By Gabriela Hernandez, Education & Programs Assistant
On Saturday, May 30th, 2015, P.S. ARTS hosted the fourth annual TakePART Art Festival: Building Bridges – Connecting Communities at Leuzinger High School in Lawndale, CA. Over 2,100 people came together to celebrate arts education on this fun and exciting day!
Now in its fifth year, the TakePART Initiative is a collaborative effort between arts and community organizations, philanthropic partners, and five Centinela Valley school districts (Centinela Valley Union High, Hawthorne, Lawndale Elementary, Lennox, and Wiseburn) to implement sustainable, comprehensive, arts education programs for 20,000 students in the region from kindergarten to 12th grade. We are incredibly proud of the TakePART Art Festival’s continued growth year after year.
Festival-goers enjoyed various activities throughout the day including student performances in dance, music, and theater, a gallery featuring student artwork, and nine hands-on art booths, such as a drum circle, costume photo booth, visual art projects, and a decked out interactive bus by Yoobi, an art supply company that has generously donated supplies to P.S. ARTS in the past.
As a new member of the P.S. ARTS team, I was particularly excited to experience the ins and outs of my first TakePART Art Festival. I had the pleasure of creating two art projects for P.S. ARTS’ booths: Picasso Face Masks and String Art! After testing many different art projects in the weeks leading up to the big day, we decided these two projects were a perfect fit for the festival because they represent the P.S. ARTS motto: we have the freedom to imagine and the power to create. Picasso Face Masks allowed children to use their imagination to create Picasso-inspired artwork with vibrant colors and shapes they might not normally use when drawing faces. String Art! offered an opportunity to abandon conventions by splattering paint every which way using a string instead of a paintbrush. It was definitely messy, good fun!
The day was filled with many smiling faces, and I was thrilled to be a part of an event in which the power of arts education to improve people’s lives was felt in a tangible way.
Thank you to all our partners, volunteers, and supporters who helped make this day a success! We are so grateful for your continued dedication to strengthening communities through the arts.
