In the course of a year, Third Place Commons hosts over 900 events. Many of those are musical, and most of the performers on our stage are local. In 2013, generous funding from 4Culture enabled us to produce a series we called the Commons Legacies Project. We featured musical families, talented folks, every one of them, who share their passion and skills with the next generation.
In addition to hosting 3 special performances, we were able to have another talented artist create video documentaries of the series. Aaron Stadler is a second-generation videographer, so he came to this project with an appreciation of the theme. His first video of the series celebrates Total Experience Gospel Choir on stage during Black History Month, and he captured one of the sweetest Commons moments ever. Enjoy the experience here.
The project also focused on two Lake Forest Park families and the music they make with their children. In June, we welcomed Crònan for special afternoon of Scottish music and Gaelic song. Local residents Dale and Judith Cummings, and their daughters Flora and Eleanor, joined with Christan Hoffman, Christine Traxler, and their daughter Zoey to perform haunting laments and rabble-rousing reels with harp, fiddle, guitar, bouzouki, concertina & step-dance.
Then in December, we welcomed long-time favorites The Milner Family Fiddles, two generations of musicians who bring their Texas-style music to the Third Place stage every other month. This was a special occasion, with Glen Milner playing with Aaron, Alisa, Jacob, all of whom have been playing with their father since they were young children.
Get a glimpse of these engaging performances here:
To see more videos created by Aaron Stadler for Third Place Commons, please visit our video page.