In the 2008-2009 school year, Jack Straw Cultural Center continued the Family Celebrations project with Kimball Elementary School, highlighting the rich cultural history of Beacon Hill’s diverse community through the families’ celebrated foods.

For this project, the 3rd grade students wrote their own pieces about their favorite family traditions and its history and significance to the family, with help from teaching artist and poet Judith Roche. Then they recorded and produced their pieces at the Jack Straw studios with the help of audio engineers Moe Provencher, Tom Stiles, CJ Lazenby and vocal coaches Amy Broomhall and Alyssa Keene.

You can listen to the produced pieces below:

The Jack Straw artist team included writer Judith Roche; vocal coaches Alyssa Keene and Amy Broomhall; audio engineers Tom Stiles, Moe Provencher and C.J. Lazenby; photographer Sherwin Eng; education consultant Sarah Loudon; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to the Kimball Elementary teachers Jim Buckwalter, Nancy Kiser, Melissa Blair, and Jenni Fromm, who helped make this project possible.

Family Cultural Celebrations was produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center with support from Washington State Arts Commission Arts and Education Program, The National Endowment for the Arts, Kimball Elementary’s PTSA, and individual contributors.

Artists