In April, the Shreveport Convention Center becomes a bluster of activity and a burst of bold color as the Shreveport Regional Arts Council fills over 95,000 square feet of the center with Northwest Louisiana’s annual student showcase of visual, literary, performing, culinary and film art, plus more than 50 S.T.E.A.M., and the chance to make some brand new “FriendsWithYou” during ARTBREAK 35.
Caddo Parish second- and third-graders start the ArtBreak week on Tuesday by gathering a full head of S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) creating popular make-and-take activities using the Archimedes Principle, illustrating symmetry and asymmetry and explaining the work of wind turbines. On Thursday, Academy Award-winning animation artist and filmmaker William Joyce introduces his newest FriendsWithYou duo, Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III, to Very Special Arts Festival students who will draw and design an “Exceptional Friend” to live in RAINBOW CITY in The Common Park. When Friday arrives and the family weekend begins, the Convention Center is bustling with student singers, dancers, musicians and performers; young film producers; emerging chefs; thousands of high school, middle school and elementary school visual artworks; thousands of poems, short stories, Haiku and other literary artworks; hundreds of banners showing the support of major sponsors; and several thousand proud parents celebrating the creative achievements of Caddo Parish students of all ages. There is no break in the action during ArtBreak 35 with more activities, more student art, more new ways to create and more people than ever. It’s the largest student arts festival in the South, and you don’t want to miss it.
“Our mission as a school district is to tap into the potential of every child in a holistic approach which encompasses not only the traditional academic pathways, but exploring students’ creativity through the arts,” said Dr. T. Lamar Goree, superintendent of Caddo Parish Public Schools. “As the state leader in arts integration in our classrooms, Caddo is committed to arts education and proud to partner with the Shreveport Regional Arts Council for ArtBreak’s 35 th anniversary. It’s time to move full S.T.E.A.M. ahead into one of the best events of the year and an art showing that is among the largest in the South!”
ArtBreak could not do what it does without the support of major sponsors. Because of the generosity of our grantors and community sponsors, outstanding student creations collect more than $20,000 in cash awards, and students and families spend an entire weekend celebrating the success and synergy between S.T.E.A.M. events, Shreve Memorial Library, student master classes, Very Special Arts Festival, and so much more.
Pam Atchison, director of the Shreveport Regional Arts Council (SRAC), which has produced the festival for 35 years, says, “It is our mission with the ArtBreak Festival to celebrate the creative talent of the thousands of students throughout Northwest Louisiana who paint, draw, write, perform, make films, cook up culinary art and now, for the first time, work with famous artists to design and fabricate their own inflatable ‘exceptional friend.”
• The newest activities and highlights of ArtBreak 35 are featured throughout this insert. A few of the ArtBreak favorites that are returning for 2019 include the following:
• The Shreve Memorial Library brings a new reading adventure to ArtBreak 35 with “The Wizard of Oz.” Secondgrade students will experience a live performance of this children’s classic performed by Hampstead Stage Company. The children will then create hands-on “make and take” activities, and teachers will be given a summer reading list to keep the story alive for the students.
• Very Special Arts Festival (VSAF) celebrates the art in everyone. ArtBreak and the Caddo Schools Department of Exceptional Children, with Dr. Sheila Lockett, director, have been celebrating artists with exceptionalities for 27 years. On Thursday, during ArtBreak 35, 100 exceptional students will work with Academy Award-winning animation artist and filmmaker William Joyce and FriendsWithYou fine art collaborative team Samuel Borkson and Arturo Sandoval III to create the next new “Exceptional Friend” to live in RAINBOW CITY in The Common Park.
• Hands-On S.T.E.A.M. Activities. A special initiative grant from the Alta and John Franks Foundation keeps the S.T.E.A.M. rising throughout ArtBreak during the week for second- and thirdgrade students and on the weekends for all in the family. Make-and-take activities add “ART” to science, technology, engineering and math programs in new and innovative ways to stimulate wholebrain thinking. Pinwheels teach physics, flower gardens help with fractions, and paper plate pterodactyls offer instruction on the four primary forces of flight. These activities are some of the most popular of the festival.
Nothing celebrates the achievements of Caddo Parish students in a bigger way than ArtBreak. In its 35 th year, ArtBreak 2019 is where the kids are creating, cooking, jamming, filming, performing and letting off S.T.E.A.M.; where major sponsors are stepping up the game to showcase thousands of students and their skills; and where outstanding student creations collect more than $20,000 in cash awards.
