Our 4th annual fundraising event! Sunrise Gathering: Soundscape
Join us on Saturday, December 6th, for a magical morning brought to life by the Koa Fund community, and hosted by the Epic Center. This year’s Community Art & Storytelling fundraising event features the musicianship and artistry of Jordan Hamilton & Miglodesh, along with sound teachers, dancers, youth artists, sonic food and drink, a treasure hunt and more.
As we continue Koa’s story through support for youth-focused nonprofit agencies and programs, Soundscape centers on what we hear and experience around us, challenges us to be listening and fully awake, and asks us individually and as a Koa Fund community:
What sound do we make? What is our voice?
Jordan Hamilton and Miglodesh at the Soundscape field recording session in August at the Suárez-Starfeldt home.
STEP 1: REGISTER
STEP 2: DONATE
$75/guest suggested donation - we are grateful for your support for the Koa Fund and for your RVSP for the Sunrise Gathering on Saturday morning, December 6th
Please give as you are able. 100% of your donation to the Koa Fund goes to our youth development partners.
Thanks for your support in helping youth #bevaliant.
STEP 3: GATHER WITH OUR 2025 ARTISTS & COLLABORATORS ON DECEMBER 6TH
Cellist and vocalist Jordan Hamilton is a mix of mastery and maverick musicality; hip-hop influenced, rhythmically layered, melodically robust.
Miglodesh, aka Mike Savina, is a guitarist and sonic voyager. His uniquely stylized approach and self-proclaimed “harmonic scaffolding” aim to entrance and inspire.
Wellspring will bring their talent and passion to the Soundscape experience to create wonder, connection, meaning and belonging through movement.
Mixed-media artist Riggs Peterson joins forces with creative artist and ambassador Kim Shaw to create a dynamic art form central to the Soundscape and Koa’s story.
In the aftermath and grief of Koa’s passing, Dean Suárez-Starfeldt began walking at sunrise, every day. His creative installation brings to life his experience, one day.
Our featured youth artist, Maci Gast, makes handmade watercolor paints from natural ingredients and plants, inviting in nature as inspiration and a collaborator.
Carolyn Koebel has been exploring rhythm and vibration for the past thirty years, slowly traversing the globe in search of indigenous folk roots and traditional rhythmic materials.
Angie Jackson, the Traveling Elixir Fixer, is a culinary mixologist, consultant, educator, author, and creator of many award-winning programs for top bars and restaurants.
Dr. Angie Moe and Sunny will join us from the WMU Therapy Dog Clinic. The Koa Fund is proud to support their work with local children, youth, and families.
The Koa Fund is thrilled to host Soundscape with the Epic Center, the foundation and focal point for the arts community here and across southwest Michigan.
Randon Myles Chisnell is a composer and multi-instrumentalist creating original music in an array of styles as a transcendent experience. Randon will accompany Carolyn Koebel for sunrise sounds in the Meadow.
Athena Kaufman is a certified somatic educator and facilitator, intuitive energy healer, organic grower, and practitioner of medicine music. Athena will be a principal purveyor of somatic harmony during our Soundscape experience.
Public Media Network tells stories that inspire, connect, and celebrate the Greater Kalamazoo area, and the Koa Fund is honored to be partnering with their team.
Kara Markovich is a sound practitioner and co-founder of The Origami House, a space dedicated to Sound + Gatherings of the Human Experience. Along with her daughter Ophelia, Kara will shepherd our community exploration in the Sound Meadow.
The Koa Fund is grateful for support from Classic Catering & Events, a family-owned and one-of-a-kind shop for fresh catering and unique events, carried out with heart.
Bec Koop, founder of Vibrational Transcendance, creates safe, sacred space through somatic work, sound healing, reiki, sacred ceremonies and more. Bec brings her vibrational gifts to making magical drinks in the Sonic Saloon and more.
To donate by check, please address it to KZCF with Koa Fund in the memo line, and mail it to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, 402 E. Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49007
The Koa Fund is a component fund of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. We are honored to be part of an organization that supports so much goodness in this community.