Sheltered Reality to make joyful noise at Regatta

• Sheltered Reality

Submitted Photo Sheltered Reality will play during the opening ceremony Friday night at the Worthington Windsurfing Regatta and Unvarnished Music Festival and will also conduct a workshop and perform on Saturday at Sailboard Beach.

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WORTHINGTON — “Reality” will hit this weekend’s Windsurfing Regatta and Unvarnished Music Festival with a sound that promises to entertain young and old alike.

Sheltered Reality, which bills itself as a youth-oriented project utilizing both music and education to reach out to audiences, will be one of the primary acts at this year’s Regatta. The percussion-laden ensemble will perform both Friday and Saturday during the festival, and in addition will host a free music workshop Saturday.

More than just a musical act, Sheltered Reality is made up of talented artists from across the United States.

“Sheltered Reality has around 300 performers, of all ages, from across the country,” explained Jordan Fratt, the project’s assistant executive director, in an email Wednesday. “Whenever we do performances, people of any age of welcome to have a drum lesson and join the group. No auditions are needed.”

The no-audition approach is part of a greater overall philosophy, Fratt went on, which focuses on — according to the Sheltered Reality website — reaching out “to audiences, motivating them to advocate for those in need, especially children and their families.”

“We believe anyone of any age can succeed at anything they put their mind to,” Frat said. “Not everyone may have perfect rhythm, but even if they don’t those people are still realizing it doesn’t matter if we’re better or worse at something. We can all work hard at things we want to succeed at and make a difference in people’s lives.”

Given that performers hail from around the nation, shows could feature as many as three of 117 people, Fratt stated, depending on how many can travel — voluntarily — to an engagement. Either way, he added, “it’s still loud and still enjoyable and something to learn from.”

Sheltered Reality tours primarily in the Midwest, but continues to add new communities and new states and typically does up to 400 performances annually at a variety of venues. Each show is unique, depending on the performers, locale, audience and any other number of factors.

In seeking out new communities in which to perform, informational brochures were sent out to many different Chambers of Commerce, including Worthington.

“The Chamber contacted us and wanted to bring us, and luckily the dates were available,” Fratt said. “We’ve always wanted to get to perform in Worthington before — we’ve done many Minnesota towns nearby, and have driven through the town before but have never had the performance opportunity.”

Sheltered Reality is scheduled to be part of Friday’s opening ceremony, set to begin at 5 p.m. on the main stage. Then, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning, its music workshop is scheduled, followed by a performance from noon to 12:45 p.m.

“The drumming workshop will be an hour-long drum lesson for anyone who wants to attend, no matter how young, or young at heart they might be,” Fratt detailed. “We will teach a couple of basic drumming skills, and teach a couple of our performance routines.”

What could be a bonus for many of the younger music festival-goers comes shortly afterward.

“Then, if they (workshop participants) stay for the show after, they can perform on stage with our current members,” Fratt said.

Tags: sheltered reality, regatta, news, band, perormance