From transforming long, cardboard carpet tubes and plastic straw into a flute to converting old tennis rackets and fire alarms into percussion instruments, Bash the Trash takes an artistic approach to sustainability, co-founder John Bertles said. Bash the Trash, founded in 1988 in New York City, will host workshops and “trash mob” concerts, as part of the Hopkins Center’s new Community Venture Initiative.
In addition to introducing participants to “environmental education and the science of sound,” Community Ventures Initiative coordinator Ann DiLalla said Bash the Trash allows them to be creative with household objects.
“It’s part of the idea of making the arts a part of your everyday life and making them accessible,” DiLalla said.
The workshops will culminate in trash mini-concerts at various transfer facilities and fire stations throughout the Upper Valley, where participants will play the marching instruments created in workshops.
“The more people that show up, the more ideas we have and the more interesting things happen,” Bertles said.
The music that the groups perform has not been planned, Bertles said, since the instruments have yet to be built.
The materials for the instruments are collected from transfer facilities in Hartford and Thetford and from Dartmouth Dining Services. DiLalla has worked with Courtyard Café and Collis managers to collect materials for this purpose.
Courtyard Café manager Steve Edes said that the dining hall will contribute plastics to the project, which is relatively easy to do because of its sorted trash and recycling bins. Edes said that DDS has contributed materials to student arts projects and Earth Day displays in the past.
He said he hopes to attend one of the instrument-building workshops later this week.
“It sounds like fun,” Edes said. “We’re glad we can help add to it.”
DiLalla described collecting materials as intensive but fun. The process serves Bash the Trash’s goal of encouraging people to consider the multiple purposes of what others usually call trash, DiLalla said.
“All of us go about the community looking at things in a new way,” DiLalla said.
The Hop has also partnered with the Dartmouth’s office of sustainability on these projects, DiLalla said. Sustainability interns will meet with Bertles and Piaggio to exchange ideas about reaching new audiences.
Bash the Trash will also visit science, art and music classes at middle schools and high schools in the region.
Bash the Trash usually travels to East Coast schools giving lessons that range from how sound waves and instruments work to why and how to be sustainable.
The group interacts with an estimated 50,000 students a year through its concerts, residencies and web-based seminars.
Bash the Trash has also worked with artists like Yo-Yo Ma and Max Roach.
“We turn adults into children, and children into scientists,” Bertles said.
Workshops to build instruments will be held May 6-9 at the Hop’s jewelry studio.
