Mixtape Concert Reflections
Some thoughts from Clara Prinston, Renovare’s new Violist, about her experience playing “Mixtape” concerts this fall.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve been in Cleveland for over a month now. And more so, that I’ve already completed my first concert cycle with Renovare! There’s a saying that folks often throw around when the hours or the days go by quickly: “time flies when you’re having fun.” I’ve found this to not only be true, but in my short time here with Renovare, time flies when you are pursuing the Lord as insistently as I’ve come to witness Rebecca and Lalia do.
The time flew when we were at Mansfield Correctional Institute performing our Mixtape Concert program for over 200 men (our largest prison audience yet).
One minute we were going through security at the facility to enter, and the next minute, we were already back in the car making the drive back to Cleveland. And personally, everything that happened in between could only be described as exceptional, and humbling. It’s exceptional to think about how we were able to present an entire concert program out of the song requests we received from these men, especially in an environment where the voices of the incarcerated are not only ignored but often actively excluded. The time also flew when we were performing for the women at the Northeast Reintegration Center, as we played Amazing Grace over an added chorus of quiet sobs and sniffles from our audience. There’s no way to describe how special and sweet it is to make music within the confines of such an environment. Each of the Mixtape Concerts we’ve performed carry special meaning, and I’m honored that I get to carry these memories with me from now on.
Although there’s no way to know how my time here in Cleveland will continue to unfold, I often like to remind myself that we serve a God outside of space and time, and that our lives are nothing but a series of moments in which we get to catch up to where God has already been present and active. So, although the phrase “time flies when you’re having fun” might make you chuckle, or even cringe—what a gift it is to be reminded that we need only remember our Savior in the fleeting moments. When each of us at Renovare are running from one prison to another, one meeting to the following, one destination to the next… we need only remember our Savior. And in this posture, the days become less blurry, and the hours less hurried. With a month and a half under my belt, I look forward to all of the moments that lie ahead, fleeting or otherwise.
