ArtsEd4All

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019 artsed4all Arts Education, Family Art Workshop, Music

Dianne Feinstein ES Family Art Night #1 with The Del Sol String Quartet

“HONORING OUR STORIES – OUR ANCESTORS”

Monday, November 18, 2019; 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Dianne Feinstein ES Multipurpose Room

*The Del Sol String Quartet: Ben Kreith, Charlton Lee, Kathryn Bates, Sam Weiser. photo: by Lenny Gonzalez*

Thanks to an Artists and Communities in Partnership – Creative Youth Arts (ACIP-CY) grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission and the support of the Dianne Feinstein ES PTA, a series of four Family Art Nights have been planned with The Del Sol String Quartet and teaching artist Andi Wong. These family evenings will introduce the Del Sol String Quartet as musical neighbors who are ready to play well with others. Together, we will explore the history of Angel Island, capture positive cross-cultural stories and create opportunities for the school to collaborate and contribute a new work of art that will be shared at the Angel Island premiere.

Our first DFES Family Art Night will introduce THE ANGEL ISLAND PROJECT and the members of THE DEL SOL STRING QUARTET, who will play especially for us. Participants will learn how to conduct an oral history interview, and use the Story Corps app. Families will also collaborate on a work of art that honors our ancestors.

*A suitcase filled with stories on Angel Island.*

“Your Wall is Our Canvas: The Angel Island Project” will bring the poems of Angel Island to life in the very space they were created. Composed by Huang Ruo, the 45-minute oratorio for string quartet and chamber choir will weave a story of immigration and discrimination of then and now. The premiere performances will occur at the Angel Island Immigration Station in October 2020.

This project is supported in part by the Hewlett Foundation 50 Arts Commissions. Additional funding has been provided by the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.

October 31, 2019 artsed4all Arts Education, Music

San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music (AIM) 2019-20

AIM concert at Davies Symphony Hall. Photo by Kim Huynh

Established in 1988, San Francisco Symphony’s Adventures in Music (AIM) is an interdisciplinary program that integrates live music performances and related music education experiences with everyday classroom lessons in language arts, social studies and other subjects. Designed in partnership with the SFUSD, Adventures in Music (AIM) ensures that every child in grades 1–5 in every San Francisco public elementary school receives equitable access to music education for five consecutive years. Presented free of charge to schools, AIM incorporates in-school ensemble performances, tailored classroom materials and resources, professional development for teachers, and a private concert by the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. AIM is the most comprehensive music education program of its kind of any American symphony orchestra.

AIM 2019-2020 Theme: “Sounds of Music”

This year’s AIM theme, “Sounds of Music,” explores music and the science of sound in a cross-disciplinary manner. A teacher workshop on Thursday, October 10, 2019, introduced attendees to the basics of the AIM program and gave participants a chance to try some hands-on sound science with educators from the Exploratorium.

Exploratorium-designed classroom activities will invite students make their own instruments, from a Straw Oboe to a Water Xylophone. Playful science activities presented by the Exploratorium team included making a Head Harp with a piece of string, and exploring resonance with pasta & marshmallows and making sounds with a Siren Disk. Students who enjoy experimenting with sound have so many more Exploratorium Science Snacks to choose from!

Third, fourth and fifth grade students can keep school humming with their very own SF Symphony harmonica, while a SFS kazoo will be given to the first and second graders.

In-School Concerts & Classroom Resources

Music Makers and Shakers visits Dianne Feinstein Elementary School.

AIM I Program (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade)

AIM school visits: Four ensembles will play for AIM I students

Supersonic Sounds – Woodwind and Brass Quartet
Keys and Clefs – String and Keyboard Quartet
Music Makers and Shakers – Latin Percussion Ensemble
Percussion Party – Percussion Band

Along with a specially prepared AIM study guide for each student, classroom teachers will receive two books that are specially selected to support their students’s exploration of music. Special editions of the resource books, created especially for the SF Symphony’s AIM program, will be freely available online, without the need for a password. Students will be able to read and play music selections from classroom computers, and they can continue their exploration of music at home.

