinction. Each poem in Keening honors an endangered species from each of the earth’s twenty biomes (environmental categories such as the desert or forest).

Bobbie created this work as a way of bringing heart and vitality to the dry facts of science.  She beliesves, like Beth Robson, the originator of Earth Art Bainbridge, that while science speaks to the facts and data of climate change, art brings these facts alive and inspires action.

Join Bobbie and the 20 local scientists who will read her poems at an event on Saturday, April 23rd at 7:30 PM at the Dayaalu Center.  A suggested donation of $10 will be donated to the Center for Biological Diversity to support their work to protect critical habitat.

More information on this and other Earth Art Bainbridge programs can be found at: http://earthartbainbridge.org/

Credits: BCB host: Christina Hulet; audio tech, editor and publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-258-land-trust-plant-sale/

April is Plant Sale Month for the Bainbridge Island Land Trust: Come early for best selection!

This year, the Land Trust is changing how the plant sale works. No pre-orders are needed; just come early to view and buy beautiful groundcovers, herbaceous perennials and shrubs and get ideas for fall planting.

Why change the format of the plant sale? Conditions are better for planting many native species in the fall, so BILT will be offering a fall plant sale to give their plants the best chance of survival and reduce the need for watering during summer droughts. Stay tuned to the BILT website (http://www.bi-landtrust.org) for more details.

If you join the Land Trust today, you'll get first access to native plants at the members-only pre-sale event, which will  be held from 5:30 to 7:00 pm on Friday, April 29th at the Bainbridge First Baptist Church. Join or renew your membership today and get first pick!

Plants listed on the BILT website (http://www.bilt-store.org) will then be made available to the general public during the Plant Sale on Saturday, April 30 from 9 am to 1pm. Both events will be first come, first served. Make sure to get there early for the best selection!

Credits: BCB host: Sandy Schubach; audio editor: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/who-030-storyshare-on-bainbridge-library/

This episode of BCB’s StoryShare podcast series is all about the Bainbridge Public Library.

Join BCB host Jack Armstrong as he talks with retired head librarian Cindy Harrison and long-time library volunteer Trese Williamson about the long history of libraries on Bainbridge Island.

Listen and learn about the unique public/private partnership between Bainbridge Public Library, the nonprofit organization that manages the library facility itself, and Kitsap Regional Library, which employs the staff, provides the books, and offers technical and administrative support.

Cindy and Trese also talk about how the community came together to build the original library building in 1962, the remarkable campaign to expand the library in the mid 1990s, and the origins of the beautiful Japanese Garden outside the building.

Other topics include Friends of the Library and ways in which the community can support the library financially and/or as volunteers.

Credits: BCB host: Jack Armstrong; audio tech/editor: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

Tom Kelly, Market Manager and Jake Angel of Jake’s Pickup join host Bob Ross in this, the first of the 2016 Tastes of Bainbridge Farmers’Market Series.

On Saturday, April 9, BCB host Bob Ross talks with Bainbridge Island Farmers Market Manager Tom Kelly.  Tom shares his plans for the future and introduces us to some of the new vendors and farmers for our 2016 season. Tom, who is starting his first full season as the Farmers’ Market Manager, talks about his hopes, vision and exciting plans for 2016 Market.

Jake Angel of the popular Jake’s Pickup (inside the Chevron station at the corner of High School Road and 305) is one of the newest vendors at the market. Jake talks about his background, his family’s influence in his deep involvement in food, and what motivates him on a daily basis.  His commitment to offering delicious organic comfort food and using locally sourced and grown ingredients has been the cornerstone of his successful venture on Bainbridge Island.

Credits: BCB host: Bob Ross; audio tech and editor: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-257-seminar-on-raising-adults/

A seminar entitled Raising an Adult: Moving to Action will be held April 23rd at the Bainbridge High School gymnasium.

Organized by the Bainbridge Healthy Youth Alliance, the seminar is designed to follow up on issues raised by author Julie Lythcott-Haims’ talk in February about her book, How to Raise an Adult.

In her book and her talk on BI, Lythcott-Haims spoke of academically accomplished students who were poorly equipped to handle adult life on their own.  She noticed that many high school students entering college were over-stressed, over-scheduled, and under-prepared to handle life away from home and parents.  

As a follow-up to her informative and motivating talk, the Bainbridge Healthy Youth Alliance, of which Raising Resilience is one of the founding partners, has organized a seminar to:

• Connect with local teens working on their own culture change project
• Learn what helps youth develop their own internal guidance system
• Walk away with specific strategies you can put into immediate action
• Meet other parents in a fun and engaging learning environment

All parents, grandparents, educators, therapists and anyone that touches the lives of youth are invited to attend this hands-on, practical 2-1/2 hour seminar, to be held April 23rd from 10 am to 12:30 in the Bainbridge High School gymnasium.

