An evening of performances and presentations featuring integrated learning and the arts is planned for May 24 from 4:30-7:30 p.m. at Parley’s Park Elementary. The event, which is open to the community, will highlight a variety of projects including spoken word, visual arts, technology, dance, and music.
The public is invited to walk through the school, similar to a museum walk, to see the various projects and performances. “This year’s event will include the entire school grounds, including outdoor and indoor stages, a hallway art gallery, and displays in the lobby and library,” said Aaron Webb, music specialist.
Now in its third year, the festival highlights the school’s arts partnerships with Elementary Visual Arts (EVA), Kimball Art Center and Park City Education Foundation, the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (dance), and Arts Youth Empowerment (after-school violin program).
“Our festival began as a celebration of Hispanic heritage by the dual immersion classes, and has grown to be even more inclusive of the entire school and other cultures and art-forms,” Webb said. “We are uniquely fortunate at Parley’s to have a comprehensive curriculum in dance, music, visual art, and technology that both supports and is supported by the core curriculum in the classroom. Many hands come together to make the festival work, including PTA, Mountain Town Music, food vendors, administrators, teachers, and most importantly, our students. Our goal is to celebrate the creative accomplishments of the students at Parley’s Park Elementary, and there are many.”
Anna Stampfli, founder of Arts Youth Empowerment, started the after-school violin programs recently Parley’s Park and Trailside Elementary Schools. She calls them “integrated youth learning orchestras.” Students initially focus on the violin, learning the fundamentals of playing a stringed instrument and developing a close connection with their core subjects.
Violinists from both schools will perform. Additionally, Stampfli has worked with four core teaches in grades 2, 3, and 5 at Parley’s to develop projects that integrate music with a deeper understanding of what students are academically learning. A second-grade class has made a violin mobile for the front hallway at the school, a third-grade class has created storyboards about the water cycle and published them on a life-size storybook scroll. And fifth-grade students have advance their knowledge by breaking down the volume of a cylinder and crafting personalized Djembe drums with things that inspire them.
“These are just a few examples of integrated learning that can happen,” said Stampfli. “The entire evening will showcase the immense arts we have here at Parley’s Park and how the arts can be used as a powerful tool for learning.”