ABOUT MMMWHAH!
Mmmwhah! was created in November 2016 by Merlyn Holmes, with assistance from Bill McCrossen, to inspire the muses in all of us, to feed our creative spirits, keep us sourced and re-sourced and ready to engage fully in life, especially through these challenging times. We aim to facilitate our collective creative development and expression, in the studio and in our lives. Please join us.
"Mmmwhah! – Participation. Shared creativity – Evokes the inner artist of all ages – art – not a “spectator sport.” Multigenerational play, sharing and creating. Mmmwhah! creates a space that invites me – and other people! to join in. What emerges is wholistic synergy and creative magic."
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Anonymous
Mmmwhah!'s core practice...
is one of deep listening, being fully present in the moment,
within an ensemble context.
We use improvisation as a relational practice across the mediums of music, movement, and art-making.
Our home ground is as Active Listener / Witness / Well-wisher, who is attuned to "What will serve?"
"What will serve the music? the movement? the art-making? Ultimately, what will serve the larger composition?
and the whole room?"
Our active participation in each composition stems from "What is needed?" and "What is being called forth?"
Silence / Stillness / White Space are our home.
We encourage you to listen for the silences, witness the stillness, and feel the white spaces between things as well.
We aim to:​
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Expand our awareness from "I" to "we" when we enter into practice together
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Let inspiration rise in each of us from beyond "me," from tuning in to whatever source gives rise to the breath in our lungs.
And some really beautiful things arise!
CELEBRATE!
IN THE NEWS:
'Invited back for another "Mmmwhah! to Flagstaff" in 2019
We'll be able to host another beautiful and free community event at the Flagstaff Amphitheater this summer: Mmmwhah! to Flagstaff.
Mark your calendars for the morning of Sunday, August 11th, and stay tuned for details!
'Invited to bring Mmmwhah! events to the library's Summer of Discovery
We'll be able to bring different Mmmwhah! events to each of four Boulder Public Library branches this summer as part of their Summer of Discovery -- all of which will be free! Stay tuned for details.
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Mmmwhah! receives funding to bring Music, Movement, Mindfulness -- whoa! and -- Art to four more neighborhoods!
Thank you City of Boulder's Neighborhood Services! Stay tuned for news about how this work develops with the following neighborhoods!
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Tantra Lake, South Boulder
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Mapleton Mobile Home Park
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Melody / Catalpa
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Newlands
Would you like to seed some Mmmwhah! in your neighborhood?
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We've been hearing the cry: "What about OUR neighborhood? Can we bring some Mmmwhah! events to our neighborhood?" The answer is now "YES!" The City of Boulder is graciously offering grants to do just that. Choose from five options or create your own dream event with music, movement, mindfulness -- whoa! and -- art: Mmmwhah!
As a grass roots social movement, there's no better way to spread it than through everyone's back yards, and front yards, and City parks, and wherever the arts will grow. And the City is offering some funds to help us do just that
Let's fill this town with music, movement, mindfulness, and art-making!
Apply Now >> | Deadline October 12th
We've landed another Mmmwhahsome! grant to seed Mmmwhah! in two more neighborhoods. Thank you, City of Boulder!
Spring 2018
Here we come, Vista Village Mobile Home Park and the un-named neighborhood along Crescent Drive in Southeast Boulder, and thank you for the invitations to come help activate art in your neighborhoods. We have a great lineup of events taking form. Details posted on the Events pages.
All are welcome. While we're helping to activate art in these neighborhoods, all you Mmmwhahsome! followers are welcome to all our events as well. The events will be free to residents of their respective neighborhoods, but we will ask for relatively low donations from all other guests, to help keep these offerings going.
Thank you to the City of Boulder's Neighborhood Services for seeding these projects!
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Lafayette Seedling Takes Hold
We launched a monthly Mmmwhah! Gathering series in Lafayette in February that is taking hold beautifully and looks like it will become financially self-sustainable. (Fingers crossed!) Join us on Second Sundays from 2-5pm. at Chuck Ceraso's Art Studio & Gallery. Whoo hoo!
Please RSVP as space is limited and these have been filling up. Sding scale $10-$20.
Thank you to the Lafayette Cultural Arts Commission for seeding the first two Gatherings!
ABOUT THE "MMMWHAH! HAPPY HOLIDAY YEAR-ROUND PROJECT"
Thanks to a generous grant from the City of Boulder in 2017 -- yeah! -- we employed “Music, Movement, Mindfulness – whoa! and – Art” to give our friends, families, and neighbors an infusion of offerings to help us all stay “Happy” and well-resourced, resilient, productive, and engaged during these challenging times. (Pssst: This also involves a big “C” for Community building, but that would make our acronym sound like “Mmmwhack!”, so we’re just going to slip that one in, un-named.)
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The grant allowed us to make all events free for residents of the Holiday Neighborhood and Boulder Meadows, as well as members of the NoBo Art District, through the end of 2017, Guests from elsewhere were welcome, but we asked they contribute a donation to "pay it forward" and allow us to continue the programming.
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The key tools we use are:
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Mindfulness – mind and body centering, individually and collectively
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Creativity – encouraging and nurturing the flow of creative energies, across modalities, across disciplines, across differences
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Celebration – coming together in community, regularly, as an eco-system that nourishes us and where we can truly celebrate our kinship and our differences.
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We built on on and strengthened existing core summer events and collaborated with some of the most inspiring individuals and groups in the region. Offerings included:
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concerts with facilitated dance/movement and art-making
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drum circles,
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circle dances,
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games that increase our capabilities for being centered and mindful (for kids, and the kids in all of us),
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movement meditations,
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jam sessions, for amateur and professional musicians
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collaborative art projects,
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creativity workshops
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and more!
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CREATIVE SPIRITS
Bill McCrossen
Master Musician
aka Creative Spirit
Kindred Spirits
Merlyn Holmes
Founder & Creative Director
aka Creative Spirit
A writer, dancer, photographer and generally creative spirit, Merlyn (pronounced like "mare" + "lynn" despite the spelling) wrote down the outline of what Mmmwhah! would become during an artist residency at Earthdance in the Fall of 2016 and then felt the clear call to manifest it after witnessing the acrimonious fallout from the Presidential elections of Nov. 2016.
She is devoted to manifesting this vision and serving the collective creative spirits in all of us.
One of the jazz "heavyweights" of the Denver/Boulder scene, Bill is an upright bassist, composer, and educator by career, And an improvisation afficionado.
He hails from New York but calls Colorado his home now.
Mmmwhah! has given him the great excuse to dive deep into exploring other strange and wondrous musical instruments that have been calling him such as the ocean harp, kora, guembria,
Other Creative Spirits
All the people who inspire us -- with the work they do in the world and the way they live their lives.
And the many people who are showing up to support the Mmmwhah! movement in myriad ways.