(bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

- "Our Town," the show about Rochester, learns about the Rochester Public School referendum and we check out a community's farmer's market dedicated to sustainability and inclusion.

We also get a backstage pass to the new season of the Rochester Civic Theater.

All that and more coming up next on "Our Town," the show about Rochester.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota, "Our Town."

(upbeat music) - The Choral Arts Ensemble was founded in 1985, and this year the ensemble celebrates its 39th season and its last season with founder and artistic director Rick Kvam at the helm.

Rick joins us today to tell us more about the ensemble and its legacy.

Welcome to "Our Town," Rick.

- Thank you, Nicole.

- So before we get into what we can expect this season, can you tell us a little bit about what the Choral Arts Ensemble is and how you started it in 1985?

- It's a community choir of 40 to 60, almost, singers, depending on the year.

And I started it in 1985 'cause I'd always sung in choirs, I love doing it, I met other singers who love doing it.

We wanted to sing great music that we'd sung earlier in our lives in college or wherever.

And so it just seemed like a natural thing to get off the ground.

- That's wonderful.

So it's had a long run already here in the community.

39th season, what can we expect this season?

- This is gonna be a very exciting year.

First, we have a little educational outreach, actually this very next weekend, October 7, with Cantus Professional Men's Octet.

We're gonna have high school singers work with them.

That'll be awesome.

And then we're doing a collaboration with Great River Shakespeare Festival actors at the end of October.

They're gonna come, we're gonna sing love songs, they're gonna declaim love sonnets, they're gonna do little scenes from Shakespeare.

Christmas will be professional brass coming.

Really great players from all over.

I'm very excited about this group of players.

And March we'll work with Bach Society of Minnesota and Matthias Maute.

We'll do some Bach and some other things, some Brahms.

And then a little bit of everything in May.

It'll be a looking backward, looking forward concert for my last concert.

- Wow, that's exciting.

And it seems like there's quite a wide variety of different things to do, something for everyone.

- Yeah, and we like the collaborations.

It's nice to kind of mix the art forms a little bit, and especially the Great River people are very innovative and fun.

- Yeah, I've definitely enjoyed some of the festival performances and they seem like a really good group.

- Yeah.

- We've gotten a chance to talk to some performing arts venues and organizations in town just about the impact of the pandemic, and I was wondering about how the Choral Arts Ensemble has been re-engaging audiences since the pandemic's been over and kind of getting people back to live performances and things like that.

- Yeah, and I think one of the ways is collaboration.

I mean, it gives another hook to kind of invite people in or another kind of avenue of understanding the art if there are actors.

Somebody who loves brass will be able to come and see that.

Somebody who loves original period instruments will love to see the Bach Society thing.

We also have two new commissions, brand new pieces by Eriks Esenvalds and Dale Trumbore, and Dale will be at our concert, which will be great.

I think the education outreach is a big important part for us too and get that next generation engaged and their parents and give them something to understand about what a great thing it is to make something beautiful together.

- Wonderful.

As you mentioned, your last concert will be in the spring.

This is your last season with the ensemble.

As you look back, what have been some of the highlights of your time as artistic director and founder?

- Yeah, well of course, there are too many.

There's some big name things.

We sang with St. Paul Chamber and we've sang with the Dale Warland Singers and we've been in national conventions of choir events.

We were on "Prairie Home Companion."

But you know, the real thing I remember as I was looking through archives over the last couple weeks is just the people.

All the singers, all the supporters, all the board members.

It takes a huge group effort to make this thing work.

And there have been some wonderful, wonderful people over the last 40 years I've been lucky to work with.

- Wonderful, what would you say to someone who hasn't actually been to any performances yet to bring them out?

- Well, come and see the website and come and try to see the texts before.

One thing that's great about choral music is not only the sounds of the frequencies in the air, but just the beautiful words.

And that is a wonderful additional kind in to the art.

