Press Release
For Immediate Release
May 4, 2005

AWE CONTACT:
Sally Salkowski Witte
Executive Director
Artists Working in Education, Inc.
(414) 933-3877

LAFOLLETTE ELEMENTARY:
Kathy Quirk and Patricia Capozzi
Coordinating Teachers
(414) 267-5235

The eight African drums at LaFollette Elementary School are silent no longer. They were relegated to storage several years ago after the north side school lost its music teacher. Now they are resounding once more as part of a unique multi-disciplinary arts program coordinated by Artists Working in Education, Inc. (AWE), a local non-profit group.

AWE launched four “Three Discipline” (3-D) projects during the 2004-2005 school year, all of which strive to integrate performing, literary and visual arts in projects that lead the students in experiments with new dimensions in creative and cultural expressions. Each 3-D project engages three artists of different disciplines in a 20-hour residency. The projects are supported by a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary Nohl Fund. In addition, AWE sponsored eight 40-hour school residencies with visual artists.

The first 3-D project, “Tribal Traditions / Contemporary Expressions,” was showcased during celebrations last November at LaFollette School, 3239 N. 9th Street. The AWE board was so impressed with the results they voted to fund a second Three-Discipline project during the spring semester. In addition, the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors Youth Foundation provided funds to purchase more drums.

About 30 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at LaFollette Elementary School have been working with Ko-Thi dancer Angela Jones, Ko-Thi drummer Tarence Spencer, and well-known Milwaukee folk artist Della Wells during a 20-hour arts residency exploring the influence of African traditions on contemporary American culture. The school had acquired a set of African drums with previous grant money, but since losing their music instructor several years ago the drums have been in silent storage. The student artists at LaFollette have been researching artistic depictions of dance, in the process of creating elaborately painted wooden figures. They will remain as permanent fixtures to be used for future school programs and celebrations.

“What has been amazing to me is the animated attention of the middle school students in each of the arts groups. Their intellects, emotions and movements were fully engaged whether they danced, painted or drummed. They were closely engaged with the subject matter, the resident artists and each other,” said Sally Salkowski Witte, AWE executive director.

The artists will continue working with students at LaFollette in the fourth floor library on Wednesdays, May 11 and 18, from 10:30 a.m. to noon. The dress rehearsal is Friday, May 20 from 12:30-2:30 p.m. The final performances are Wednesday, June 1 at 9 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Access to structured arts education is decreasing for City of Milwaukee children. As of fall 2004, approximately 25%, or 48, of the Milwaukee Public Schools had no art teacher at all. The remaining schools often share an art teacher with one or more other schools.

Artists Working in Education, Inc. (AWE), founded in 1998, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide youth in the Milwaukee area with arts enrichment programs to enhance human potential, advance learning and cultivate community. Its two main initiatives are the School Studio, an artist-in-residence program designed to advance learning through the arts; and the Truck Studio, an outreach program providing free art experiences for children in inner city parks and neighborhood centers during the summer months.