Register for this free event today at www.BIHealthyYouth.org

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; audio editor: Tim Bird; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-256-speaking-of-dying-with-caroline-stevens/

In this podcast we meet Caroline Stevens, who will host the film Speaking of Dying Friday April 15, 6 pm at WPCC.  This event is the first of a three part series which also includes the End-of-Life: Respecting Choice Conference this weekend and the End of Life Planning Workshops which Stevens will lead starting April 28 at Bainbridge Island's Waterfront Park Community Center.

1.  Speaking of Dying film

April 15, 6-7:30 p.m. WPCC; $5 at the door.

Produced locally by Trudy James, Speaking of Dying captures the importance of individuals and groups speaking openly about all aspects of the dying process. For a preview of the film go to  http://speakingofdying.com/.

“This film is a good first step to begin the conversation about end of life. It is a very moving film with people actually talking about and anticipating their own death. It creates an opening in a person to verbalize their own fears and desires, to begin to visualize the kind of death they want or don’t want. It can be used to stimulate a conversation with one’s spouse, parent, child, or friend.” --Caroline Stevens

2.  End-of-Life: Respecting Choice Conference - Saturday April 16 - 9-3.
     Pre-register: 842-1616

3.  Heartwork End of Life Planning Workshop: Waterfront Park Community Center April 28, May 5, 12, & 19 - Thursdays - 6-7:30 p.m.

“When I met Trudy James and learned about her work, I knew immediately that I wanted to do what she does. As I’ve become trained and had more time to think about it, I have understood that it is directly connected to meeting so many people and families in my work who were unprepared to face death.”

Register for class #162416-03 at www.biparks.org or call 206-842-2306, ext. 118.

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Joanna Pyle; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-029-hannah-crichton/

Meet Hannah Crichton, a BHS Camp Siberia grad who plans to return to Novosibirsk, Russia, to film a documentary about the Russian orphans she worked with nine years ago.

Hannah, who participated in Bainbridge Island's Camp Siberia program in the summer of 2007, graduated from Western in 2012 and moved to Los Angeles, where she is now a successful comedy producer.  Her facebook page regularly features photos of her with such comedy greats as Sarah Silverman and Neil Patrick Harris, and she travels all over the country scouting for new comedians. But throughout the years she has stayed in touch with the orphans she met that summer in Camp Siberia.

This September Hannah and fellow Camp Siberia veteran Kyle Scoble, who is now a filmmaker in Los Angeles, hope to return to Novosibirsk.  Their plan is to produce a documentary following up on the lives of the campers they met so long ago, who are among the more than 800,000 registered orphans left homeless after the economic downturns following the fall of the Soviet Union.

Many of those so-called orphans have living parents but were turned out into the streets for economic reasons; only the luckiest ended up in orphanages. But even then, when those children leave the orphanages at the age of 16 or 17, they enter the world without benefit of education or money. The results are sadly predictable: some 40% become involved in crime, 10% commit suicide, 33% remain unemployed, and 20% end up homeless. Only the rare teenager finds his or her way to university.

Hannah and Kyle want to reconnect with their campers, and are using their producing and filmmaking talents to tell the stories of those who have survived.  To learn more about this project -- and how you can help support the efforts of these enterprising Bainbridge Island youth -- listen to this podcast, and then visit their Indiegogo website. 

Credits: BCB host: Diane Walker; audio tech and editor: Chris Walker; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB... http://bestofbcb.org/wu-255-elizabeth-heffrons-portugal/

In this podcast director Kate Carruthers and playwright Elizabeth Heffron talk about Portugal, Heffron’s latest play, to be performed Saturday, April 16th, at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

In Portugal, there's been an accident at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in rural Eastern Washington, “home to America’s largest stockpile of unprocessed radioactive nuclear waste and the most contaminated place in the Western Hemisphere.”  (hanfordchallenge.org)

Heffron has never shied away from difficult and complicated subjects: in previous plays she has addressed such issues as late-term abortion (Mitzi’s Abortion), and the effects of poverty and sexual abuse (Bo-Nita).  In Portugal, this fearless playwright explores the devastating effects of radioactive contamination on workers, the critical problem of radioactive waste disposal, and the predicament of whistleblowers.

Listen here to learn why Heffron wanted to write this play, how she researched and gathered the material for it, how she chose her five characters, and about the devices she's used to deal with this difficult subject. You'll also hear Carruthers talk about her experiences directing this play reading, which features local favorites John Ellis, Barbara Deering, Robert Bergen, Elizabeth Ellis, and J.C. Figueroa --five actors well known to Bainbridge Island theatre goers.

