Bowerbird is pleased to present a morning birdwalk at the New, Unnamed Preserve next to Tacony Creek led by Nicole Hameen interspersed with two performances by Sonali Singh and Melinda Rice.
Please take note of the weather and dress accordingly with appropriate footwear.
Meet at the parking lot of Friends Hospital and look for the Bowerbird a-frame sign.
Estimated run time: 120 minutes
Distance: approx. one mile
Terrain: ADA accessible
Free admission – reservations are encouraged
ABOUT THE EVENT
Follow the Sound is a communal outdoor listening experience that combines a guided nature walk with live music. Each ambulatory program is attuned to the here and now of its site — birds, bugs, water, and wind — creating a moment of shared awareness and presence.
Follow the Sound events are free and have been hosted at various sites throughout the Philadelphia area including John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Stoneleigh: a natural garden, and more, each led by a naturalist with expertise of the local ecosystem.
Each ~90-minute program entails walking a distance of less than one mile, usually on flat, accessible terrain. A wide range of diverse musicians have participated on an array of flutes, electronics, violins, viola da gamba, and more, in solo and impromptu duo formats.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Nicole Seahorne Hameen joined the Fairmount Park Conservancy team in January 2021. In her role as Education & Engagement Specialist, Nicole leads We Walk PHL, a free walking and social club with 18 locations throughout the city and thousands of annual participants, and provides critical support for the Conservancy’s community partnerships, activation events, volunteer programming, and natural lands work, with a strong focus on community-focused health and wellness initiatives.
Before joining the Conservancy team full-time, Nicole worked as a Recreation Speciality Instructor for Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, leading the We Walk PHL program in collaboration with the Conservancy and performing field research and data collection for Penn State centered on park usage and community input. She worked for the Institute for Community Justice’s workforce and development team, where she served in client support, outreach, program development, and presentations.
Nicole is a member of the Overbrook Park Civic Association and a volunteer for GirlTrek. She is certified in CPR and mental health first aid, holds a certification from Temple University as a community health worker, and studied Applied Behavioral Analysis at Purdue University. Look for her throughout the Fairmount Park system birding, exploring, and laughing loudly with family and friends as she hikes trails and hugs trees.
Melinda Rice loves circles, metaphorical and literal. Their recent collaborative projects include a performance combining looped string music, spoken word and cemetery history (re:claim with Heather Bowlan at Laurel Hill Cemetery), a song cycle around a personal history of water for piano, violin, and voice (Water Cycle with Teri Card Heller), and a solo acoustic violin series with a live siren from a local nuclear generating station (siren songs, and right beneath the moon on Strange Woman Records). Melinda is interested in creating space for genuine reaction in performance, both in her own works and when working with other composers/musicians. She enjoys digging into new chamber works, plays with a wedding band, and directs the string ensemble at Ursinus College.
From busking on Broad street to drumming in a darkened cemetery, Sonali Singh lets themselves be swept into the madness and passion of Philadelphia’s creative and improvisation scene. They ache to soothe hurt souls, much like theirs, on this shared journey. Through foundations of music therapy and the power of improvisation, Sonali hopes to foster a sense of community, nurturing and .. aaand.. aaand wow, I’m sure you get it. Make music with me. Make joy with me. Make space for grief, anger, loss, and pain with me. Or let’s scream for no reason!
Organized in collaboration with World Askew and funded in part by PECO, Team Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania Creative Industries
