What is the purpose of the horse-drawn caravan tour?
Silvermouse is a growing and evolving community. The intention is to create a unique performance experience that is far-reaching and available to wide-ranging audiences, at the same time as a unique environment and culture in which to create work.
The Silvermouse Caravan Tour is built on three main aims:
1. To bring experimental music and performing arts forms and concepts to wide-ranging audiences in ways that are visceral over cerebral.
2. To create, develop and share work in a variety of environments, both natural and man-made, while accessing and co-creating with diverse communities across the nation; those that are underserved by ‘the arts’  yet are often incubators for creativity and individuality in their own right.
3. To achieve the first two aims producing no carbon emissions and requiring no oil.
So, what does the tour look like?
The tour will surround the journey of the core group (Amaani, Justin and Ziggy plus pets) as it progresses from home in Santa Fe, NM up through Colorado, Wyoming, across through Montana and Idaho and then down from Washington, through Oregon and into California.
The second layer of performers will consist of artists in the existing network and those encountered en route. Collaboration will also be sought with local residents of the communities that the caravan passes through. It is the intention of the caravan to stay in and work with each community it performs in. Build-up and creation of any show may take anything from a few hours to two to three weeks, depending on the nature of the place, the stage the existing troupe is at with the work and the amount of participation from the community.
Sound and computer equipment will be powered by solar energy obtained from panels on the roof of the caravan. Silvermouse will be responsible for their water and dietary needs whilst on the road. This means proper provisioning between towns and villages of food and hay, supplies of water and information as to the availability of water for people and of hay and water for animals. Protection from the elements is another consideration – artists must be equipped with sufficient clothing for extremes of temperature.
There is no scheduled end-date for the journey, so the constraints of time will not be placed on the caravan in the broader sense. On the micro-culture level of the caravan, however, time will be crucial in that the troupe will have to make use of it to create quality performances. Plus, the sense of movement must be ever forwards in the work itself, and physically onwards towards the southernmost tip of California.
When on the move, it is expected that the caravan will progress at a rate of about 25 miles each day.
How will the tour sustain itself?
The tour will begin funded entirely by the part-time, freelance web design and internet marketing income of Justin Handley. Supporting and touring artists will be required to provide their own contributions for food and living expenses, their own tent or other sleeping arrangement and choose their own choice of oil and emission-free transportation (horses, cycles, caravans, on foot or in another form of innovative transportation built by the artist!).
It is anticipated that the tour’s income will be augmented over the passing weeks by merchandise, CD and ticket sales, and that the income from the tour itself will eventually become the means by which Silvermouse and the caravan are sustained.

Silvermouse is currently organizing a summer tour of the UK festival circuit.  Our primary mission is to get from Santa Fe, New Mexico to England and the various festivals with no carbon emissions and using a minimum of “carbon offset”, although we will be doing that to cross the Atlantic on ship, which although more efficient than flying still does burn fuel.

What is the purpose of the horse-drawn caravan tour?

Silvermouse is a growing and evolving community. The intention is to create a unique performance experience that is far-reaching and available to wide-ranging audiences, at the same time as a unique environment and culture in which to create work.

The Silvermouse Caravan Tour is built on three main aims:

1. To bring experimental music and performing arts forms and concepts to wide-ranging audiences in ways that are visceral over cerebral.

2. To create, develop and share work in a variety of environments, both natural and man-made, while accessing and co-creating with diverse communities across the nation; those that are underserved by ‘the arts’  yet are often incubators for creativity and individuality in their own right.

3. To achieve the first two aims producing no carbon emissions and requiring no oil.

So, what does the tour look like?

The tour will surround the journey of the core group (Amaani, Justin and Ziggy plus pets) as it progresses from home in Santa Fe, NM across the American plains to New York, where it will then move by ship across the Atlantic and pick up in Southern England.

The second layer of performers will consist of artists in the existing network and those encountered en route. Collaboration will also be sought with local residents of the communities that the caravan passes through. It is the intention of the caravan to stay in and work with each community it performs in. Build-up and creation of any show may take anything from a few hours to two to three weeks, depending on the nature of the place, the stage the existing troupe is at with the work and the amount of participation from the community.

Sound and computer equipment will be powered by solar energy obtained from panels on the roof of the caravan and from energy generators that use the spinning wheels of the caravan as it moves to charge storage batteries. Silvermouse will be responsible for their water and dietary needs whilst on the road. This means proper provisioning between towns and villages of food and hay, supplies of water and information as to the availability of water for people and of hay and water for animals. Protection from the elements is another consideration – artists must be equipped with sufficient clothing for extremes of temperature.

There is no scheduled end-date for the journey, so the constraints of time will not be placed on the caravan in the broader sense. On the micro-culture level of the caravan, however, time will be crucial in that the troupe will have to make use of it to create quality performances. Plus, the sense of movement must be ever forwards in the work itself, and physically onwards, at first towards the east coast, and then to each festival we play over the summer.

When on the move, it is expected that the caravan will progress at a rate of about 25 miles each day.

How will the tour sustain itself?

The beginning stages of the tour are being funded entirely by a single sponsorship by Narasopa Media LLC.  Supporting and touring artists will be required to provide their own contributions for food and living expenses, their own tent or other sleeping arrangement and choose their own choice of oil and emission-free transportation (horses, cycles, caravans, on foot or in another form of innovative transportation built by the artist!).  Silvermouse is seeking sponsorships from other individuals and companies as well, but is not dependant on that income to launch a successful tour.

It is anticipated that the tour’s income will be augmented over the passing weeks by merchandise, CD and ticket sales, and that the income from the tour itself will eventually become the means by which Silvermouse and the caravan are sustained.