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The Dream
Unfolding
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Founded in 1987, IMA's
development
has been an organic process guided by the visions, needs and
concerns of
the women, from a diversity of backgrounds, who find their way to
its door.
At any given time, IMA is filled with artists recording,
rehearsing, perorming
or just hanging out. On performance evenings it is filled with
folks who
relish the chance to hear great music in an intimate setting; the
workshops
fill the space with individuals who have come together around their
love
of music, whether they are professional performers or not. When the
vision
for IMA was set to paper, there was no mention of a kitchen; yet,
as the
dream has taken form, the kitchen has become the very center of
"the
IMA experience" and it is rarely empty. Perhaps in the end the
model
IMA will offer is that of an institution grown from the need to
nourish
ourselves and each other. |
"The
Institute for the Musical Arts is an idea that is long over
due."
Bonnie Raitt, recording artist and advisory board member.
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"Thanks for
...creating IMA. You make my dreams seem possible, maybe someday
I'll
see myself performing there too!"
--Chiemi Middleton, musican and workshop participant
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imagine
a world where the major decisions affecting the community are made
in the
kitchen, rather than in some isolated boardroom; a world where what
is central
at the workplace is the coming together to break bread, rather than
simply
to make bread. imagine this because it is happening in our little
corner
of the world as we grow this place rooted in women's relationships.
imagine
this because as we continue to work to bring equality, balance and
harmony
to the world, we are moving toward a place where eveyone that comes
to The
Table is fed. |
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"The
first time I walked into...(IMA), it took my breath away. The
place has
a unique magic that opens you to your own voice and inner
knowledge."
--Alyx
Benham, of the trio Copper Wimmin which recorded its debut
CD at
IMA
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"What we have
here
at IMA is a place and a way for the personal to be political. In
the final
tally most cultures are measured not only by the curious way they
made
their sharp tools but by the bowls they made and the poems they
saved.
I believe there is no sharper point than the pen, no sharper tool
than
the tongue. I believe that the expression of art and music, and
service
to that expression, reflect an elevated level of conscious
humanity. And
in a time when the gun and sword become the wary tool of the
human heart,
let it be important that there be a place for singing and
togetherness.
IMA exists to help us help ourselves."
--Ferron, singer/songwriter, former
Artist-in-Residence
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"Thank you
so much for the wonderful workshops.... I am exhausted after two
days
of intensive work..., but what a marvelous exhaustion. Everything
about
the seminar was professional and hospitable from the training, to
the
meals, accommodations and opportunities to get to know one
another as
friends as well as artists."
--Robin Dell, singer and summer session
attendee
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