Those Amazing Musical Instruments by Genevieve Helsby

From the cello to the clarinet to the trumpet to the drums, Those Amazing Musical Instruments! takes readers on a musical tour, with notes on the history, construction and sounds of the instruments from each of the major instrument “families.” They can see the parts of the violin working together, read about the flute in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” or hear the different sounds of the tuba. Interactive content includes individual musical samples giving readers an audible taste of each instrument, as well as full orchestra pieces showing how they play together.

Sound (Boom Science by Georgia Amson-Bradshaw

Sounds that surround us can be vastly different. Still, the earsplitting blast of a car horn and the melodious chirp of a songbird travel to our ears in the exact same way. This eye-opening book explains how sound travels as well as the connection between sound and energy. Readers will delight in the vibrant panels and enlightening facts, which are conveyed in an accessible and compelling comic-book design. Quiz questions, puzzles, and humor abound in this must-have addition to any elementary science library or class.

AIM II PROGRAM (1st, 2nd GRADe)

AIM school visits: Four ensembles will play for AIM II students

Building Brass Trio – Brass Trio
Cascada de Flores – Traditional Mexican Ensemble
Friction Quartet –String Quartet
SoundScapes Trio – Woodwind and Harp Trio

My First Orchestra Book by Genevieve Helsby, Illustrated by Karin Eklund

An original, colorful, and lively approach to learning about music. With classical music tracks featuring every instrument in the orchestra, with clear audio examples. Includes 60 beautifully illustrated pages that children will love.

All About Sound (All About Science) by Angela Royston

This series introduces simple science topics using everyday objects and situations that readers can recognize in the world around them. This title looks at sound: how sounds are made, how they travel, how we hear them, what makes a sound high or low, loud or soft.

Adventures In Music

Now in its 33rd year of partnership with the SFUSD during the 2019–20 season, AIM serves every child in grades one through five in every San Francisco public elementary school, as well as a number of the City’s parochial and independent schools. AIM reaches 24,500 children and their teachers annually, and is presented to schools absolutely free of charge. Since its inception in 1988, more than 150,000 children have gone through the AIM program.

“…Children must receive musical instruction as naturally as food, and with as much pleasure as they derive from a baseball game. And this must happen from the beginning of their school lives.”
— Leonard Bernstein, New York City, 1977
Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Select Education regarding a bill calling for a White House Conference on the Arts

In 2020, San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, who has served as music director since 1995, is scheduled to retire at the end of his 25th season, to be succeeded by Esa-Pekka Salonen.

May 15, 2019September 3, 2019 artsed4all Family Art Workshop

“Under the Sea” Art Night & Welcome Tea at Dianne Feinstein Elementary School

The DFES community is invited to ART NIGHT ~ Please join us and help to welcome new incoming Kindergarten families to Dianne Feinstein ES with an “UNDER THE SEA” WELCOME TEA! Around the school, you’ll find an OCEAN OF ART created by students working with art teachers Crystal Hermann, Sharon Collins, Scott Perry and Suzie Berndt.

Enjoy a nice cup of tea and treats and offer a neighborly hello to the incoming K families in the Octopus’ Garden in the lobby. Help to build a coral reef with Ms. Crystal in the Art Room! Swim on down to the MPR and enjoy fun activities for the whole family!

ALL TOGETHER NOW!

In the DFES MPR, you can learn more about the newest Mission Blue hope spot — your heart’s desire in your own backyard — with DOER Marine, quality maker of submarines! DOER, aka Deep Ocean Exploration and Research, was founded in 1992 by Dr. Sylvia Earle. Today, the DOER tradition is upheld by subsea specialists Liz Taylor and Ian Griffith.

We invite you to share your wild ideas of how to repurpose the giant steel case that transported DFES mascot Edwin the Panda across the Pacific from China with DOER!

Kid Speaks for Parks founder Robbie Bond and DFES Principal Chang hang loose with Edwin the Panda. During his May 8th presentation to the fourth and fifth graders at DFES, Robbie shared a quote from his mentor, master navigator Nainoa Thompson, “You can’t protect things that you don’t understand, and you won’t protect them, if you don’t care.” Robbie, who recently moved to Nevada from Hawaii, shared his love for the Green and Blues, and encourages all students who have all received an Every Kid in A Park pass to enjoy and protect their National Parks and National Monuments.

