In the winter and spring of 2017, Kelli Spann, Alec Aeschlimann, and Brian Robertson’s sixth grade students at Broadview-Thomson K-8 worked with Jack Straw’s artist team to create their own audio myths inspired by nature as art.

Students worked in the classroom with Jack Straw writer Kathleen Flenniken to write their audio stories. Vocal coaches Alyssa Keene, Katya Landau, Christine Marie Brown, and Rob Witmer helped students use their voices to tell their stories. And audio engineers Daniel Guenther, Camelia Jade, Joel Maddox, and Tom Stiles helped students record their radio plays, create their own sound effects, and produce their audio myths in Jack Straw’s recording studios.

Audio Myths 2017 was produced by Broadview Thomson sixth grade students and Jack Straw Cultural Center, in partnership with MoPOP, with the generous support of the Washington State Arts Commission, Boeing, Centurylink, Wells Fargo, and the Broadview-Thomson PTA.

The Jack Straw artist team included writer Kathleen Flenniken; vocal coaches Alyssa Keene, Katya Landau, Christine Marie Brown, and Rob Witmer; audio engineers Daniel Guenther, Camelia Jade, Joel Maddox, and Tom Stiles; photographer Sherwin Eng; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to Bonnie Showers, MoPop’s Curator of Education and Interpretive Services; Broadview-Thomson sixth grade students; sixth grade teachers Kelli Spann, Alec Aeschlimann, and Brian Robertson; and field trip chaperones. Original music by Jack Straw resident artists Munir Beken and August Denhard.

Artists