- Yeah, I had never experienced choral music before as a young person, but I remember I was at Oxford and I had heard, I went to an ensemble performance, and it was a very magical, ethereal, almost a spiritual experience to kind of hear the beauty of the music as well as the words.

So thank you for sharing that.

Do you have auditions, I guess, for those that might be thinking about performing with the ensemble?

- We do, yearly in May.

We also do ad hoc auditions as people filter into town.

But usually, the majority of the group is in May, chosen in May.

- Okay, well, people can look out for that as well, awesome.

Well, thank you so much Rick for joining us and I look forward to attending one of the events this season.

- Thank you Nicole, yeah.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "Our Town."

We check out a thriving local farmer's market and we also learn more about the Rochester Public School referendum with Superintendent Kent Pekel.

But up first, we learned that sometimes it's up to us to change our story as we go behind the scenes of the Tony Award-winning musical "Matilda" at the Rochester Civic Theater in this week's Our Culture segment.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) ♪ Jack and Jill went up the hill ♪ ♪ To fetch a pail of water ♪ ♪ So they say ♪ ♪ Their subsequent fall was inevitable ♪ ♪ They never stood a chance, they were written that way ♪ - My name is Addison Mary Schleicher - I'm Paul Hart Cochran.

An exception to the rules, in my school!

- I'm eight years old and this is my very first play.

- I'm 35 years old and this is not my first play, but it's my first play here.

What is your name?

- Matilda, Matilda Wormwood.

- Oh, so you're Wormwood, are you?

I might have known.

Well, Wormwood, you have just made a very big mistake.

- I've never done plays before, but I'm interested in doing this play because I've watched the movie a thousand times and I've seen the musical a thousand times and that's why I just wanted to try to get a part, and I really wanted Matilda.

- Now this is much harder, so don't worry if you don't get it, but two times 487, if you took your time, do you think- - 974.

- What, that's impossible?

- 12 sevens.

- 84.

(children exclaiming) - I memorized the lines by listening to a bunch of Disney songs, and I memorized those, all the songs, and then I just memorized all these lines.

♪ Just because you find that life's not fair ♪ ♪ It doesn't mean that you just have to grin and bear it ♪ ♪ If you always take it on the chin and wear it ♪ - I think I've had a lot of fun with all the folks, and for me, the best thing is just to see that the audience is having a good time.

To be up there and hear laughter and hear gasps in those places.

And knowing that there's not dry eyes out there because of how well Matilda's doing and all the other kids.

It's the most fun to know that people are excited about it.

When I auditioned for "Matilda," this was the role that I wanted.

It was originally done by a male, and it's just such a fun part to do, to really be able to just kind of go all over the place and go way over the top and have a lot of fun.

So there's a lot of makeup.

My wife does my hair every night 'cause that's hard for me to do on my own.

And then with the costumes, it just kind of puts it right in place that we can just go out and play and have fun.

I think one of the best things about this cast is, despite how long someone might be on stage, every person is doing a whole lot backstage.

Whether it's helping the kids get to where they need to be, moving scenery around, you can't always tell, but some of those parents, they're doing as much work as any of us because they have to lug around some of the big set pieces.

So it really is everyone doing a lot of work to make this happen.

- Well, I feel really good and I'm proud of everyone for all their hard work.

- And the shows are selling out.

It's great that there's so many people here to be able to see it.

(drowned out by dramatic piano music) - That's not right!

(dramatic piano music) (telephone rings) (audience applauds) - [Announcer] For more information about this story and other "Our Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @KSMQ#RTown or ksmq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - This is Danielle Teal with The Spotlight.

The Spotlight covers organizations and happenings across Rochester, and I'm especially excited about our guest today.

I'm here with Misha Johnson with the Rochester Civic Theater, how are you doing?

- I'm good, thank you so much for having me.

- Okay, we all know why you're here, because I attended the "Matilda" play and it was phenomenal.

We're talking incredible local talent.

Can you share a little bit more about that play and what's coming up next?

- Yeah absolutely, it is one of my favorite musicals, so it was such an honor to direct that show as the opener for season 72 at the theater.