The Hawaiians have a saying, “He wa’a he moku, he moku he wa’a,” which translates as “the canoe is an island, and the island is a canoe.”

THE WAYFINDER is an immersive 360 film that follows the story of a real-life “Moana” – a young Hawaiian who dreams of sailing in the wake of her ancestors. As Kamai learns how to guide a canoe using the ancient art of wayfinding, she discovers tools that will help her guide the future of her islands – and navigate the voyage of her life. Catch a VR screening of The Wayfinder from from 5:00pm to 5:50pm in the MPR.

Filmmaker Gail Evenari founded Maiden Voyage Productions in 1994 with the production of Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey, an award-winning PBS documentary funded by National Endowment for the Humanities, which chronicles the history and renaissance of Polynesian voyaging and navigation. In 2012, MVP launched World Wise Adventures, introducing multicultural perspectives to teens through meaningful interactions with diverse global communities. World Wise Interactive combines Virtual Reality immersive experiences with an interactive curriculum to raise young people’s awareness of diverse cultures and critical global issues – inspire them to action.

THE ALOHA UKE SQUAD is a ukulele ensemble bringing joy through music and the aloha spirit. We are thrilled that they are coming to play at Art Night. The Aloha Uke Squad sing-a-long takes place in the MPR, with brief introductions at 5:50pm and the singalong beginning at 6:00pm.

“There’s something about the ukulele that just makes you smile. It makes you let your guard down. It brings out the child in all of us.” — Jake Shimabukuro

Download the Aloha Uke Squad JAM PACKET:

dfes-jam-packet-ver20190509 Download

March 2, 2019December 2, 2019 artsed4all Arts Education, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Philanthropy, Technology, Visual Arts

Valentine’s Day 2019 Blake Mini Library Book Drive

2019 marked the fourth annual Blake Mini Library book drive for the Hamilton Families Shelter Program, San Francisco’s leading service provider to families experiencing homelessness. It was wonderful to receive the invaluable support of the two student councils at Dianne Feinstein Elementary School and Rooftop Alternative Pre-K-8 School.

This year’s special curated book selection explored the theme, “From darkness, into the light.” Special editions donated to this year’s book drive included the 75th anniversary edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, Fred Korematsu Speaks Up (Fighting for Justice) by Laura Atkins and San Yogi, She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein by Lynn Fulton, Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression by Carole Boston Weatherford, The Wall of Birds: One Planet, 243 Families, 375 Million Years by Jane Kim and Thayer Walker and Where’s Rodney? by Carmen Bogan.

On February 1, World Read Aloud Day 2019, with the support of the staff at the Internet Archive, we invited people to read aloud from The Dream Keeper and other poem by Langston Hughes, a book of poetry on Open Library. The ultimate goal of the Open Library is to make all the published works of humankind available to everyone in the world. How wonderful to hear and record all of the different voices reading the poems out loud!

The Dream Keepers — the wonderful volunteer readers at the Internet Archive!

On Thursday, February 7, from 5:30pm-8pm, we hosted a special screening of Won’t You Be My Neighbor for the DFES community. The film is a very thoughtful and moving look at Fred Roger’s groundbreaking work in education, childhood and media, and the screening gave parents a wonderful opportunity to consider the impact of acts of kindness towards children. Blake Ansari, the young founder of Blake Mini Library, was six years old when he hosted his first book drive for homeless children and children in foster care in New York. Blake loves to read and wants other kids to have the opportunity to enjoy reading too.

Dianne Feinstein students help to process the books for donation.

We were especially grateful that children’s book author/illustrator Ashley Wolff was able to stop by Dianne Feinstein to lead “Kindness, Kids & Kritters,” a special art workshop that taught students how to draw the two DFES school mascots. Leona the Lion and Edwin the Panda couldn’t be more different, but, like Ashley, these two friends share a special love of books and reading. Ashley kindly created a special poster for the 2019 book drive.

After her visit, Ashley asked Blake if he had a favorite animal. What a wonderful surprise to receive Ashley’s special act of kindness a few days later… a brand new logo created especially for Blake Mini Library featuring the fastest land animal on Earth — the amazing cheetah!

