UNpredictable, UNabashed, and UNabridged, UNSCENE! monthly events debut the possibilities of Shreveport Common, leaving indelible marks that permanently advance the Vision for a creative community.
National artists-in-residence with regional and local artists, create innovative art and programming that attracts new and diverse audiences to experience the look, feel, tastes, smells, sounds of the “new” UNcommon cultural district.
Academy Award winning director, animator, Public Art creator and UNprecedented visionary Brandon Oldenburg serves as the UNSCENE! Artistic Director overseeing a celebrated, multi-disciplined Artists’ Management Team to curate the 12 events. UNSCENE! is a project of Shreveport Regional Arts Council, made possible by ARTPLACE AMERICA, the Community Foundation of North Louisiana, BHP Billiton, City of Shreveport and support of local sponsors.
UNSCENE! Events to Date
October 2013 | MSPS New Music Festival Prelude
UNSCENE! teamed with minicine?/Swampland, Inc. to extend the MSPS (McNeil Street Pumping Station) New Music Festival to include a Friday night prelude featuring the UNexpected in currently UNused places: “dinner party” with Peter Fetterman, Homer Flynn, rooftop DJ and artist markets.
November 2013 | Drive-In Theatre at Texas Avenue Makers Fair
UNSCENE! joined TACA’s Makers Fair with artistic exercise, drum line parade, musical productions and food trucks capped by a DRIVE-IN Experience featuring PeeWee’s Big Adventure and more.
December 2013 | INSIDE OUT
Artist team INSIDE OUT, along with local artists, photographed the neighbors, adding their faces – poster-sized – to a prominent brick wall at the entrance to Downtown/ SHREVEPORT COMMON, and including them in their international paste-up project.
January - February 2014 | STEVE OLSON
Legendary skateboarder and artist Steve Olson worked with local artists to create a “Skate-able Scupture” Public Art installation on an unused concrete slab. It continues to attract skateboarders and local performers.
March 2014 | STAN - the RECORD MAN - LEWIS
A tribute to Rock ‘n Roll, Blues, Gospel and R&B music production history-maker, Stan Lewis. Featured an all-day line-up including Bobby Rush, Vickie Baker, Carl Sims, Ernie Johnson, Brady Blade, Sr. & The Hallelujah Train and Betty Lewis & The Executives.
April 2014 | The Big SCENE!
Headliner Theresa Andersson with Luther Cox, Jr., Sereca Henderson and Joe Bluhm topped off a full-day of the Texas Ave Makers Fair. The day featured 225 vendors, four stages hosting local and regional artists, food trucks and the Holiday in Dixie Parade.
May 2014 | CALANTHEAN CANYON by AIRLIFT
New Orleans-based AIRLIFT created interactive musical architecture and performances in an overgrown niche now named Calanthean Canyon. Musicians “played the houses” during a two-day debut with Theresa Andersson, Brittney Maddox, the Slade Collective and The Residents.
June 2014 | RICH TABLE FOOD-ART-FUN
International award-winning chefs Sarah & Evan Rich brought their San Francisco Rich Table experience to the Municipal Auditorium, with 20 local culinary artists to create a UNique fresh food experience with artist and performer pairings.
July 2014 | WAYNE WHITE PUPPET PARADE
Emmy Award winning (PeeWee’s Playhouse) artist, art director and puppeteer Wayne White designed a cadre of large-scale puppet characters from Shreveport Common’s history that, with the help of local artists, paraded through Shreveport Common with dancers, drummers, bands and stilt walkers.
August 2014 | UNDISPUTED!
A four-day National Art Critics Series culminated with this season’s UNSCENE! finale, UNDISPUTED! ART CHALLENGE at Millennium Studios. Eight artist teams competed for a single $10,000 cash prize before three art critics and a voting audience.
October 2014 | Performances at Makers’ Fair
UNSCENE! paired up with Makers Fair a third time, adding to the festivities with performances from Luther Cox, Jr., Mahogany Dance Ensemble and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra.
November 2014 | Tatsuya Nakatani Live @ Calanthean Canyon
Osaka-born creative artist Tatsuya Nakatani brought his visceral, intuitively primitive percussion style to the AIRLIFT designed Calantheon Canyon, engaging local musicians who performed around him in the music houses and on Nakatani’s trademark gongs. The result was an ethereal, organic sound that perfectly married with the Canyon’s acoustics and aesthetics.
What's happening in 2015? Like UNSCENE! on Facebook to find out first.