And yeah, we are filled with over a hundred people that auditioned for it, there's 20 kids involved, and 10 of 'em are under 11 years old.

It's incredible talent, we're so lucky to have them.

- And one thing that impressed me so much with the local talent, the production is, dare I say, Broadway material.

I mean, these are incredible local actors.

Can you share a little bit more about how some of these kind of come out of the woodwork and then you plug 'em into a play and whoa, it's magic.

- Well, that's the greatest joy of being a director is finding these people who are untapped and bringing them into a rehearsal process and having them bring out and have their talent shine here on local stages.

It's pretty incredible to watch and to see that all unfold.

But we're grateful that the audience is here and accepting of that talent and ready to come out.

We've had so much new talent.

Our Matilda, she's never been in a show before.

- Which is incredible.

Share a little bit more about what's coming up next for Rochester Civic Theater.

- Yeah, we have five more productions throughout season 72.

"Blithe Spirit" is next, which is the classic spirited comedy, as I call it, from Noel Coward.

Then we are bringing back "A Christmas Carol," which is a musical.

And then we have "Hedwig and The Angry Inch," which is an adult only rock musical.

- [Danielle] Oh, interesting.

- Yes, and then we have a new production which is called "Peter and the Star Catcher," which is actually an adult prequel to "Peter Pan."

And then we're closing it out with- - [Danielle] Ooh, maybe I'll audition for that one.

- Yeah, you should, you should do that, yeah.

And then we are closing it out with "Legally Blonde."

- Okay, those are great.

I know that you have had quite an impact on the Rochester Civic Theater as well as the staff.

How have you kind of evolved it to where it is now?

- I am very grateful to the board of directors who brought me on because we turned the Civic Theater into a completely different mission statement and a new model.

So now only do we not, we house, yes, our six shows throughout the season, but we also house over 20 different nonprofits throughout our season.

So you'll see dance shows, you'll see ballet, you'll see other improv groups that are there.

You'll see other theater companies that are there.

And it's really exciting to see the doors opened and the theater fully activated.

- That's great, thank you so much for sharing.

- Yeah, thank you.

- All right, that's all.

This is Danielle with "Our Town Spotlight."

(upbeat music) - Hello again, this is Michael Wojcik with your "Our Town Rundown."

For those of you that came out to Cascade Lake last weekend, the clouds cleared and we had a magnificent event.

Not sure how many folks turned out, definitely in the hundreds, possibly in the thousands.

The taco trucks certainly learned that they should have brought more tacos.

It was a great event, I hope everyone enjoyed.

And you know, as we consider things like whether or not we're going to fund our communities with taxes, it's important to remember that taxes pay for things and we get to go out and enjoy some of those things in Cascade Lake Park that we're paying for.

Big congratulations to Rochester Civic Theater.

I'd encourage you to go out and see the last weekend of "Matilda the Musical," but you can't, because they're sold out again.

So just let that be a reminder for future shows to get those tickets early and support our local arts.

If you do wanna see some theater this weekend, "Clue" is still going on at the Chateau Theater, and that's being put on by Absolute Theater.

And as of this morning, there were still tickets available.

Going on on October 5th at the History Center is a session with a local author and former physician Paul Scanlan, who's talking about Rochester Memories.

That event is free for members.

Additionally, and I was not aware of this previously, but the History Center participates in a program called Museums for All, that if you receive SNAP benefits, you can actually go and attend the museum for free.

Going on this weekend as well, the UU Church is doing their annual handcrafted bazaar.

That's going on on Saturday afternoon.

If you'd like to stop by there, there's a lot of local artisans that are sharing their wares.

That's going on all afternoon and that's at the UU Church here in Rochester.

And finally, if you like sweeping ice and you like big heavy stones, curling is going on in Rochester.

It's actually a popular growing sport here.

And there's a Learn to Curl class that's coming up.

That's gonna be on October 1st, 8th and 15th.

You can follow the link to see more.

This is Michael Wojcik.