A new logo for Blake Mini LIbrary — a special gift from Ashley Wolff

Thank you to all our friends and neighbors who helped to make the 2019 Blake Mini Library book drive such a special and speedy delivery!

March 18, 2018September 3, 2019 artsed4all Family Art Workshop

HAMILTUNES @ The SFUSD Arts Festival

Hello, hello, hello…!

Please join us for a HAMILTUNES Singalong at the SFUSD Arts Festival on Sunday, March 18, 10am – 11:30am, in Samsung Hall at the Asian Art Museum. Free and open to all students! Costumes welcomed and encouraged! Participants can get advance practice on all of their favorite songs by using the Hamilton Instrumentals tracks which are available on Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. If you are a fan of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, then you’ll wanna be in the room when HAMILTUNES happens!

The San Francisco Unified School District proudly presents the SFUSD Arts Festival; a celebration of student creativity in visual, literary, media, and performing arts hosted by the Asian Art Museum in the Civic Center from March 14 to March 21, 2018. http://www.sfusdartsfestival.org/

This is an invitation for children in all of the SFUSD schools and their families and caretakers and people of all ages to have some fun while demonstrating their united belief that arts education opportunities are essential for all students.

HAMILTUNES: AN AMERICAN SINGALONG

The producers of HAMILTON have authorized a free sing-along program for groups of fans everywhere to come together publicly and celebrate the musical. HAMILTON is the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War, and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Featuring a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway, HAMILTON is the story of America then, told by America now.

HAMILTUNES: An American Singalong — with book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, music direction/orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, Hamilton is based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The musical won eleven 2016 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Score, Book of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography and Orchestrations. Mr. Miranda received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton.

Visit http://atlanticrecords.com/HamiltonMusic/ to download a HAMILTON (ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST) Lyric Book

HAM4Learning!

Fun HAMILTUNES Math/Literacy Fact: Hip-Hop is the form that makes Hamilton the musical possible. The length of the Hamilton cast album is 2h 23 m, with a total of 20,520 words, sung at approximately 144 words per minute. If Hamilton were sung at the pace of your typical Broadway shows, it would take 4 to 6 hours to get through the show!

Fun HAMILTUNES History Connection: The idea for this HAMILTUNES singalong was inspired by last school year’s 7th grade archivists at Rooftop Alternative PreK-8 School, who love all things Hamilton, so much so that they established the Hamilton Archives with the support of the Internet Archive. https://archive-it.org/collections/8717

Fun HAMILTUNES Economics Connection:
According to the New America Foundation, children with savings accounts are 7 times more likely to attend college than those without an account. The City and County of San Francisco recognizes this, and in an effort to support students becoming productive, career-ready 21st-century citizens, has established the Kindergarten to College (K2C) Program. This program gives your kindergartner a savings account containing its first $50 deposit. If you and your child add to it regularly, it can become a 12-year head start toward college tuition. http://www.sfusd.edu/en/graduation-college-and-career/financing-college/college-savings-accounts.html

The Arts & Civic Engagement:

From HEARTS AND MINDS: THE ARTS & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT, The James Irvine Foundation, April 2017

• Correlations between arts participation and the motivations and practices of civic engagement are substantial and consistent.

• Art making experiences appear to encourage civic engagement more so than experiences as an audience member.

• Some arts experiences in some settings generate social capital directly.

• Arts experiences during adolescence are particularly influential.

• People who have built identities around civic engagement often credit arts experiences as significant to their development.

From ANIMATING DEMOCRACY – Participatory Art-Making and Civic Engagement, Americans for the Arts

How arts participation strengthens and transforms communities

* Participatory art-making can strengthen communities through familiar cultural arts practices, while simultaneously bridging differences between diverse groups that come together around their common artistic passion.

* Participatory art-making activities can revitalize neglected city spaces and activate public plazas, parks, and underused facilities.

* Participatory art-making contributes to the liveliness of “creative cities;” promotes safe, inviting, and livable neighborhoods; and can also support local economic development.

