See Beautiful Grant Applicant: The Mount Vernon School

The feature below is brought to you by MV Arts - The Mount Vernon School, an organization that is in the running to receive a See Beautiful Grant. For more information about our giving initiatives, please click here.
 
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Design a better world

At MV Arts, we seek to DESIGN A BETTER WORLD. With students as the designers and teachers as the facilitators that help make their dreams come to life, we seek to design a world that is just, equal, peaceful and inclusive FOR ALL. We think the best way to do that is through creating original artistic work FOR and WITH our community.

Over the past 6 years, our arts program has sought to connect with our community in ways that are both deeply authentic and widely available. While the goal of many educational art programs is to simply create for beauty, we know that beauty is just one of the reasons why we create. In 2017, we identified 8 reasons to create and pledged to be a place where diverse narratives are ILLUMINATED and social justice is ACCELERATED through the arts.

But what does it look like to illuminate DIVERSE narratives?

It looks like “The Arrival,” a wordless immersive theatre experience that explored the concept of immigration and being a refugee. Using Shaun Tan’s award winning graphic art novel, our theatre team spent four months developing a piece that employed movement, dozens of puppets, a team of puppetry arts experts, projection, lighting, and live electro-acoustic Foley music to take the audience on the journey of a man leaving his family and journeying to a new and strange place.

Illuminating diverse narratives could also look like a group of students working with local art-activist Charmaine Minniefield to understand social justice and activism through studying and visiting murals around Atlanta. Students then created their own original pieces that explored social topics while employing materials like spray paint and mixed-media.

What does INCLUSION look like in an arts setting?

It looks like partnering with the organization Los Niños Primeros for our Christmas Arts Showcase. These children had the opportunity to perform for their community in the 1,000 seat Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center during its inaugural year. As we celebrated the Christmas season, our theme “...for all people,”compelled us to widen our view of community and what it means to be a collaborator.

Inclusion is also developing a touring musical based on the book, “The Adventures of Flat Stanley” that visits local public schools, libraries, and nursing homes. Students don’t just perform for their parents, but co-create opportunities to nurture literacy and a love for the arts across their city.

What does INCLUSION look like in an arts setting?

It looks like partnering with the organization Los Niños Primeros for our Christmas Arts Showcase. These children had the opportunity to perform for their community in the 1,000 seat Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center during its inaugural year. As we celebrated the Christmas season, our theme “...for all people,”compelled us to widen our view of community and what it means to be a collaborator.

Inclusion is also developing a touring musical based on the book, “The Adventures of Flat Stanley” that visits local public schools, libraries, and nursing homes. Students don’t just perform for their parents, but co-create opportunities to nurture literacy and a love for the arts across their city.

What does EQUITY mean for MV Arts?

It means not telling students that they need to wait until they graduate to make an impact on their world. We want our students to work alongside industry professionals as they create original works TOGETHER that have an impact NOW.

Equity looks like offering professional development for arts educators at a deeply discounted or free rate for public schools at our co:CREATE Arts Innovation Conference because their funding is disproportionately lower than that of private schools.

What does PEACE look like?

It looks like 60 students recording a world music celebration using dance, song, and acting during the holiday season with songs in Hebrew, Swahili, German, English, and Spanish so that our community knows that “PEACE TO ALL” requires “JUSTICE FOR ALL”.

We strive to be a place where students understand the problems and inequities of our world. We want to empower our students to connect with artists and community members by giving them the tools to create original work that provokes/challenges/inspires, and then share that work with the wider community for maximum impact.

Putting the right equipment in the hands of our students and compensating the BIPOC (black, Indigenous, and people of color) artists we interact with is the linchpin to the success and quality of this mission. We are so thankful for the opportunity to partner with See Beautiful as we design a more beautiful and equitable world TOGETHER.

Submitted by Matthew Neylon

Director of Visual & Performing Arts, Mount Vernon School