For the members of the SOS Brigade, creativity is not only encouraged, it’s required. The Collective, which is comprised of both students and faculty from Bowling Green State University, just got its start at the beginning of the semester and already has wasted no time in spreading its energy to arts communities across our region.

While the majority of group members had known each other in the past, it was in professor Manuel Yang’s Modern Japanese History class that things really got started.

“I think what we’re doing allows members to explore and enhance their creativity outside of the classroom, which is important particularly here in the Midwest because there such a sense of authenticity that you might not find in other parts of country, a real sense of suffering,” Yang said.

This semester marks Yang’s first at BGSU. The widely published Toledo based poet and translator has also taught as an adjunct instructor at Lourdes College and Monroe County Community College.

Current SOS Brigade projects include a weekly open mic, an acting workshop, a video interview series, a monthly online arts publication with novel serializations, a manga anime workshop, and a steampunk translation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. SOS actives are videotaped by Yang and posted on Youtube at a rate of around 90 ten-second videos a week. Yang would also like to see the group write a full-length film script about people’s character based on video observations. While group members met at BGSU, their activities are not affiliated with the university.

“For me personally, it’s a way to express our creativity. It’s a very alternative initiative used to get people together and to get them thinking artistically,” said SOS President Oscar Connell.

Group members want to see SOS become a springboard to spread creative energy anywhere and everywhere they can. There is currently a branch of the Brigade being put together on the Lima campus of Ohio State University.

“Some of us are really getting to know each other for the first time through this group. It’s like you’ll run into someone and just mention the group offhand and find out their involved as well,” said SOS member Catherine Kennedy.

The SOS Brigade has no real rules or membership requirements except the desire to express one’s self through the arts. Those interested in getting involved or simply finding out more about the group can join their online mailing list by e-mailing at bgsusos@gmail.com.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Arts and Life.
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