Category: Education

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Frankford’s Allen M. Stearne Elementary Receives Picasso Project Grant

The Picasso Project, a Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) mini-grant program that brings arts education to schools that have very limited arts instruction, proudly awarded more than $60,000 in grants to 14 Philadelphia schools.

Stearne elementary

Pictured are Dick Fernandez, Kathy O’Connell, Rob Connaire, Sonya Smith, Javen Murray, Ryan Smith, Darlene Vaughn, and Councilman David Oh at the Picasso Project grant presentation to Stearne Elementary School.

Schools receiving mini-grants ranging from $2,250 to $4,500 include: Bache-Martin Elementary, Bodine High School, William Cramp Elementary, Stephen Girard Elementary, Andrew Jackson Elementary, Fitler Academics Plus, Alexander McClure Elementary, Thomas Mifflin Elementary, George Nebinger Elementary, Samuel Powel Elementary, James Rhoads Elementary, Allen Stearne Elementary, Swenson Arts & Technology High School, and Vare-Washington Elementary.

“Sadly, because of a lack of funding, students don’t get nearly the exposure to arts projects they need to tap their potential,” said Gretchen Elise Walker, Director of Arts Education for the Picasso Project.  “Our grant helps, but we need better state education funding to solve this dilemma for the long term.”

A 2013 online survey from Picasso Project grant winners found overall school climate in 98% of schools improved.  Likewise, 77% said their Picasso Project grant had a positive or extremely positive impact on their school’s ability to gain additional arts resources.

The Picasso Project, founded by PCCY (Public Citizens for Children and Youth) in 2002, supports innovative arts projects through mini-grants at Philadelphia public schools and advocates for long-term increases in arts education for students.  Since its inception, the Picasso Project has provided a total of $462,000 to fund 121 arts projects benefitting over 30,000 students in Philadelphia schools. 

Photo credit – Anthony Hopkins-PCCY

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Moore College of Art and Design Teams Up with Harding Middle School

When Liz Gilly, Outreach and Public Programs Coordinator at The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design, asked teacher Kelly Ann Coughlin if Harding Middle School would like to be the first school in the city to participate in a new community arts program, she didn’t hesitate for a moment.  She teaches Creative Writing at Harding and knew this would be once in a lifetime opportunity for her students.  The concept is that visiting artists would work in a school to create a culminating art project of some kind.

After getting the OK from Principal Michael Calderone they went to work.  So for the past few months, Harding Middle School students in Ms. Coughlin’s 605 Creative Writing class have been working on creating unique story lines for a fictitious movie, developing characters, a plot, and a setting with visiting artists Kathryn Sclavi and Jebney Lewis.

On December 3rd, students received the unique opportunity to actually create the world they imagine by photographing a scene wearing costume, makeup, and posing in a setting similar to the one they imagine with professionals from the movie industry! With this shoot, professionals will be photographing images that will later be used to create a full size movie poster.

This “movie shoot” day took place on December 3rd.  Students worked in groups of 10 to create 3 individual movie plots with characters and setting ideas. In Harding’s library, each group first gathered with a professional costumer, Julia Poiesz (from the Walnut Street Theater) and makeup artists, Marbella Chispe  and Anastasia Balabanova, to get dressed in a costume and makeup akin to their character.

Once students were dressed, they went to the location of the photography shoot.  Most photos were shot in the library, which was fully set up with a green screen and multiple lighting props, as well as a fog machine. There, they worked with a professional photographer, William Gregory Lewis (who flew in from Los Angeles), along with photo assistants, Rebekah Flake and Les Rivera, to shoot a scene. One group even shot out front of the school and in the nearby field to capture students dressed as zombies walking through the fog.

The students will get a chance to see the photographs and receive a copy of their image in January, once the images are edited and designed with a graphic designer.   Once students choose their favorite version of their movie poster, it will be exhibited at Moore College of Art on January 23rd.

The students learned much about hard work, collaboration, and creativity and it is something they will surely remember for the rest of their lives.  Ms. Coughlin’s 605 Creative Writing class is made up of Izayiah Adams, Estreya Aranda, Jerry Arroyo, Haja Bah, Nadirah Bell, Jermaine Berry, Najier Breland, Luis Domenech-Casillas, Ariiyus Elamin, Jaileen Figueroa, Marc Ganthier, Sylvia Garay, Angel Garcia, Alejandro Gomez, Ibrahim Hammoudeh, Lineda Jean-Louis, Aniyah Jenkins, Shyanne Johnson, Gavin Lichtenberger, Christian Love, Adiel Loya-Rico, Kristine Macatantan, Lamont Mull, Angel Padilla, Harry Rivera, Eric Simms-Stephens, Cory Sutton, Kathleen Thach, Istneydina Thomas, Iyania Whitfield, Marissa Wileczek and Quadir Wiley.

 

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Frankford Friends School’s New Trickey Building Wins Design Award

On October 14, the architecture firm DIGSAU of Philadelphia was presented with a 2013 Award for Design Excellence for Frankford Friends School’s new Margaret Passmore Trickey Building.trickey2

The award, conferred by the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, was one of three received by DIGSAU in this year’s competition.

In his remarks at the awards ceremony, Awards Jury Chair Peter Pfau, a San Francisco architect, said that the building felt “very Quaker, quiet and modest…but welcoming to the energy of children.”

The jurors, who visited the building in person, admired the building’s elegance and simple use of materials, and said that the “overall strategy shows great restraint.”

The jury appreciated the simple use of materials and loved the weathering cedar cladding. Looking from the porch of the historic Frankford Friends Meetinghouse to the entry of the new building, Pfau said one could understand the timeless quality of archetypal spaces like porches, and called it “an example of lovely place making; fostering a sense of community.”

In closing, Pfatrickey1u said that the jury was impressed by the quality of light in all the spaces, important to Quakers as a symbol of each person’s direct connection to God.

The Margaret Passmore Trickey building, constructed in 2012 on the school’s historic Orthodox Street campus, has allowed the school to offer its high-quality Friends education program to more families through additional middle school classrooms. In addition to the classrooms, the building provides a multipurpose space and a music room, and reduces energy use through a variety of innovative strategies.

Frankford Friends School, serving grades PreK-8, enrolled 156 students this year, the highest in its 180-year history. For more information, visit www.frankfordfriendsschool.org or call 215-533-5368.