All Ages Art Night at SPL

All Ages was a blast and everything went swimmingly. The bands and spoken word was really high energy. Jen did a wonderful job putting the performers and the whole thing together. I was really tired by the end. I don't think I have stood up that long since I was waitressing and my legs are still tired two days later.

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head was awesome and had quite the teen following. I mostly got to hear the other bands, and not see them, so I am not sure who was who but I know that Army Corp of Architects played. I was really impressed with their level of professionalism for teen bands. They were tight and fun to listen to. I got to talk to Melissa from Vera who helped Jen set up the bands and she was great. After the show I got a Vera Project t-shirt she left for us.



The fashion show was fun, but ended up giving us some anxiety. They moved their stage twice and the fans totally blocked the through way after the show, as they were giving out T-Shirts and chatting with models right there. It was the only way to get to the escalator, so things got a little crowded. This was the only thing I could say "went wrong" the entire night though, so not much to complain about. It was put on by the Casey Family Foundation and many of the models were foster kids, so it was definitely for a good cause.

The PI covered event, as did a few news stations. The PI's article it already up though. Forgive the pop-ups... If you click on the article above it has the option to see a slideshow of the fashion show too. The kids are all so proud of themselves, and rightfully so!

One of my functions was organizing the organizations presenting materials for teens. These groups included public health, community groups, teen volunteer orgs, art venues and teen theater, music and art groups. I kept track of who was coming, what they needed and where they would be situated. That part went great.

Another thing I did was organize a few teen volunteers to staff a table, give a teen survey to attendees and help direct people to bathrooms and the event. We also planned the table and survey together at meetings prior to the event. Everything went well except the table.

Our table was too far out of the way. I thought it would be a good place until the event started, but by then it was too late to move it. We were near the fashion show stage and the other stage was across the room. Most of the event, attendees massed around that stage. I was hoping that once the fashion show started we would have them on the other end. What I couldn't have anticipated was that they blocked off the area around us for friends and family of the fashion show models and designers. So our booth wasn't visited, which was sad, since we were the ones putting things on.



I spent a lot of my time walking around and talking to the organizations tabling. Everyone seemed happy although only about 10 groups turned in their surveys, so we can't know for sure. I also helped with whatever came up over the evening, including taking a turn directing people by the doors on the first floor for about an hour--why I missed most of the bands. Everything went so well!