A team of South Dakota
Mines students has created a mobile stage, called the BeethoVAN, that allows Rushmore Music Festival pop-up
concerts in city parks, small towns and rural areas across the Northern Great
Plains.
The first pop-up concert on the new stage is planned
for noon, on Monday, May 1 in front of the university’s Surbeck Center on the
Mines campus. Performers include Dr. Brett Walfish and Dr. Katie Smirnova, two
faculty members at the Rushmore Music Festival, who are also sponsors of the
project. All are welcome to attend; the media will have access to interviews
with performers and students who completed the project.
The BeethoVAN is a mobile concert hall, a fully
customized cargo trailer with an indoor/outdoor stage, equipped with sound
acoustics, insulation/HVAC, solar/battery/energy storage and AV capabilities. The
mobile stage that is one part of the BeethoVAN folds out to form the stage. The
trailer has been designed to safely carry high-end classical instruments
including cellos, basses, violins, violas and a grand piano that folds up into
the wall during transport. The BeethoVAN was completed as a senior capstone
design project by four mechanical engineering majors, Logan Leader, Joseph
Zoller, Eric Moore and Zach Mohr. The project was overseen by Dr. Jason Ash, associate
professor of mechanical engineering, at Mines. The project was funded by a
grant to the Rushmore Music Festival from the Ludwick Family Foundation.
For Leader, creating this mobile stage was rewarding
because it allows for concerts in rural areas that don’t often get to
experience this type of music.
“It’s a big part of why we are going this,” says
Leader. “I grew up in a small town, there were no concerts -- or they are very
rare. Giving these music students and professors the ability to travel around
the region allows them to reach so many people in rural areas and it gives
students of Rushmore Music Festival a chance to perform to many audiences.”
The team of students first met with sponsors to
understand their needs, then they designed and fabricated a large number of
parts needed for the trailer modification. These parts allowed for vertical storage
of a grand piano, transport racks for stringed instruments and articulation and
support for the fold down stage.
“Bringing concerts directly to the people in our community
allows us to not only expand access to classical music but also provides
opportunities for our students to use their music to enrich and give back to
their community while simultaneously showing off their hard work and dedication,”
says Walfish, co-founder and executive director of the Rushmore Music Festival.
The BeethoVAN will begin traveling around the region
this summer, with pop-up concerts in many areas being planned.