The Coalition’s Integration through the Arts (ITA) program is a key strategy in achieving our integration mission. We use shared interests in the arts as a catalyst for building relationships between people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds as they share a quality artistic experience. We are hosting two ITA events in 2012. The first is an opera theater production for children to be performed at SOPAC (Saturday morning, March 17th) based on Verdi’s Aida and Leontyne Price’s retelling of the story for children. Price tells the story of the Ethopian Princess Aida who is captured by the Egyptians, turned into a slave and falls in love with Radames, Captain of the Egyptian army. Children will be thrilled by the professional opera performance and by Price’s version of the story.
This project builds on the success of last year’s musical presentation of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham and dramatic reading and dance interpretation of The Sneetches which attracted an audience of over 400 people. This year’s production creatively uses orchestral music, opera, dance, and theatrical reading while teaching the value of racial inclusiveness. We use these stories to get kids to think about fairness and discrimination, to learn to not fear people who are different, and to work together to solve problems.
The second ITA program is Through the Lens of Integration, a series of photography workshops with professional photographers in which amateurs will learn techniques they can apply to capturing their vision of integration in our towns. Last year’s series resulted in some wonderful photos of people and places in South Orange and Maplewood. Select photos by participants will be displayed in a local venue as part of the Artist Studio Tour. Check back in mid-January for dates and times for both of these events!
