Next Stage Arts/Putney Central School Student and Elders Project
With a grant from Next Stage Arts Project in Putney with funding from ArtPlace America, we made some of the first portrait pairs over the weekend as part of a year long portrait project of PCS students and adults they have been chosen to be photographed with.
The grant facilitates the creation of a multi-disciplinary (image, documentary, and written word) special project to bring our PCS school population 00together with elders in the community to examine/uncover shared issues around community. This project will culminate in a large scale public installation embedding photography and written reflection, and a public event at Next Stage and or PCS where participants will present the images and essays in an interactive, community setting.
The inspiration for this project comes out of the recognition that strong, healthy communities provide an active platform for engagement among different demographic groups, and the benefits to students, elders, and the broader community are amplified when this engagement is activated. It is our longer term goal that this project will help to seed of a mentoring program in our town where students and adults mutually benefit from their time together, and that the potential of these relationships to provide transformative change for both individuals is honored and cultivated by the community at large.
More to come...