By Amy Knutson, Education & Programs Assistant
On Saturday, June 1st from 10AM – 2PM it’s the 2nd Annual TakePART in Art Festival: Cultivating Community at R.H. Dana Middle School in Hawthorne (5504 West 135th Street, Hawthorne, CA 90250). If you find yourself free on that Saturday, why don’t you hop on down and join us? We’re getting all ready for this day-long festival and I can promise you some stellar performances, amazing artwork, and art booths with fun projects from P.S. ARTS, Diavolo Dance, reDiscover, Arts for All, Arts for LA, Dream a World, and more!
Here’s a little background information on the Festival and how it all began. The TakePART initiative started in 2010 as a way to provide arts education and share resources among four different school districts (Lennox, Wiseburn, Lawndale, and Centinela) and last year, Hawthorne School District joined the initiative. Through collaboration and resource sharing, THOUSANDS of children from these five Southern California school districts are receiving dance, music, theater, and visual arts instruction during the school day. Let’s be honest, being able to serve that many students is AMAZING, and we at P.S. ARTS are proud to be a partner in this initiative.
Back to the Festival! Planning started in December, where we first decided on the theme and discussed potential locations as well as other logistical matters. Ultimately, we decided to branch off (pardon the pun) of P.S. ARTS’ 2012-2013 school year theme of Tree of Life: Roots and Branches, and named this year’s festival TakePART in Art: Cultivating Community. Over the next seven months, we met with district reps, teachers, and other TakePART partners to hash out details and to check in on progress. We were super pleased to announce that the festival this year is being sponsored largely in part by an Anonymous donor (thank you!), which made it possible to procure free food for all our guests, as well as more tents (and sunscreen for the volunteers!). This was my first year involved with the Festival, and because I have experience as a production coordinator in theatres in Washington D.C. and New York, I quickly joined the Stage Committee to help wrangle and schedule all of our student performances.
Calls for performances, visual art submissions, and art booths went out in March and we were overwhelmed with the response from the schools and communities! With three performing spaces, we’re able to fit 25 performances (from mariachi bands to dance acrobatics), while simultaneously being able to show over 200 pieces of student artwork submitted to our Festival. This year, we even have awards going out from Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, District Superintendents, AND one from each school board! It’s incredibly exciting and the Art Committee is ready to hang all the art!
I don’t know about every one else, but I’ve had a Festival countdown on my phone going since March, and I cannot wait for Saturday!
See you there!
