Published: May 04, 2008 11:37 pm      

Central Park arts day planned for area schools

ASHLAND — Students from nine school districts hope to turn Central Park into an art zone May 17.

They’ll exhibit paintings, play music and dance. Area professional artists will do demonstrations. And midway through, everyone will merge for what organizers hope will be a world-record performance of the Cotton-Eye Joe.

It’s called Spring Into the Arts. Arts and humanities teachers have worked since August to organize the showcase of student talent, said Norma Meek, chairwoman of the event. Its twofold purpose is to show off students’ talent while strengthening their academic command of arts and humanities, which are part of the core content in Kentucky schools.

The nine districts include Ashland, Boyd County, Fairview, Greenup County, Russell, Raceland-Worthington, Lawrence County, Holy Family and Rose Hill. Students from all grade levels will participate, Meek said.

What makes the arts extravaganza more exciting is the level of collaboration, said committee member Patsy Lindsey, an administrator in the Ashland district. For instance, the Russell, Paul G. Blazer and Boyd County high school choruses will sing together and middle school bands from George M. Verity and Boyd County will perform jointly.

Artists in the community will set up stations to demonstrate sculpture, woodwork, jewelry and other forms.

At other stations, students will make and take home their own projects.

Each district will have a tent and display boards to set up student artwork.

The mass performance of the Cotton-Eye Joe starts at 12:30 p.m. at the tennis courts. Students in all the districts have been practicing the folk dance, Meek said. She plans to shoot video of the performance and submit it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The event was conceived in the aftermath of a joint professional development session between arts and humanities teachers in the Ashland, Boyd County and Russell districts last fall. The districts are in a partnership with the Paramount Arts Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which since 2001 has provided artists for professional development.

All performances are open to the public.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.