FOCUS IN caused by distance and difference to bring a new type of global kindness to younger generations everywhere. Our Global Art Exchange will help humanize children living on one side of the world for children on the other from a level playing field; it will show our children that there are real, loving, wonderful children living in countries all over the world and that, although we live in very different sit-uations, we are more alike than not. Students create drawings or paintings based on themes of happiness, peace, kindness, and/or friendship. The Memor roject’s Global Art Exchange T Nora Feldman he Memory Project has been using art to break down cultural barriers and connect children around the world since 2004. Through our portrait program, we have organized high-school artists to paint and draw more than 160,000 portraits for children facing chal-lenges such as violence, war, extreme poverty, neglect, and parental loss in more than forty-seven countries. Now, we are launching a program that brings the magic of intercultural understanding through art to elemen-tary and middle-school students. States experiences cultural or political tension, such as Russia, Afghanistan, Syria, and Pakistan. These are coun-tries that many Americans only hear about from headlines and sensational-How It Works First, we match each participating American student with a child from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Syria. Each child then creates a draw-ing or painting for the other based on themes of happiness, peace, kindness, and/or friendship. On the back, both children write their first name and age, attach a photo, and trace an out-line of their hand. Once our American students finish their artwork, teachers send it to us along with a financial contribution of $12 per student. This contribution is our only source of funding and covers the cost of art supplies for the chil-dren overseas, shipping the artwork in both directions, as well as many other costs. Finally, we ship teachers the artwork from children overseas and send their artwork to those children to complete the exchange. Get Involved We are looking for elementary and middle-school teachers who are inter-ested in participating during the 2019– 2020 school year. Registration began in August and will continue through-out the year, and teachers can partici-pate during any month that works for them. Visit www.memoryproject. org/artexchange for more information or email nora@memoryproject.org. Nora Feldman is creative director of the Memory Project, based in Middleton, Wis-consin. nora@memoryproject.org Using the personal, universal language of art, we can start to break down the barriers caused b istance and difference. ized movies—countries with whole populations of families and children that we are sometimes made to fear instead of understand. Using the per-sonal, universal language of art, we can start to break down the barriers The Global Art Exchange In our new Global Art Exchange, stu-dents exchange heartfelt artwork with children in countries where the United PAGE SPONSORED BY: 22 DECEMBER 2019 SchoolArts
School Arts Magazine December 2019: Page 24