This has been your Our Town Rundown.

(light music) - Hi, this is Danielle Teal with Our Town Walkabout.

I'm here with Chris Allen at the History Center, Olmsted County.

- So this is called the Village Agricultural Cooperative Farmer's Market, or the Village Farmer's Market, for short.

We are two years old, second year.

We are here every Tuesday at the History Center from 4:00 to 7:00 through October 24th.

- [Voiceover] Can we put 'em in the oil?

- What's the intent of the village?

- Sure, so the village actually is a way to grow farmers.

We have a lot of families that come from other cultures, 24 different countries, and speaking as many languages, if not more, and they're all used to growing their own foods for comfort's sake.

Just like the way we crave certain things, they crave pumpkin leaves or Cambodian long beans or a vegetable called mope.

And these are things that are not readily available in the grocery store.

If you could find them, they'd be pretty expensive.

So our farmers want to grow their own food.

Right now we have six growing sites over 11 acres in urban Rochester.

Some plots are three-and-a-half acres, like the one that's just beyond this farmer's market.

And in fact, we're just about to build our second greenhouse or hoop house that you can also see in the background to extend the season.

Some of our farmers are not used to winter, so when it comes on, they have really stockpiled their things in their freezers to prolong that feeling of fresh taste in the summertime.

It's so wonderful because it's also building community.

What we're doing here is meeting each other, breaking down barriers, creating a sense of understanding amongst all of us that live in Rochester and call it our home.

(upbeat music) - In this year's special election, Rochester voters will be asked to vote on a capital projects technology levy referendum for the Rochester Public Schools.

This will be on the ballot in November and early and absentee voting opened last week.

Here to tell us more about the referendum is RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel.

Welcome to "Our Town," Kent.

- Thank you, it's fun to be here.

After having seen the show, I actually get to be on it, so it's great.

- Wonderful.

Well, we have a lot to talk about when it comes to the referendum.

To kick us off, can you tell us a little bit about the goals of the referendum and how they're connected to the strategic, the wider strategic goals for RPS?

- The way we've structured this referendum actually does take one more sort of step to understand, so that's why I'm really grateful to have this chance.

It will generate $10.1 million that will go to support technology in our school district.

So computer devices, tablets, the stuff behind the wall with servers and infrastructure, safety, like digital cameras, cyber security.

But in generating $10.1 million for technology, it will free up $7 million that we're currently spending for those purposes from what's called the general fund.

So the main money we get from the state of Minnesota that really should be going directly for teaching and learning.

And so if you have to summarize it, it's 3.1 million for some exciting new investments tied to the strategic plan and seven million to give us an adequate and sustained funding source for technology, which we frankly really lack in Rochester Public schools right now.

- And that funding would be annually.

- It would be each year for 10 years.

- Okay, and if approved by voters, can you talk a little bit more, you sort of give us an overview of how that referendum funding would be used, just a little bit more about what that would go toward?

- Yeah, it's a great question.

The seven million that we're currently spending on what you might call the nuts and bolts of technology support for any school district and frankly almost any organization, we'll put that directly into maintaining class sizes at their current levels.

So that's salaries, benefits for our teachers.

And that's really, really important and it does advance our strategic plan.

'Cause when your classes are getting bigger, teaching kids to read in a dramatically new way is a lot harder.

The 3.1 million in new investments will go for things like rapid short tests that we give students to identify kids who are struggling in reading and math or frankly kids who are ready for additional challenge.

That's very different than the state tests that get given every spring and then you don't see the results until the kid is actually in the next grade level.

These are short assessments that we can use to really accurately identify where kids are.

We're also implementing a new digital portfolio and application that will help prepare kids for life after high school, where when they're little kids, it's what do I love, who am I, what are my interests?

By middle school, they're starting to do career interest inventories and build a digital portfolio of who am I?

And by high school, they're really getting ready to apply to some kind of post-secondary education or a career.

And so those are the kind of tech investments that the referendum that would support that are very tightly tied to to our strategic plan.

