In the 2010-2011 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, each student from the three third grade classes at Kimball Elementary School  wrote, performed, created sound effects, and produced a story about their favorite family holiday with help from teaching artist and poet Judith Roche.

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

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

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Before the end of the school year in Spring, students, parents, teachers and the Jack Straw team gathered at Kimball Elementary for a potluck to celebrate the CD release event.

The Jack Straw artist team included writer Judith Roche; vocal coaches Maria Glanz, Alyssa Keene, Christine Marie Brown, and Gin Hammond; audio engineers Moe Provencher, Tom Stiles, and CJ Lazenby; photographer Sherwin Eng; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to Kimball students, parents, and teachers, Melissa Blair, Aubrey Ashenbrenner, Emerald Quach, and Brian Straub, who all helped make this project possible.

Family Cultural Celebrations was produced by Jack Straw Cultural Center with support from Kimball PTSA, the Washington State Arts Commission, PONCHO, and individual contributors.

Artists