In the 2009-2010 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, Kimball Elementary School’s third graders wrote about their favorite family traditions 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, and CJ Lazenby, and vocal coaches Maria Glanz and Joy Mills-Parker.

You can listen to the 1st disc of this year’s Family Cultural Celebrations, with students of Ms. Woo and Ms. Kiser’s classes below:

And below are the pieces from 2nd disc, including Ms. Buckwalter’s students:

The Jack Straw artist team included writer Judith Roche; vocal coaches Maria Glanz and Joy Mills-Parker; audio engineers Moe Provencher, Tom Stiles, and CJ Lazenby; photographer Sherwin Eng; intern Alden Witt; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to the Kimball Elementary teachers Jim Buckwalter, Beverly Woo, Nancy Kiser, Brian Staub, and Deirdre Gamboa, 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 City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the NEA and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Kimball Elementary’s PTSA, and individual contributors.

Artists