Don't miss this moving performance: Tickets may be purchased at brownpapertickets.com

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; audio editor: Tim Bird; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

From BCB: http://bestofbcb.org/wu-254-end-of-life-conference/

The annual End of Life: Respecting Choice Conference will be held April 16 at WPCC.

“Even after many years holding this conference, every year I’m learning very new things, because the landscape is always changing, so it really is valuable to have a regular annual check up on end of life issues.”  – Sue Barrington 

In this podcast Sue Barrington, manager of the Waterfront Park Community Center, invites listeners to the annual End of Life conference at WPCC. Designed to help everyone discuss and discover the choices around the only part of life that each of us will experience, the conference will be held Saturday April 16th  from 9:30am to 3pm.

Speakers will discuss:

• the choices you might not realize you have when considering calling 911;

• the stages between full independence and end of life;

• long-term care facility choices;

• death with dignity legalities;

• palliative care and hospice care differences;

• legal issues surrounding death itself; and

• various other end of life issues.

Speakers include Luke Carpenter, Dr. Jeannette Franks, Betty Herman, Dana Gargus, Dr. Dick Baker, David Bucher, and Dorothy Foster.

Cost for the conference is $50 (scholarships available). For more information call 842-1616 or visit www.biparks.org.

New this year:  A film event at 6pm Friday April 15 hosted by Caroline Stevens. A powerful film created by the Heartwork organization, Speaking of Dying, is a 30 minute documentary capturing the importance of individuals speaking openly about aspects of the dying process. Open to all. $5.00 donation requested.

Credits: BCB host and audio editor: Joanna Pyle; social media publisher: Diane Walker.

In this 11-minute podcast interview, BCB host Channie Peters talks with Marissa Cleveland, Events Manager for the BI Museum of Art (BIMA), and Bob Ruch who is hosting a group of Tibetan monks on Bainbridge Island. They talk about this unique opportunity for the art museum to offer the extraordinary experience of witnessing the creation of a sand mandala to museum visitors. Marissa explains how this is a perfect fit with the theme of the museum’s current show: Journeys.

Mandala is the sanskrit word for circle. The sand mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. In Tibetan Buddhism, intricate, colorful mandalas containing many Buddhist symbols are used as objects for meditation practice.The sand mandala is one of the most elaborate, intricate, exquisite art forms, typically created by highly trained Tibetan monks. And after the sand mandala has been created, there is a formal ceremony of blessings, the sand is swept up, and poured into the sea. While this is symbolic of impermanence, the real significance of the sand mandala is that it is created to be a container for blessings, power and well-being. Before it is swept away, blessings are offered in a ceremony. These blessings fill every grain of sand, and then the sand is poured into the sea, which carries the blessings out into the world.

This ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form will be recreated by six monks from the Gaden Shartse Monastic College in India at the BI Museum of Art during the hours the museum is open, 10 am - 6 pm from Monday, May 2nd through Saturday May 7th. Because Friday, May 6th is Arts Walk, and the museum will be open until 8 pm. the monks will adjust their hours to continue installing the sand until the museum closes at 8 pm so that museum visitors can watch this intricate, meticulous meditative art during Arts Walk.

This specific sand mandala will be of the Medicine Buddha, the Buddha of Healing, the manifestation of the healing energy of all enlightened beings.

The sand installation will be in the museum’s Orientation Gallery so that visitors can walk through and observe the monks at work during museum hours. There will not be any seating in this small space.

According to tradition, on the last day after the sand mandala has been completed (in this case, Saturday May 7th), the monks conduct a ceremony to bless the sand. This will occur at approximately 3 pm at the Art Museum. The monks will take the sand that has been swept up from the mandala and carry it to Eagle Harbor where it will be poured into the sea to take its blessings to other shores.

Also during the construction of the sand mandala, May 2-7, a DVD video documentary will be continuously playing in the museum’s auditorium about the Gaden Shartse Monastic College, which has a highly structured academic curriculum that also includes optional study of arts such as painting, calligraphy, tailoring, Tibetan butter sculpture formation, and sand mandala creation. Training in sand mandala creation is highly skilled and takes three years.

While the monks are visiting Bainbridge Island, they will also be available for Buddhist House Blessings, by appointment. As the host for the monks while they are here, Bob Ruch may be contacted by email to arrange house blessings by the Tibetan monks, and to learn more from them about Gaden Shartse Monastic College and how to support their work.

Credits: BCB host: Channie Peters; BCB audio editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.