March 2, 2018April 3, 2018 artsed4all Arts Education, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Philanthropy, Technology, Visual Arts

Valentine’s Day 2018 Blake Mini Library Book Drive

In 2018, we kicked off our 3rd annual Blake Mini Library Book Drive on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, and invited readers of all ages to help by writing notes of encouragement and donating a new or newly read children’s book to the children at Hamilton Families. On Read Across America Day (March 2, 2018) we donated 529 books, filled with handwritten notes of encouragement, including some special author autographs. Ms. Woo’s fourth graders accepted the Blake Mini Library Mannequin Challenge, and constructed and donated the LEGO “VR Library of the Future.”

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Rooftop Spirit for Harriet’s Spirit: #monumentalwomen

20180206BlakeMiniLIbraryIMG_5379 This year, our book drive coincided with a world premiere opera — Opera Parallele’s production of Harriet’s Spirit, featuring a cast of eighth grade students from Rooftop School. The opera was set in both present day middle school and on the Combahee River during the Civil War, when Harriet Tubman become the first woman to plan and conduct a military raid.

In conjunction with Harriet’s Spirit, we honored Harriet Tubman and some of our other favorite “Monumental Women” with a curated collection of children’s books:

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
by Margot Lee Shetterly
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed The World by Rachel Ignotofsky
Maya Lin: Artist-Architect of Light and Lines by Jeanne Walker Harvey
The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid by Jeanette Winter
Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees by Franck Prévot
Coral Reefs by Sylvia Earle
Rickie and Henry by Jane Goodall
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
Here We Are by Oliver Jeffers
Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers & Shawn Harris
Rickshaw Girl and You Bring The Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
Can Art Change the World? by JR

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Connect to Your Best Self

Rooftop students were thrilled to be the very first recipients of a Blake Mini Library mini-grant from the Connect to Your Best Self Foundation. The grant enabled us to host a cookie and blue marble gratitude party for the children at Hamilton Families. As Ms. Kennedy’s 4th graders prepared for the cookie party, they made origami boxes for the blue marbles and wrapped copies of the Blue Marble coloring book, Rolling Along on A Blue Marble Dream. They also worked together to write a new story.

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“If you give a mouse a cookie and a blue marble…”

If you give a mouse a cookie, the mouse might enjoy a tiny blue marble too. If she eats the cookie (and another and another and another), she might turn blue like the marble. You could give her a glass of milk, but she might drink and turn the milk blue too. She also might throw up, but then at least she won’t be blue anymore. But she might get hyper and need to run around outside. You could take her outside and let her run around the grass field five times, but she might get a side stitch after eating so many cookies. If she lays down and passes out, you could run to get a glass of cold water and chuck it at her to wake her up. When she wakes up, she might see a blue-eyed wolf. If the wolf comes closer and closer and closer, the mouse might run faster and faster and faster. If the mouse runs really fast back to you, be sure to open the door to let her in. She will be happy to be safe with her cookie, her blue marble… and you!
— A “rolling” cookie party story by Ms. Kennedy’s 4th grade class of 2018

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I 💙 U So Much!

Thank you to Blake Mini Library founder Blake Ansari, The Connect To Your Best Self Fund, and many our generous donors and youth philanthropists who made this year’s book drive a special celebration for all involved.

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November 28, 2017November 28, 2017 artsed4all Art & the Environment, Arts Education, Drama / Theatre, Music, Visual Arts

Opera Parallèle’s Harriet’s Spirit

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Music by Marcus Shelby, libretto by Roma Olvera, conducted by Lucik Aprahamian

DATES: January 18 at 6 p.m.; January 20 at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m.

LOCATION: Buriel Clay Theater at the African American Art & Culture Complex
762 Fulton Street, San Francisco

Marcus-Shelby-head_shot_color-by-Peter-Varshavsky-800x533

CAST: Tiffany Austin as Harriet Tubman; Christabel Nunoo as Modesty; with Rooftop Alternative School’s 8^th Grader Students

Each year, Opera Parallèle partners with school students to create and perform an original opera during an intensive eight-week residency. This year’s world premiere production features an original score by Bay Area jazz great Marcus Shelby and a libretto by Roma Olvera based on the story of a middle school girl who triumphs over the challenges of adolescence with Civil War-era legend Harriet Tubman as her role model and spirit guide. Students of Rooftop Alternative School in San Francisco will share the stage with professional singers and Jazz Ensemble in creating the production. OP’s Hands-On-Opera production annually draws capacity crowds.

