Around 400 K-12 students from the Fox Valley area arrived on campus May 5 to take part in the 2006 ArtsBridge Day. The day was filled with various dance, music, theater performances and art exhibitions.
From 11 a.m. to noon, Memorial Chapel was filled with ArtsBridge elementary school students, dancing and giving musical and theatrical performances.
The events in the chapel were a way for the ArtsBridge students to come together and see each other’s hard work and creativity.
One group gave an interpretive dance to music based off of paintings throughout history, while another group acted out a scene from “Monkey King,” learning about Chinese culture and how it relates to literature in the process.
Riverview Lounge in Memorial Union also showcased ArtsBridge students’ artwork all day that Friday and Saturday.
In addition to various paintings and artwork by students, two specific projects were also on display: “Mapping the Beat,” led by junior Sarah Tochiki, and “Picturing Peace,” an international project that has been touted as ArtsBridge’s flagship work.
During these events, ArtsBridge students were also given special tours of campus by their Lawrence ArtsBridge scholars. The tours were designed not only to help give the students a better view of Lawrence, but also to help gear them up in thinking about college.
The ArtsBridge program allows Lawrence students and students from Fox Valley schools to study various topics and create projects that combine a core subject such as math or history with an art subject such as music or painting.
With help from Lawrence faculty advisors and the K-12 host teachers, Lawrence scholars design and carry out their own curriculum.
Last week’s ArtsBridge day was the culmination of months of work of Lawrence ArtsBridge scholars and their pupils this year.