We have the 'culture seasons' here in our parks too. They give a really good
mix through all the 'youth culture' music to light or heavy classical ,
opera and jazz. During the day we have for the children poets , magicians,
street entertainers and story tellers. this is all during the (too long!!!)
summer holidays.
In our arboretum they have seasonal shows (winter wonderland , autumn
colours , spring wake up time and summer burst)
Our museums all have programmes to involve children in history - making
their own coins , Chinese lanterns , we have a dragon boat race,lots of
nature trail's. Bat search nights , children's archaeology groups. Library's
have weekly story time for toddlers with colouring and nursery rhymes. In
winter we have nighty night time where everybody wears pj's or nighties and
takes a teddy bear or 'cuddly' and story's are told with hot chocolate and
biscuits (cookies) given out . Halloween we dress up and go for stories by
candlelight.
All these things are either free ( and subsidised by local firms) or cost a
small nominal fee. The onus being on the parents to get the children or
themselves involved . I live in a small village with very little public
transport and a big population of one parent family's ( we are annexed to a
large RAF base with lots of father's and in the past few years mothers away
for varying times) and the activities are always well supported .
Jan
"Cheryl Isaak" wrote in message
...
On 1/15/04 3:14 PM, in article
,
"Karen C - California" wrote:

In article , Cheryl Isaak
writes:

BULL PUCKY - "culture" is as far away as the internet or the library.
I
never heard an opera until high school

Turn on the radio. Every Saturday, there's the Texaco Metropolitan
Opera
broadcast, which is free.
You're lucky - Saturdays here are talk shows or the folk/Celtic programs.
There is a classical station, but I'd swear it only plays the same few
things over and over.

PBS broadcasts at least one opera per year, as well as "good music"
concerts.
Again -- free. You don't need cable to watch PBS.
Here you do - no reception with out the huge antennae.


Bundled in with the $12 basic cable service (local stations only) are a
couple
of "local access/community/educational" stations. They broadcast
student
concerts, school plays, intro to art, some telecourses from the local
colleges,
educational material not produced locally (e.g., a series poking around
Historic Williamsburg), and, late at night, Classic Arts Showcase
(classical
music videos, bits of classic films, parts of plays, photos of
paintings/sculptures with accompanying music).
Lucky - I didn't mind dropping cable, nothing like that on the local
access.
But there was the Wicca group that were the subject of letters to the
editor
at the local papers. (those were pretty funny!)

Where I grew up, there were concerts in the parks most summer nights.
You
could bring your own cold drinks and food. One night might be a
barbershop
quartet, the next night a performance by a teen summer drama program, a
dress
rehearsal from a nearby professional opera or orchestra, ethnic
celebrations,
etc. We got a wide range of culture for a couple cents gasoline. From
having
performed repeatedly at one of these programs, I can tell you that the
performers did not get paid: the only cost to the county was a little
electricity for the stage lights. If there was a Xeroxed program, ads
were
sold to sponsors. So don't let your community tell you they "can't
afford"
this sort of program. What they really mean is that they can't be
bothered to
make the arrangements.

Amen to that. Last Olde Home Days (town pride type thing) we got the local
head bangers/heavy metal bands. Ouch! But the next town over does get
some
decent stuff - choral groups, barbershop etc...

But I will continue to skip the opera - those poor singers can sound like
they are in such pain. LOL

Cheryl