Farish Street Finale

Thursday, March 26, 2009, was a day rich with music, drama, art, and celebration at Casey Elementary. The JumpstART project was featured during the annual Casey Arts Festival and at the PTA meeting later that night.

Jesse Robinson, local blues musician, visited the school in the morning and had children, teachers, and guests clapping and swaying to his music. On their field trip to Farish Street in February, third grade students had met Mr. Robinson and invited him to visit Casey.

At the PTA meeting later that night, third grade students presented their original plays about living in Jackson. Each student wrote short descriptions or stories about their favorite places in Jackson. Mr. Howell took these vignettes and pieced them together into three plays. The plays were dramatic collages of what our children love about our community. During the performance, the actors led the audience through Starbucks, the library, Casey Elementary and a magic show, New Stage Theatre, the YMCA, malls, The Planetarium, churches, movie theaters, The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the zoo, parks, Gattitown, and their homes.

After viewing a slide show put together by Mr. Miles about the JumpstART project, the multimedia panels depicting the past, present, and future of Jackson's Farish Street were displayed for everyone to see. Each class worked on one canvass or panel. Mrs. Wilson's class made the blue panel about the past. Ms. Gee's class collaged the yellow panel of the present. Mrs. Pepper's class pieced together the red panel of the future.

The slide show below is the Farish Street Finale and features photos from March 26, 2009, of student art related to JumpstART, Mr. Robinson's visit, student performances about Jackson, and the multimedia panels made by Mr. Miles, Mr. Jones, and third grade students.

As a parent of a third grader, I am grateful to the artists, the teachers, and the community members who made JumpstART possible. Thank you to Ask4More Arts and Parents for Public Schools of Jackson for funding and coordinating this project. Throughout the last two months, I witnessed joyful teaching and learning about Farish Street, Jackson, and "community." Artists learned how to work with teachers and students. Teachers learned how to work with artists, and students learned from real artists and about a real street with a past, present, and future. They photographed, drew, acted, wrote, thought, painted, cut, glued, and created.

I can't wait to learn more about other JumpstART projects across the district. I would love to hear from other parents and students about their thoughts regarding the JumpstART project. Please comment below.