EveryPeople Workshop (EPW), a Chicago-based multimedia and inter-disciplinary performance group that engages diverse audiences and communities in artistic collaborations, provides workshops and performances of “shared art experiences,” whether site-specific, or for the general public. Founded in 2009 by Mikel Patrick Avery, Nicholas Gajewski and Nick Mazzarella, this “performance community” of musicians, composers, visual artists, choreographers, and videographers promotes arts awareness in any host locality.

For its residency and performance at UWMC, Avery and Gajewski will be joined by Aaron Shapiro (guitarist/composer), Mary Lawson (vocalist/poet), and John Sutton (cellist) and will coordinate a project in conjunction with UWMC Art Department students. The EPW artists/musicians will “workshop” an original collaborative piece using the foundational steps of the EPW creative process, and will explore this process with the students by demonstrating their seminal work, EP Trio + Film. In this work, Avery embraces a journey of personal discovery, becoming a video artist as well as a composer and drummer, and integrating his original music with animated videos from his original drawings to capture the vital energy of the moving shapes, rather than just the mere details of their form. Discussion engendered from the EP + Trio screening will help inspire Professor Diana Budde’s drawing and painting students to originate their own musical and artistic constructions.

On Thursday night, Dec. 1, 2011, EveryPeople will be joined by the participating art workshop students for a public performance of 3 films - Micro Macro Minute Minute, Gee OL' Metricks, & Four For Three – that are augmented with music supplied by the Trio and contributions from the students.

EveryPeople Workshop has produced three albums, commissioned over 60 compositions, prompted collaboration from over 20 artists, created an original score for the acclaimed performance of A Bronzeville Ballet, made 4 short films and performed nearly 50 live concerts, all supported exclusively by the personal resources of the founding artists, assisted by community volunteer action. Engaging the community in the arts and in service opportunities that arise from arts performances is at the heart of the group’s mission. In Chicago alone, EPW has helped to raise over $45,000 for other community programs and services. EPW is currently raising capital to open a workshop/gallery and performance space, to create a “hub” of collaborative activity in order to more efficiently reach a wider public.

For more information, visit their website at: www.everypeopleworkshop.org/