For tickets and information about Opera Parallèle’s Harriet’s Spirit, visit: https://operaparallele.org/harriets-spirit/

About Opera Parallele’s Harriet’s Spirit

Harriet’s Spirit is set in two different worlds — on the Combahee River during the Civil War and in a present day middle school. When asked about the opera’s themes, Marcus responded that Harriet’s Spirit is about family and friends, and the strength that they give you in challenging times. Harriet Tubman, first written in 2008 for Shelby’s original secular oratorio for 15 piece jazz orchestra and vocal ensemble, moves into the world of contemporary opera with “Harriet’s Spirit.”

HARRIET’S SPIRIT CALENDAR DATES:

Family Art Night: Harriet’s Spirit with Marcus Shelby – Wednesday, November 1, 5:30pm-7:30pm, Burnett MPR. Families will create their own artwork inspired by Harriet’s Spirit and enjoy an evening of artistic call and response with composer/bassist Marcus Shelby and teaching artist Andi Wong.
“Harriet’s Spirit” Open Rehearsal Arts Night with Opera Parallèle – Thursday, November 16, 5pm-7pm, Mayeda Gym. Get an inside look at Opera Parallèle’s Harriet’s Spirit with composer Marcus Shelby, librettist Roma Olvera, conductor Lucik Aprahamian, director Erin Neff and Rooftop’s eighth grade student performers.
Open Dress Rehearsal @ the Mayeda Campus – Full Run Thru w Principals – Mon, 8 January, 9:44am-10:34am; Wed, 10 January, 9:44am-10:34am; Fri, 12 January, 9:44am-10:34am. In order to accommodate more classes, we have asked Opera Parallèle for permission to open up these three additional dates to small supportive audiences (approx. 30-40).
Final Dress Rehearsal: Harriet’s Spirit – Wednesday, January 17, 2018; 11:00-11:45am at the Buriel Clay Theater, African American Art & Culture Center. Field Trip for Elementary (grades K+) – 200 seat capacity
Opera Parallele’s Harriet’s Spirit (World Premiere) – Thursday, January 18, 6pm & Saturday, January 20, 1pm & 4pm; Community performances at the Buriel Clay Theater, African American Art & Culture Center.

HARRIET’S SPIRIT PRE-ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Trim A Tree 2017: North Star Ornaments

Rooftop is invited to decorate one of the trees at Davies Symphony Hall during the holidays. Each student at Rooftop, grades K-8, makes an ornament that will be hung on the Rooftop tree. This year’s ornament is inspired by the North Star quilt block. This ornament-making activity is supported by Art Parent Coordinators Brooke Kerpelman, Whitney Couch and Eryn Kurin.

Harriet’s Spirit Story Quilt Project

Rooftop classrooms will have the opportunity to create art in support of the production design for Harriet’s Spirit. Rooftop classrooms can learn more about Harriet’s Spirit and help to create three fabric quilts, inspired by the art of quilt maker Harriet Powers (1937-1910), which are integral to the production design of Harriet’s Spirit. These story quilts share family stories recorded by Rooftop families during the November 1st Family Art Night. The Story quilt pre-engagement activities will be supported by teaching artists Andi Wong and Mary Ann Cruz at The Studios at Burnett & Mayeda.

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Harriet’s Spirit Daguerreotype Portraits

The production design of Harriet’s Spirit is also influenced by a newly discovered daguerreotype portrait of Harriet Tubman, found in a souvenir album in 2016. The Metropolitan Museum of Art noted that “…the medium’s success in America was built upon the patronage of the average worker who desired a simple likeness to keep for himself, or more likely, to send to a loved one as the era’s most enduring pledge of friendship. Among the many momentous social transformations generated by photography’s invention was the possibility of self-representation by a large variety of groups previously excluded from official portraiture.” Advances in the art of digital photography make it a snap to add your own selfie to the Rooftop family photo album of 2017-2018.

