On Friday, April 4, the public is invited to join the fourth “Get on the Bus” free Connective Corridor bus ride to get a taste of Syracuse’s multicultural art and culture.  The Connective Corridor bus travels the 1.5-mile signature strip of cutting-edge cultural development connecting University Hill with downtown Syracuse.

The ride begins at Syracuse University and will first travel to a rehearsal of Kuumba at the Community Folk Art Center (805 East Genesee St.), a vibrant cultural and artistic hub committed to the promotion and development of artists of the African Diaspora. The Kuumba Project is a free, after-school, pre-professional arts education program developed by local professional artists that is aimed at enriching the lives and developing the artistic talent of creative children ages 11-14 in Syracuse through exposure to and instruction in the arts. Students meet every weekday at the CFAC for instruction in dance, music, theatre, literary arts and studio arts.

Riders will next stop at the Civic Center’s Crouse-Hinds Concert Theater (411 Montgomery St.) for an introduction to the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

The trip starts at SU’s Connective Corridor bus stop at College Place at 5:15 p.m. and returns there at 6:45 p.m. Free parking is available in the Quad 4 lot, accessible from Comstock Ave.

This evening event is the fourth of five “Get on the Bus” events curated by students in the SU course, Art in Action. In each case, a Connective Corridor bus will travel to two cultural venues currently operating along the Corridor which have already included such places as Jazz Central, the Red House, Light Work, and the Delavan Art Gallery. The students have coordinated brief events at the venues, and will additionally describe to the bus riders one cultural richness that no longer exists downtown—including the 15th Ward, Native American presence, the Erie Canal, active life around the mansions and large European immigrant groups. By the end of the semester, students will offer proposals for ways of engaging the arts and culture in the revitalization of Syracuse’s downtown.

For more information, contact Imagining America at 443-8590.

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