- And so you mentioned that the funding would also then, my understanding is it would then free up money that you're currently using for those purposes and for other purposes.

For lack of a better word, it's freed up.

But can you tell us a little bit about what that funding would then be used for to better serve students and kind of meet some other critical needs that you have?

- Yeah, to understand that, you kind of need to take one step back and understand that when I got to Rochester two years ago, I saw and our school board saw that we had some serious issues to face with our financial prospects.

And so we developed a three-year plan to put the district on a stable path financially.

And that has meant cutting $21 million in the two years I've been here.

More than a hundred positions are not here.

And that was incredibly painful.

I mean, those are people that I got to know, even in my brief time here.

This referendum in giving us $7 million that can go to our core teaching and learning mission will really help us buffer the need for additional cuts.

That's particularly critical because Rochester Public Schools, like every school district in the country, is nearing the ending of having federal COVID funding that was intended to help us get through the pandemic.

- So of course when we talk about funding, citizens are always concerned about trust and sort of ensuring that public funding is stewarded well.

How is RPS gonna work to ensure that trust and that stewardship and also kind of be thinking about how that funding is used equitably and not reinforcing disparities across the schools?

- We are obsessively committed to transparency and data-driven decision making right now in Rochester.

And so we will find ways to report on how the referendum dollars are allocated and the outcomes that we get academically and in other ways.

I'm pleased that in the last two years I've been here, we have had perfectly clean audits with not a single finding and in a $400 million organization, that's not a small thing.

So we will report on where the dollars go so people can see that.

In terms of disparities, really our strategic plan is all about all kids getting better and kids who need the most support, kids especially from historically marginalized communities getting the most support.

And I think we saw in our high school graduation rates last year some early signs of promise.

The state of Minnesota was excited that after years of decline, graduation rates went up 0.2%.

In Rochester, they went up 2.1%.

Our Black students went up 8.69%, almost unheard of.

All groups went up, white kids went up 2.2%.

Students with disabilities, students living in poverty.

And so what you want is everybody's getting better and the kids who are most in need, and if you've ever talked to them, wanting acceleration are getting better fastest.

So I think that's where the core strategic plan, a lot of those investments in the referendum, the $3.1 million, a lot are gonna be targeted at making sure those students who otherwise might not have opportunities, like what I was talking about in preparing for post-secondary education or career, are gonna get them in our schools.

- Excellent, and some of those equity issues might be perceived also to be across the different schools themselves.

Can you talk a little bit about that, just sort of the funding and how that would impact the individual schools?

- Yeah, in the case of this referendum, the dollars are gonna go out pretty uniformly across the schools.

In a separate component of our strategic plan, this year we are doing a major review of all funding and staffing of schools in Rochester.

And there are some important issues that we're gonna be bringing to the school board in the spring to grapple with in terms of allocating dollars.

And in most school districts, 85% of the money buys people.

So allocating our amazing staff.

We do have some inequities that we're gonna be taking a look at.

And I think it's gonna be really important to do that with the understanding that, as they say, we all do better when we all do better.

But that is ahead of us.

It's something that this referendum would indirectly support because it helps us fill a critical need that helps our whole school district just function better.

We pay for technology right now in Rochester public schools from 27 different funding sources.

It's just not a way that any business that was trying to allocate resources very effectively would choose to fund something that is really central to teaching and learning today.

- Definitely.

As we're wrapping up here, as you obviously probably know, some community members are concerned about an increased tax burden.

Can you just briefly tell us what the tax impact would be?

- When I speak to community groups, some of them are a little shocked.

An average house is now $325,000 in Rochester, and so the impact on a homeowner at that level would be an increase of $135 per year, or slightly more than $11 per month.

Less if your house is worth less, more, if your house is worth more.

- Thank you so much for joining us, Superintendent, and we will continue to encourage people to get out there and vote this November.

Thank you for joining us today.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "Our Town," the show about Rochester, and I'll see you next week.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (music ends) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.