Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and city officials on Thursday unveiled a mobile stage that will be used to bring free concerts to Charlotte's underserved communities.
CSO musicians were on hand for the ribbon cutting and unveiling of the 40-foot trailer that Symphony CEO David Fisk says can be easily pulled around the city with a pickup truck.
“If you imagine a trailer that has a side that comes down and a top that folds out to create a protected environment in which the musicians can play their instruments safely protected from the elements,” Fisk said. “But the audience can easily see them because it's well-lit, and we have sound amplification.”
Fisk says with the push of a button, the trailer “ unfolds from being a trailer looking like a trailer to being a mobile stage that can house up to as many as 35 musicians.”
Fisk says about 10 CSO concerts will be held in parks, plazas and other outdoor locations annually. The first one is set for April 28 on Central Avenue during a Latin American Coalition event. The second concert will be at Mayfield Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, on May 5, on West Sugar Creek Road. Both are in designated Corridors of oOpportunity.
Fisk says at each concert, they will play music that organizers suggest will resonate with the audience.
“We have chosen music that is by Latin American composers and we'll have most of it with a great dance rhythm as well as music that's going to be with and by Ultima Nota, who are a Charlotte band.
"When we go to Mayfair Memorial Missionary Baptist Church, we'll be doing a combination of soul music, Motown and spirituals. We'll have as a soloist the First Lady of the church, Wanda Hunter Wherry and she is a professionally trained classical singer,” Fisk said.
Providing residents in underserved communities in Charlotte with access to the arts is a major component of the city's Corridors of Opportunity initiative. Erin Gillespie is its interim executive manager. She says the city provided $200,000 toward the cost of the mobile stage.
“I'm really excited about the roadshow program because we are directly addressing one of those top priorities and needs that the communities identified for us,” Gillespie said.
City and CSO officials say the goal of the concerts is not simply to attract residents to the orchestra’s performances in uptown. Their main objective is to meet residents where they are so people citywide can be exposed to the orchestra in a way that cost and transportation are not issues.
“This is probably a very small project in the grand scheme of things, but this project is just one of lots of multiple ways that we are providing support and investing into the community in these corridors to help them achieve their vision and goals of how they want their communities to develop,” Gillespie said.
Gillespie says she sees the mobile stage as a long-term initiative that will hopefully spark other arts organizations to bring their programs to underserved communities.