Harriet’s Spirit for Hamilton Families

After the war Harriet Tubman returned to her home in Auburn, New York, and began what was to be her life-long work of caring for aged and indigent African Americans when she purchased 25 acres of land at auction for $1450 in 1896. In 2016, Rooftop began filling the rainbow-colored shelves of the Blake Mini Library at Hamilton Families in San Francisco as a recipient of a gift from youth philanthropist Blake Ansari who resides in Brooklyn, New York. Our 3rd annual Blake Mini Library Book Drive kicks off on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, when students of all ages are invited to help by writing notes of encouragement and donating a new or newly read children’s book to the children at Hamilton Families in the Tenderloin. Harriet’s Spirit is sharing our love of books about #MonumentalWomen with a special selection of children’s books such as Nikki Grimes & Michele Wood’s “Chasing Freedom: The Life Journeys of Harriet Tubman and Susan B. Anthony (Inspired by Historical Facts).”

“I Will Not Stand Still”

Classes can take a ten-minute hike to Kite Hill from Burnett & Tank Hill from Mayeda and explore the natural surrounds of Twin Peaks and contemplate the benefits of outdoor experiences. In September of 2017, Atlanta artist Mashona Council became the first person to complete the 125-mile Freedom Walk across the Tubman byway alone. “To come across that line, it really was this bringing (Tubman’s) spirit with me. And we know that when she crossed there was no one here to welcome her.” The trek helped Council to gain a better perspective of Harriet Tubman’s considerable accomplishments, whether leading others to freedom on the Underground Railroad or planning the Combahee River Raid of 1863. Harriet Tubman has the unique distinction of being the only woman to have played a decisive role in planning and carrying out a military operation during the Civil War. Today, Bay Area organizations such as Girl Trek and Outdoor Afro are heading outside to reflect on Harriet Tubman’s relationship with the land and learning more about the benefits of active engagement with the natural world.

MSJO Harriet Tubman 2008

Harriet Tubman, Marcus Shelby’s musical oratorio, was the central work of Rooftop’s “Art Is Jazz” study in 2007-2008. The Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra, featuring vocalist Faye Carole, performed for students at the Swedish American Hall on February 1, 2008.Marcus Shelby & Harriet Tubman at Rooftop

Rooftop School’s “Art Is… Jazz” (2007-2008) website http://artsed4all.org/ArtIsJazz/Home.html

Marcus Shelby’s website https://www.marcusshelby.com

The Google Cultural Institute: SFJAZZ: Sounds of Freedom A celebration of the spirit of resistance in African American music.

Marcus speaks about his jazz oratorio “Harriet Tubman” for SFJAZZ https://youtu.be/lWZ3O6Ffub4

At The Center ~ Marcus Shelby’s ‘Harriet Tubman & The Blues’ https://youtu.be/lWZ3O6Ffub4

KQED Arts: Bassist Marcus Shelby Finds Freedom’s Message in the Music https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/04/24/bassist-marcus-shelby-finding-freedoms-message-in-the-music/

SFGate: What I Do: Marcus Shelby, Jazz Musician/Educator (2010) http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Marcus-Shelby-mixes-music-politics-history-3261035.php

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Did you know that Rooftop School is the source of inspiration for TWO musical compositions written by Marcus Shelby?

In 2008, Marcus wrote Peaceable Kingdom – a tone poem for 15-piece jazz orchestra and speaker, based on the 1847 painting by Edward Hicks. This work, which premiered at the De Young Museum on January 18, 2008. was an artistic call and response inspired by his time working with the students at Rooftop School. In turn, two Burnett murals were created during Rooftop’s 2007-2008 study of Marcus’ musical composition, Harriet Tubman.

The Peaceable Kingdom garden wall mural, created by Ms. Margot’s 4^th grade class, was inspired by Harriet’s role as a conductor for The Underground Railroad. In Our Peaceable Kingdom, the entrance mural, created by Ms. Woo’s 4^th class, features student poems about peace. The now familiar Rooftop logo was designed by 4th graders Bobby McCollough, who designed the lettering, and Aida Irving, who drew the Raven and The Dove.

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