What I've Learned

At Miami International Airport on Monday, November 22, among a sea of lounging travelers, some snoozing, some reading, some talking quietly, some lost in thought, was a woman with a French horn case.

She opened the case, took out the instrument and began to polish it with a cloth. This caught the eye of several bored-looking folk seated nearby.

The woman put the mouth piece in the instrument, stood up, and looked as if she might actually blow a note on it. Surely not. There were people trying to nap.

She put the French horn to her lips and began to play, sweetly, the song, Maria, from West Side Story. Heads turned, people blinked awake looking groggily around, conversations stopped.

If a French horn concert had been unexpected, what happened next was even more so. A casually-dressed man with a trombone strolled over and began to play along, the two instruments swelling the strains of "Maria, Maria, Mar-ee-aaa."

Then a tuba player took out his instrument and joined the other two, providing a bass line to the music.

A fellow in jeans with a backpack on, looking very much like an air traveler, walked over, raised a trumpet, and added his instrument to the mix.

Another trumpet player joined the group, and the quintet--obviously professional--finish the song.

With hardly a breath in between, the tuba player began the rhythmic bass line of "America" from the same musical, and the other four provided, over it, a spirited rendition.

When they concluded, there was a burst of applause. The players took a bow, then walked off in different directions, heading back to their instrument cases.

During the applause two people held up signs that said, "You have just experienced a Random Act of Culture."

The performers were from the Miami Music Project and were hired by the Knight Foundation to provide the small, seemingly impromptu concert.

The Knight Foundation was started by newspapermen John and James Knight. Last year the Foundation funded hundreds of random acts of culture across the country.

For example, on Saturday, October 23 in the men's department of the Belk department store at Southpark Mall in Charlotte, South Carolina, an employee with a powerful, brilliant, beautiful operatic voice suddenly broke into an aria. Customers, captivated but the sound, stopped in their tracks to listen. The employee, of course, was no employee. He was a professional opera singer hired by the Knight Foundation.

Later that day, in the same store, a baritone serenaded shoppers with another aria. The more he sang, the more shoppers gathered to hear this unannounced, unexpected random act of culture.

Even store employees had no clue this was going to happen. In fact, not recognizing the finely-dressed man working in their department, they asked him if he was with security.

Another such occurrence took place five days earlier on Concourse D at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

As people lounged about waiting for their flights or stood in line to board, a string quartet appeared, set up in an open space, and began to play a gentle but sultry tango.

A thin, cultured-looking man with a short beard and longish hair stopped to listen, as did, across the way, an attractive woman wearing a blouse and skirt. As the man and woman, interested in the musical performance, each walked slowly about to get a better look, they met, as if by chance. She lifted her hands in a ballroom dance position and held them there. He, accepting the invitation, stepped close to her, placed his left hand in hers and his right on her waist.

The two, on-lookers soon realized, were part of the performance, as they began to dance a slow, expressive tango.

When the piece and the dance concluded, there was applause, and two people in the crowd each held signs that said, "You have just experience a Random Act of Culture."

People interviewed afterward described the performance as beautiful, calming, and refreshing.

Other random acts of culture--poetry readings, Gospel choirs, jazz numbers, etc.--have taken place in unlikely public spaces. Not just in malls and airports, but in grocery stores, government buildings, cafes, and on sidewalks.

To learn more and to see videos of some of the events, search for Random Acts of Culture on the Internet.