Celebrating the Arts at Irwin

Irwin School students are getting ready to show their diversity.

On Thursday, during a school-wide assembly, and again at 7 p.m. that evening, the school community will come get together to celebrate the arts through the integration of visual arts, music and dance, with a little history and culture thrown in for good measure.

The project includes participants from first through fifth grade, including fourth and fifth grade chorus members, the art enrichment club and as a special surprise, a faculty choir made up of teachers and Principal Ron Lieberman. Other teachers will perform a South African body percussion with students and nine high school seniors, former Irwin Chorus Alumni singers, will join in for two selections.

The event will include art projects in which students studied an artist or a particular style of art that is related to some of the music the chorus will perform, with Africa (Nigeria and South Africa), South Korea, Ireland, South India, Brazil and the United States being highlighted.

Not only is the project a collaboration between students and staff, but an integration of subjects such as writing, technology and foreign language.

Students researched the cultures represented in the art projects they created, and music that they learned, wrote speeches that share what they've learned and made personal connections about their involvement and experiences in the project.

In addition, the speakers created slides for a PowerPoint presentation to accompany their speeches in between songs. Speakers, and musicians spent extra time before school to rehearse.

The artwork for each grade level, grades will be presented in a PowerPoint presentation while the Chorus performs music selections from the same region.