August
2008
Hi
Friends,
Welcome
back to another year with the Multicultural Resource Center! We have planned an
exciting program for the 2008-2009 Calendar.
In this
nineteenth year, the Center will explore different cultural perspectives both
near and far. We begin again this year with our successful Teachers Teaching Teachers
workshops taught by area independent school teachers and administrators. We
continue to receive a positive response from educators about the event. As
always, we take great care in selecting a range of workshops that will address a
variety of issues and are designed for different school divisions. The evening
will be held at the Shipley Middle
School.
We are
also pleased to be collaborating for our third year with ADVIS to offer
educators a comprehensive presentation. Our guest speaker, Wade Davis, is said to be a combination anthropologist, explorer,
poet and activist. His presentation entitled “Light at the Edge of the World” will take us on a journey through
the realm of vanishing cultures. He will encourage educators to ponder how,
“….just as the biosphere, the biological matrix of life, is today being
severely compromised, so too is the ethnosphere.
Vibrant, dynamic, living cultures and languages are being forced out of
existence.” This promises to a moving and inspirational presentation. The
winter event will be held in Centennial Hall at the Haverford
School on
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 from 3:45
until 6:15 p.m.
We are
thrilled to announce our inaugural partnership with Art Sanctuary and its
executive director, Lorene Cary. Art
Sanctuary’s mission is to use the power of black art to transform
individuals, unite groups of people, and enrich and draw inspiration from the
inner city. We will be collaborating with Art Sanctuary for two programs this
year where MCRC Board School students are invited to attend events with students
from Philadelphia-area public schools. The first reading/writing workshop
will introduce a group of upper school students to former Baldwin students Asali
Solomon, college professor and author of Get
Down and her sister, Akiba Solomon, magazine editor and author of the non-fiction
anthology Naked. Students will talk
about their lives and engage in writing activities.
On the
morning of April 15, Board School students are invited to join Art Sanctuary for
a celebration of jazz and improvisation.
Our guests will be Dwike Mitchell and
Willie Ruff. These men will perform and share their story of how they met in
a band of the segregated WWII army.
We look
forward to seeing you at our programs this year!
May the
beginning of the school year offer you new energy and inspiration.
Peace,
Karen De
Gregorio