Focus School views Peter and the Wolf and The Playground King

Jackson- Wonder students catch a pair of performances

jstokes@deltaarts.org DeltaARTS hosted the fourth graders and first graders from this year’s Arts Focus School, Jackson- Wonder Elementary in West Memphis, at the Glenn P. Schoettle Arts Education Center recently for a pair of plays.

The students gathered for performances of “The Playground King” by the Opera Memphis repertoire, and “Peter and the Wolf” by New Ballet Ensemble.

A DeltaARTS teaching artist visited each classroom to engage the students in aesthetic education preparatory activities before the performances and will return to the classrooms for follow up reflective visits. These comprehensive arts experiences are supported in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Older students from schools in the community are invited to be a part of “Kites, Cranes and Kimonos,” a free camp for Arkansas students who will be going into the 7th, 8th and 9th grades next fall.

(Priority will be given to GT students and those who

from New Ballet Ensemble attend schools in low-income areas.) Lunch and snacks will be provided daily to the week-long camp filled with discovery, imaginative thinking, design, questioning, and artmaking. Featuring a theatrical performance of “A Thousand Cranes” an exploration of Japanese origami, masks, kites, culinary arts, and Haiku, students will create their own theater and artistic interpretive pieces with professional teaching artists.

Also included are trips to a Japanese Garden at The Botanic Gardens in Memphis and to a teaching kitchen where students will learn how to make sushi.

This creative exploration of Japanese culture and history through the arts will end with a grand finale for families and friends featuring the students performing their original theatrical piece inspired by AThousand Cranes and an exhibit of their original Japanese art and Haikus, followed by a Japanese Tea Ceremony hosted by the students.

The camp is made possible by an AEGIS Grant from the Arkansas Department of Education, and is part of DeltaARTS’s “Summer at the Schoettle” program.

To register or for more information about other DeltaARTS summer programs, visit www.deltaarts.com.