Tom Brosseau & Friends to present concert Saturday to benefit future children's museum
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Apr. 12—GRAND FORKS — Tom Brosseau, host of National Public Radio's "The Great American Folk Show," and his fellow musicians will perform the second annual benefit concert to support the capital campaign for the Grand Forks children's museum on Saturday, April 13.
The fundraising event is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Empire Arts Center, 415 DeMers Ave. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $50, to be sold at the door. Or, tickets may be purchased, in advance, online at
https://www.grandforkschildrensmuseum.com/benefit-concert
, from any Grand Forks Children's Committee member, or in person at Opp Construction, 3625 N. Washington. Call (701) 775-3322 or email
.
The program will feature songs from the great American folk songbook, curated by Brosseau and his friends.
The event will also feature the unveiling of some new plans and renderings for the future museum, The Center for Exploration, and a silent auction, which will close after intermission, according to an event announcement.
In addition to Brosseau, other entertainers will include The Waddington Brothers, John Lardinois, Brent Voigt, Emily Walter, Mary Flower and the Grand Cities Children's Choir, under the direction of Melanie Popejoy and Brad Sherwood.
Terry Dullum, an award-winning former WDAZ-TV newscaster and popular humorist, will serve as emcee.
The Grand Forks children's museum is producing the ragtime, bluegrass and folk musical program to support the cost of building the museum. The fundraising goal is $59 million. Brosseau also organized and performed for the first benefit concert March 26, 2023.
Most of Saturday's show will feature North Dakota talent — Brosseau, of Grand Forks; Lardinois, Bismarck; Voigt, Rhame; Emily Walter, Medora; and The Waddington Brothers, Regent.
The audience will be treated to several kinds of music and storytelling, event organizers said.
The Waddington Brothers will play authentic bluegrass: mandolin, banjo, double bass and acoustic guitar.
Flower, a fingerstyle acoustic blues guitar player from Portland, Oregon, will demonstrate the syncopated method of ragtime with a set of tunes on the acoustic guitar. She is considered one of the country's leaders in the field of fingerpicking.
Brosseau and his Country Quartet will present a set of nursery songs, which is "perfect for a program to benefit a children's museum," according to the event announcement. "At the heart of the quartet are two ingredients: melody and harmony."
Some of the costs associated with the event have been paid by the Iseminger Fund for the Arts, administered by the Community Foundation of Grand Forks, East Grand Forks and Region.
The mission of the children's museum leaders is "to bring families together, to provide a space of wonderment, education and recreation for kids who pass through its doors," according to the announcement.
Their goal is to break ground for the museum in 2025.
