BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – IU Auditorium’s Audience Engagement Department is partnering with local music therapist Valerie Jones as well as local performers for a special tour of senior living facilities in Bloomington and Martinsville later this month with a program titled Dorthy’s Adventure to Oz. This marks the second year that IU Auditorium has put together a tour of visits with these communities.

 

Stops will take place at Grand Valley Health and Rehab in Martinsville on August 25, then on August 29 at Gentry Park Senior Living, Evergreen Village at Bloomington, and Bell Trace Senior Living Community.

 

In celebration of Jacobs Live at the Movies showcasing The Wizard of Oz in November, as well as the entire 2025–2026 IU Auditorium season, senior program participants will travel with Dorothy on an interactive adventure with stops meeting music makers along the way. The program will highlight not only The Wizard of Oz, but several artists and tours that will be part of IU Auditorium’s upcoming schedule. Local performers Dana Badcock, Felicia Friebel, and members of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, along with Jones, will guide attendees through an hour-long program at each location.

 

The performers sing Tina Turner classic hits (celebrating TINA – The Tina Turner Musical), play classical string duets (celebrating The Philadelphia Orchestra), the hammered dulcimer (celebrating Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens), and will end with attendees moving and singing along to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

 

About IU Auditorium’s Community Engagement Programs

Year after year, IU Auditorium strives to provide local communities and beyond with top tier artistic opportunities. Throughout the 2024–2025 season, the Auditorium's audience engagement team hosted more than 100 engagement events throughout the season including a statewide residency, pre-show lectures, artist Q&A’s, visits to senior living centers, two iterations of our Auditorium Kids on Campus program for local middle and high school students, and more. In all, these programs were attended by nearly 8,800 community members of all ages throughout the entire state of Indiana. These efforts are expanding further than ever before, and IU Auditorium strives to continue to enhance these programs this upcoming season and beyond!