On Friday, June 24 at 7:00 p.m., NON:op Open Opera Works, pt.fwd, and the McLean County Museum of History are pleased to co-host a youth workshop for Six Words, a newly-commissioned musical work by Edward Breitweiser. The event will be presented at the Museum, and is free and open to McLean County residents between the ages of 13-18.

Using archival research, community dialogue, and collaborative music-making, Six Words will engage directly with Central Illinois residents to reflect on our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Six Words will take the McLean County Museum of History’s COVID-19: The McLean County Experience as a starting point to ask local residents about their pandemic experiences, and to preserve them for future generations. Breitweiser will collaborate with local non-profits and youth organizations to create a communal space for telling and hearing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Bloomington-Normal area. These diverse experiences will be shared in a concert-length public performance at the Museum of History, featuring music and words by area residents who contributed to the project. 

On Saturday, May 7, 2022 from 2-4pm, Breitweiser will facilitate a free public workshop in partnership with the McLean County Museum of History and local youth organizations. Local youth will be invited to participate through these organizations. McLean County residents between the ages of 13-18 are welcome to participate.  The workshop will use resources from the Museum’s “COVID-19: The McLean County Experience” project and will ask participants to write brief reflections on their pandemic experience. Together, the group will select six shared themes to unify their writings.  

The workshop is free and will be held in-person. Breitweiser will provide all materials, but participants are encouraged to bring a tablet or smartphone to record their writing samples.

The Museum continues to monitor the conditions that surround the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and how these conditions will impact our ability to hold future in-person programs. As long as current health and safety guidelines from the CDC and State of Illinois allow for in-person programming at that time, we plan to host this program in-person at the Museum. Please visit mchistory.org for updates on this and other upcoming programs.

Questions? Please contact Edward Breitweiser at eddiebreitweiser@gmail.com

Registration is required. Participants can register for the workshop here.