Utpalasia
It’s almost time for our favorite family art series, designed especially for the summer! A Splash of the Arts kicks off this Saturday, July 13 from 10am to 4pm at the Hampton History Museum. Admission is free! And this Saturday is just the start—you can enjoy “Splash” on July 20 and July 27 too. With no-repeat programming, be sure to visit all three Saturdays when you’ll have the chance to interact with Arts for Learning’s professional performing and teaching artists.
“Each year Splash of the Arts is the highlight of our summer,” says Aisha Noel, Arts for Learning’s Programs and Community Engagement Manager. “It’s a great way for the community to come together to enjoy learning for the whole family, engage in interactive programs from our artists, and leave with a feeling of togetherness.”
This is the third year Hampton City Schools Fine Arts Department has sponsored A Splash of the Arts, school-age programming that showcases summer learning by Arts for Learning’s musicians, dancers, storytellers, and visual artists.
“A Splash of the Arts is an extension of our elementary arts and literacy program,” says Kelly Dee, Hampton City School’s Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Leader. “We bring Arts for Learning into the schools every year for performances that our students may not have the opportunity to see and hear, and it was a natural growth of what we do in the schools to extend it into summer learning and invite the community to come out and see performances during the summer.”
In addition to being free family entertainment, the educational aspect of “Splash” is paramount.
Arts for Learning is the premier partner to bring in high quality arts performances for our students,” Dee says. “The connections to all areas of learning—math, language arts, social studies, even science—are always present in any performance that we either bring in the school or do in the summer as well.”
So don’t miss this year’s outstanding lineup of artists—as Dee says, “The performances keep on getting better and better and better!”
Here’s a week-by-week breakdown of what you’ll see:
July 13: Move to the Filipino “Dance of the Duck;” celebrate African American history with Frederick Douglass; listen to instruments from around the world; learn the hidden meanings of traditional slave tales; experience spoken word poetry combined with live music; be awed by colorful Rainbow Puppets; or make your own puppets to take home.
July 20: Experience the thunderous rhythms of Japanese taiko drums; listen to classic stories from Mark Twain; sail the Caribbean Sea on the waves of steel drums; step into the world of improvisational theater; explore the impact of music on mental health; dance, sing, and clap to musical stories about friendship; and write and illustrate your own poems to take home.
July 27: Fall under the spell of a tricky magician; explore the legends of Mount Everest through dance and music; laugh out loud to multicultural folktales; be inspired by a powerful story of escape to freedom; get up and dance across the continents; and create your own take-home bookmark or mixed media work of art.
“We’re excited to bring 24 different performances and hands-on workshops by professional artists at no cost to attendees,” Noel says. “We can’t wait for the community to experience different cultures, create take home artwork, and enjoy some good family fun. See you soon at the Hampton History Museum.”
Check out the full schedule of activities and performances here: https://sites.google.com/hampton.k12.va.us/familyarts/home
The Hampton History Museum is located at 120 Old Hampton Lane in Downtown Hampton. There’s free parking in the garage across the street from the museum and there’s no admission fee to the museum during Splash. Snacks will be available in the Great Hall for children and teens 18 and under, while supplies last.
At the conclusion of the Community Creators in STEAM residency in Newport News, we talked with students about their experiences. Words that came up repeatedly were “teamwork,” “friends,” “fun,” and “help.”
“The fifth-grade students at McIntosh Elementary School along with residency steward and teaching artists have spent the last nine weeks using the artistic and engineering design process to address a social issue in their community.
It was also important to the students that art was displayed around the house to give a sense of comfort and ownership. Throughout this project the students made intentional design choices from the color of the walls to the design layout. They wanted those facing this insecurity to feel welcomed.
As part of an innovative after-school residency, 5th graders in Newport News have unveiled 3D artistic creations that are the result of weeks of brainstorming, teamwork, and hands-on design. Four teams of students at George J. McIntosh Elementary School created prototypes that address social issues, presenting their models to educators, community leaders, Arts for Learning staff and board members, and their peers in the residency.
Led by A4L teaching artist 
