All That We Are: Lowell Elementary Poetry and Song 2024
Welcome to All That We Are: Lowell Poetry and Song 2024, produced by Lowell Elementary School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center. This web page and our anthology of the students’ poems is the culmination of a project with Lowell students during the spring of 2024.
In this project, 2nd grade and Focus special education students worked with Jack Straw’s poets Vincent Rendoni and Carlos Nieto to write their own poetry. Vocal coaches Meg McLynn and Stephanie Roman visited each class to help the students practice reading their work aloud. Musician Tito Ramsey then wrote a song inspired by the students’ poems, with special verses for each class.
The students came to Jack Straw’s studios and recorded the poems with vocal coaches Meg, Carlos, Stephanie, and Leah Fishbaugh, and engineers Zeos Greene, Daniel Guenther, and Ayesha Ubayatilaka. Each class also recorded their version of the song in the studio with Tito and our engineers.
In a companion project, Jack Straw developed and implemented an accessible and inclusive multidisciplinary arts integration project working with Lowell’s Distinct and Aspire special education and medically fragile students. Jack Straw artist Leah Mann held a series of workshops with students over ten weeks, helping them create their own original sound compositions with their voices, piano, and an electronic instrument called an Orba, a synthesizer/looper/MIDI controller that lets anyone make music immediately.
Audio: Lowell Poetry and Song 2024
Audio: Lowell Distinct and Aspire Sounds 2024
Gallery: Vincent Rendoni and Lowell students in the classroom
Gallery: Recording poems and songs at Jack Straw
All That We Are: Lowell Elementary Poetry & Song was produced by Lowell Elementary School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center with the generous support of the Washington State Arts Commission, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and The Creative Advantage, Rodrigues Charitable Trust, ArtsFund, and individual donors, with special thanks to Juniper Networks for their support of Vincent Rendoni’s time on this project.
The Jack Straw artist team included poets Carlos Nieto and Vincent Rendoni; vocal coaches Leah Fishbaugh, Meg McLynn, and Stephanie Roman; musician Tito Ramsey; movement artist Leah Mann; audio engineers Zeos Greene, Daniel Guenther, and Ayesha Ubayatilaka; designer Levi Fuller; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to the second graders of Lowell Elementary and Lowell staff.
We especially want to thank 2nd grade teachers Bree (Bryanna) Pearson, Alvin Delgado, and Sharon Lasei; Special Education teachers Ava Gallion, Toby Steers, Broc D’Antoni, Justin Dovarreo, Andrew Pekar, Josie Alexander-Cooper, Ray Cyprian, Katherine Mork, Cece Pardo, Katie Mathers, Marianne McLaughlin, and Hannah Miller; Music Teacher Shelby Leyland; Principal Chelsea Dziedzic; and Administrative Secretary Tammy Watson, who helped make this project possible.
Artists
Vincent Rendoni
Vincent Antonio Rendoni (he / him / his) is a Seattle-based poet and writer. He is the winner of Blue Earth Review’s 2021 Annual Flash Fiction Contest. He is a…
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Tito Ramsey
After a six-year run in New York City as the frontman of indie dance band LEGS, composer and performer Tito Ramsey is back in Seattle writing crisp pop songs…
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Leah Mann
Leah Mann is a multi-disciplinary artist, somatic practitioner, and embodied social justice activist. She is artistic director emeritus of Moving in the Spirit, a youth mentorship program utilizing dance…
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Leah Fishbaugh
Leah Fishbaugh (they/them) has been working as a professional voice coach in Seattle since 2013. With a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts, they specialize in all things…
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Meg McLynn
Meg McLynn is a Seattle-based actor, vocalist, and teaching artist who loves sharing her passion for performance with students of all ages. She is a member of the vocal…
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Stephanie Roman
Stephanie Roman (they/them) is a Mexican American actor and teaching artist based out of Seattle. Their training began at PCPA – Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California, and they later moved…
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