Diversity Day 2004: Our Diversity TAPS the Arts
| About GFS >Our Core Values >Diversity at GFS >Diversity Day 2004: Our Diversity TAPS the Arts >
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| Diversity Day 2004 TAPS the Arts
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| by Rita Goldman, Director of Multicultural Affairs
The arts are an outstanding component of our program at GFS. From kindergarten through twelfth grade, our exceptional student musical groups, art shows, and dramatic productions provide evidence of the excellent teaching in these departments. Fritz Eichenberg, a Friend, and famed illustrator of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky , stated, “The normal child is born with every quality a creative human being needs. He has imagination -- the freedom to rise above earthbound rationality. He has perception, grasping the essence of a thing seen for the first time. He has insight -- feeling the vibration of human emotions before they become visible. He has enthusiasm -- reacting to life and its steadily changing aspects.... All these qualities are the basic ingredients of creative man which we must try to preserve or to recapture.” (Leonard Kenworthy, Quaker Education, A Source Book, Quaker Publications, Kennett Square, Pa. 1981 p. 169)
On March 10, 2004, we will celebrate our 4th Diversity Day, “Our Diversity TAPS the Arts.” Artists who are engaged in work that raises our awareness and appreciation of the way difference enhances personal expression will be presenting workshops. For the first time, Diversity Day workshops will be offered to Lower School children. During the planning process, the Diversity Day committee members became more and more excited about making this Diversity Day primarily a “family affair” staffed by the many teachers, alumni, parents, and students (TAPS) involved in the arts, both as a vocation and avocation. We agreed that there should be as many “hands-on” workshops as possible for the entire school. Poetry, writing, drama, music, dance, and art should abound, the energy should be palpable.
For the Middle and Upper School, the stage will be set for Diversity Day by the annual Abigail Rebecca Cohen ‘91 Art Lecture on March 3 at 10:00 a.m. in Taulane Auditorium. Our speaker will be Jane Golden, Director of the Mural Arts Project of Philadelphia. Philadelphia is considered to be the mural capital of the world, with over 2,500 murals. In order to prepare the Lower School children for Diversity Day, teachers will have them consider the queries, “What is art and why does it exist?" and “Why do people have a need to express themselves?”
Diversity Day’s opening ceremonies will be held on the afternoon of March 9. This year, the Middle School has organized the K-12 ceremony. Lower School students will present a recitation. Middle Schoolers have produced an I-movie (video project edited using computers) which is sure to be eye catching, and we will conclude with a performance of an Upper School student group. On the morning of March 10th, the Upper School will see the movie OT : our town, an award-winning documentary about an English teacher and her class in Compton California, who struggle to produce Thornton Wilder's Our Town, in a school where there hasn't been a play in twenty years. The film was first brought to our attention by André Lee ’89, who is the Director of Marketing for Film Movement , a company that offers first-run, independent films via subscription. André will join us on the 10th and will speak to the Upper School after the film is viewed. Though the Middle School will not see the film in its entirety, André will show pertinent excerpts and speak to the Middle School separately. We are also most pleased to have Reg E Gaines, the playwright and poet who wrote the book for the Broadway musical Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk address the Middle and Upper School. Finally, at the concluding assembly, the entire school will be treated to excerpts from the 8th grade show Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and the Upper school winter production of West Side Story. Both of these works address matters of prejudice.
Intelligence, discipline, and perseverance are evident in the pursuit of the arts. They add texture to our lives. We are anticipating a wonderfully fulfilling day.
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