Events & Retreats – 06.23.2021

Kansas Organist Bickers to Play July 14 Concert

SINSINAWA, Wis.—Elisa Williams Bickers of Overland Park, KS, is returning for her second concert of the Summer Organ Concert series at Sinsinawa Mound Center at 7 p.m. CDT July 14. She previously played in 2018. Concert guests will follow COVID-19 protocol, including wearing a mask, practicing social distancing and using hand sanitizer, and attendance will be limited to 125 people. Guests will have limited access to the main foyer and Queen of the Rosary Chapel. The concerts will also be available online at www.sinsinawa.org/live at the time of the concert or later in an archived format by tapping or clicking on “on demand.”

Bickers is the principal organist and associate director of music at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kan. She is active as a solo recitalist and collaborative organist and harpsichordist throughout the world, having performed in Germany, Italy, Ireland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway and Thailand. She holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in church music and organ performance from Texas Christian University and University of Kansas. Her organ teachers include Dale Krider, Joseph Butler and Michael Bauer. At Village Presbyterian, she directs the young adult choir and one of the church’s two hand bell ensembles, as well as cares for the Richards, Fowkes & Co. pipe organ. Bickers holds the Fellowship certificate from the American Guild of Organists, the Guild’s highest certification. For more information, contact Guest Services at 608-748-4411 or visit our website at www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.

Summer Creative Writing Workshops Offered through Weber Center

This summer, set some time aside to gather with other creative writers and to express what has long been hidden within you – and longs to see the light of long summer days.

Weber Retreat and Conference Center offers a weekly series of Creative Writing Workshops from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursdays, July 15, 22, and 29 and August 5, 2021. Whether you write as a spiritual practice or to give creative expression to your ideas and feelings, this series offers a supportive group of writers and the opportunity to enhance your writing skills.

The virtual workshops, offered via Zoom, are facilitated by Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, a certified Amherst Writers and Artists leader and published author.

The cost is $80 and registration is required. Registration is available at www.webercenter.org; click on “programs.” Registrations may also be made by contacting Weber Center at 517-266-4000 or webercenter@adriandominicans.org. Limited scholarships are available.

Barland to Play July 21 Organ Concert at Sinsinawa

SINSINAWA, Wis.—Charles Barland of Dubuque, IA, is the featured organist for Summer Organ Concert series at Sinsinawa Mound Center at 7 p.m. CDT Wednesday, July 21. Concert guests will follow COVID-19 protocol, including wearing a mask, practicing social distancing and using hand sanitizer, and attendance will be limited to 125 people. Guests will have limited access to the main foyer and Queen of the Rosary Chapel. The concerts will also be available online at www.sinsinawa.org/live at the time of the concert or later in an archived format by tapping or clicking on “on demand.”

Barland is professor of music and university organist at University of Dubuque.He also is active in church and civic music in the Dubuque area.Barland has performed throughout the United States and in Germany, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England. He earned a Bachelor of Arts at Carroll College (now Carroll University), a Master of Arts at University of Iowa and a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Kansas. Barland studied organ with Phyllis Stringham, Delbert Disselhorst, James Higdon, Delores Bruch and Michael Bauer. For more information, contact Arrangements at 608-748-4411 or visit our website at www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.

Dakota Artist, Poet Connects People and History to Land

SINSINAWA, Wis.—Dakota artist Gwen Nell Westerman will share her work and how the power of poetry and song help tell our stories and connect us to the land at Listening to the Land at 7 p.m. CDT Tuesday, July 27. The program is being offered virtually by Sinsinawa Mound Center. Nell Westerman is a citizen of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribeand lives in southern Minnesota, as did her Dakota ancestors. Her roots are deep in the tallgrass prairie and reveal themselves in her art and writing. She values the place names in the landscape that connect us to the language, history, and culture of the peoples who have lived there. A visual artist and poet, she is the author of “Follow the Blackbirds,” a poetry collection written in Dakota and English, and the coauthor of “Mni Sota Makoce: The Land of the Dakota.” The fee is $10 per person, and the registration deadline is July 26 at 4 p.m. Please register by contacting Arrangements at 608-748-4411 or visiting our website at www.sinsinawa.org/moundcenter.