ICAN 2023 Yearbook
With the arrival of 2024, the International Children’s Arts Network is taking a moment to reflect on the year 2023. This year has brought a lot of wonderful memories, great music, adventurous stories, and new friends!
Let’s take a trip down memory lane and visit some of our highlights from last year.
We kicked off 2023 with a bang, as the Metropolitan Youth Symphony (MYS) and the International Children’s Arts Network (ICAN) came together LIVE at the Newmark Theatre for The Magic of Eric Carle. This special in-person event brought five of Eric Carle’s most beloved stories – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I See A Song, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, The Very Quiet Cricket, and Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me – to the stage with a unique and collaborative mix of animation, live orchestral music, and narration.
In March, we launched a new series called ‘ICAN Travel: Abby’s Celtic Corner. Hosted by singer and Ireland Native, Abby Molloy. She taught us about incredible Irish myths and legends, beautiful musical instruments, and traditional Irish songs, and we learned some of the Irish language along the way.
You can find all of the episodes of Abby’s Celtic Corner on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
In the Spring we partnered with our friends at Who Smarted, to bring you the answers to some of the biggest questions that curious minds could conjure.
Have you ever wondered how your brain turns soundwaves into sound? Why there are 26 letters in the alphabet? or if Space Aliens are listening to us? Then this is the show for you!
Tune into WhoSmarted? the show for curious people, just like you, every Saturday at 9am on ICANradio.org
In April, we celebrated our 4th Birthday in style when your hosts Sarah, Steven, and Elaina hosted an on-air birthday party to celebrate all of the great things on ICAN, including playing some fun games, testing each other with some trivia, and sharing some of our favorite music with our listeners.
The Audio Book Tour continued to share the great work of Authors and Illustrators with great books such as Bunheads, Big Feelings, No Fair, What Does a Real Doctor Look Like? When I Grow Up, Fatima’s Great Outdoors, Bringing in the New Year, and The Artist.
You can hear ICAN’s Audio Book Tour every third Thursday at 5p PT with a rebroadcast the following Sunday at 8a PT. Check out more books featured in ICAN’s Audio Book Tour.
We took a whole lot of Summer road trips, with our new summertime special ‘Saturday Morning Car-Tunes‘. With your host Steven, and his guests Sarah, Elaina, Luciana and Machai!
Each week had a new theme, as we took trips based on Animals, Space, Spooky Things, Under the Sea, Nature, and Time Travel!
We look forward to more Summer Road Trips in 2024!
We had a CONCERT with Portland Parks and Recreation.
We took over Irving Park in Northeast Portland in August as Mo Phillips and the Spaghetti Pants Dance Band rocked into the night. This included an exceptional performance by our friends, the MYSfits, and even a fun NEW song called ‘Cosmic Bunnies’ written by ICAN’s Sarah Zwinklis, performed by Mp Phillips and our good friend and All Classical Radio’s 2023 Youth Artist in Residence Amir Avsker. This fantastic event was attended by over 800 people!
Our good friend, and All Classical Radio’s 2022-2023 Artist in Residence, María García performed 3 more Musical Stories, in English and Spanish on icanradio.org.
First, she performed the classic ‘Swan Lake‘, before sharing the spooky story of ‘Hansel and Gretel‘ during our Halloween Special.
Finally, María capped off the year with a beautiful performance of ‘The Snowman,’ featuring our Youth Roving Reporter Elaina Stuppler, singing the classic song ‘Walking in the Air.’
In the Fall of 2023, we launched a brand-new radio series called ‘ICAN Become.’ In which each week, a new youth host interviewed a professional in a career they are interested in. Professionals and youth from all around the world (and even space) connected to talk about what it takes to become anything. Including a Podcaster, Baker, Ballet Dancer, Vet, Interior Designer, Video Editor, Newsreader, and even an Astronaut!
The ICAN team thanks you for a great 2023, and we can’t wait to bring you more exciting, engaging and groundbreaking programming in 2024! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
