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Kids Paint DC Project Proposal



As educators, we have an opportunity to bridge the gap between communities and promote social growth by engaging young people in cross-cultural, collective learning. Connecting disparate schools and creating partnerships1 between them is one way in which we can begin to engage students from different communities in a dialogue that builds bridges. Art is an ideal means for this collaboration - as it is a universal form of expression, transcending words and accessible to any audience.



Students who engage in the "Kids Paint DC" project will have the opportunity to bridge a gap between disparate groups that ostensibly call the same city "home." They will have the opportunity to express their ideas about Washington, DC as their home and, ultimately, compare and contrast their varied experiences.

The "Kids Paint DC" project will consist of approximately four in-class or on-campus meetings per school facilitated by the program coordinator, as well an additional session during which the two participating classes will meet and have a chance to discuss their final art projects.

Proposed Schedule:

Meeting 1:
  • Students will be asked to individually free-write on what comes to mind when they think of DC as their home.
  • Students will break off into small groups of about four to discuss their free-writes.
  • Students report back to the class their experience and the commonalities and differences they heard of from their peers.

Meeting 2:
  • Program coordinator will read the "Caldecott Honor" book Tar Beach2 by Faith Ringgold to the class.
  • Class will discuss the story.
  • Students will be given paper and color pencils and asked to draw their own pictures of DC as their home, inspired by the art in Tar Beach.
  • Once the students have finished their pictures they will break off into groups of four and discuss the common themes they saw in each others' drawings.
  • The class will then reconvene as a whole and the students will report the common themes they found, which will then be listed on the board.
  • After this class, the program coordinator will compile the common themes identified by the students, and using actual images from the class' drawings will sketch a mural.

Meetings 3 and 4:
  • Students will paint the mural.

Ultimately, we hope to gain permission to display the mural at a variety of public venues and DC organizations. This will provide the students with a justifiable sense of accomplishment and a validation of their expression and hard work. It will at the same time offer a broad audience the opportunity to understand the differences and commonalities in the experience of DC youth and their expression of these through art.

Role of Project Coordinator:

  • Meeting Facilitator: Will, in collaboration with the classroom teacher, guide students through the activities delineated above.
  • Mural Coordinator: Will contact venues for the display of the finished mural projects.
  • Artist: Will compile actual images and common themes from the student's individual drawings of DC as their home and sketch the combined images on an approximately 6'x12' surface. Will oversee and guide student painting sessions.

Budget Requirements: eduWeavers is currently fundraising for the requisite supplies, transportation of supplies and the finished mural project, teacher stipends, and project planning/curriculum development. eduWeavers plans to replicate this project between other disparate groups in interested communities.

NOTES:

  1. Facilitated by eduWeavers consultants, schools ... actively engage in joint academic projects, share common intellectual pursuits, and exchange and celebrate their cultures across grade level and curriculum, collaborating ... and often spawning opportunities for philanthropic giving."
  2. Faith Ringgold is a renowned contemporary African American artist. Her children's book Tar Beach examines a child's dream of flying above her urban home and chronicling the places and things that make it special to her. The book's mural-like illustrations will serve well to inspire the students' art project