Addressing Global Citizenship Through Artful Discussions

Thanks to everyone for joining us on October 30th, 2010 as Preservation LINK celebrated National Art and Humanities Month with a Creative Conversation at the Dallas Contemporary. Special thanks to Diane Sikes and Laney DeLay the Dallas Contemporary for providing space and art supplies. Karen Blessen, co-founder of Today Marks the Beginning, was on hand to help celebrate- gifting us with her warm spirit and keen artistry. Thanks to Dave Herman, Creative Director of Preservation LINK, for capturing photos of attendees as they created art and connected through conversation.

Karen Colbert, a Preservation LINK Resident Scholar and current graduate student, did a wonderful job of facilitating a project that she has been excited about since her recent visit with students in Malindi, Kenya. During her stay in Kenya, Karen used cameras donated by Preservation LINK and curriculum from its Point of View Photojournalism program to engage students at the Mahenzo Mission School. At this year’s Creative Conversation back in Dallas, TX, attendees checked out images captured by Karen and many of the Mahenzo students and got a chance to contribute to a collective artwork that, along with donated school supplies, will be sent to the school. Monetary donations that were made during the Creative Conversation will be used to ship the artwork and  school supplies.

While speaking with teachers there, I shared a bit about Preservation LINK’s programs and learned about how these teachers view art’s role in helping to foster critical and creative thinking among their students as they teach such subjects as science, reading, and writing. We also discussed common classroom challenges, redirecting disruptive behavior, and the importance of nurturing a student’s confidence in his or her own abilities.

Mary Caldwell, also a Preservation LINK Resident Scholar and an elementary school teacher, is passionate about art’s role in enhancing how our students succeed in academics and as citizens of the world. Both she and Karen are working with Preservation LINK to collaborate with teachers and their classrooms as they explore media arts and global citizenship. For more information about how you can be involved, contact Karen Colbert at kcolbert@preservationlink.org or Mary Caldwell at mcaldwell@preservationlink.org