“Building Bridges and Championing Art in Our Community”
“Refugee. Brave. Strong. Survivor. ~ Tito Chilel Niz, Blair High School Student”
Recently Blair High School’s International Academy students studied with writer/visual artist Sehba Sarwar about the history of immigrant communities and race issues in the Pasadena area. Their studies culminated in the creation of original art related to their own personal experiences as refugees, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, and members of a diverse, yet fractured community: Más Puentes y Menos Muros / More Bridges Less.
The grant for this art project was secured by the Pasadena Educational Foundation as part of our services to the district and funded in part by California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities; Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission and the City of Pasadena Cultural Affairs Division. It was cosponsored by Armory Center for the Arts.
Original public exhibition of the students’ art was delayed due to pandemic safety restrictions. Now it’ll be featured at Hybrid ArtNight Pasadena on Friday, Oct. 8, 2021, along with the Blair Jazz Band, who will perform live outside the Armory Center. ArtNight is an annual event seen by thousands of participants and hosted by Pasadena-based arts, culture, and humanities institutions.
Banners of the students’ written word art have been placed strategically at Pasadena Unified Schools throughout the community with the assistance of PTA Council of PUSD (Parent Teacher Associations) and the Pasadena Educational Foundation.
They can be seen at the following locations:
Altadena Elementary
Don Benito Elementary
Field Elementary
Hamilton Elementary
Jackson Elementary
Longfellow Elementary
Madison Elementary
McKinley Elementary
Norma Coombs Elementary
Sierra Madre Elementary
Eliot Middle School
Sierra Madre Middle School
Washington Middle School
Blair High School
Special thanks to PEF partners Armory Center for the Arts, First District PTA Council, and PUSD PTAs for supporting PUSD Arts. You have helped build bridges and champion art in the community!
Pasadena Educational Foundation, 351 South Hudson Ave. RM 153, Pasadena, pef@pasedfoundation.org, (626) 396-3625 or visit https://pasedfoundation.org/.
