Dear Big Picture Foundation Collaborators,
Please read April 2018 news about our various projects and participants…
#1 Snowboard Stickers
Connor Kelly Saves the Day! Many of your students made name art for stickers. The stickers were to be placed on the board of a highly ranked child snowboard rider. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, Peter came home from training with a concussion. In the blink of an eye, Connor Kelly, another supreme rider, saved the day, by taking Peter’s place. Today, on his first day of USASA Nationals snowboard competitions, at Copper Mountain, Colorado, Connor started documenting his week. His snowboard is covered with stickers of BPF kids’ art from Brazil (Colégio Santa Cruz, Sao Paulo), China (Advantage Thinking International School, Beijing), Iraq (Harsham Refugee Camp), India (Vidya Bhawan School, Fatepura, India), Jordan (IRD and UNHCR Education Program, Za’atari Refugee Camp), Peru (Innova Schools, Lima), Spain (Colegio de San Francisco de Paula, Seville and The International School of Madrid), Russia (Anglo-American School, Moscow), and the United States (Rye, NY).
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#2 “We are the World” Project – (“We are the World,” by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie)
Our “We are the World” project joins together global kids in an important collaborative initiative. The videos don’t need to be any more elaborate than kids singing the song. However, groups can also make wildly creative videos that give us glimpses into our diverse BPF kids’ environments. We have already received a great recording from Peru, with kids who sang extraordinary solos. We heard that kids in two schools in Nepal are also starting to edit their “We are the World” videos. We have additional kids in China, India, Iraq, Italy, and the United States (including a school in Puerto Rico), participating on the project. * We may have participating groups in Jordan, and Egypt, but we’re waiting for confirmations from them.
• Videos are due by April 30th. Please help us fill a few more spots. Please send submissions before the due date, if possible. We need time to make the final video that merges parts from each of our global groups. Also, we would love you to help us reach kids in new countries who might want to fill the final spots. With around 196 global nations and only 15 spots for the project, we won’t cover the world, but let’s try to find groups to either represent areas where we don’t have kids represented and/or let’s include kids’ groups that would love being part of the group.
This YouTube link might help kids learn the song: https://www.youtube.com/
This document explains the terms of the project: https://docs.google.com/
#3 Final Deadline of the Year + Spring 2018 Global Gallery – April 30th Art Deadline
Our final deadline of the 2017-2018 school year is on April 30th. It would be sooooooo amazing if you all send arts submissions before the date. As always, it’s free for kids to be part of Big Picture Foundation initiatives. Kids, teachers, parents, and group leaders can submit kids’ arts submissions that are either part of a theme or not part of a theme. We accept dance, theater, painting, drawing, sculpture, singing, animations, comedy, cooking, engineering, martial arts, creative videos, and more.
2017-2018 Themes
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Draw part of an imaginary animal (it will be assembled with parts from others’ imaginary animals, to create multicultural creatures).
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Rainbows
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Fish
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Design a car or a cart
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Who are you? Make art that lets viewers know something about you
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Invent a viral dance move
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Invent candy and/or a wrapper
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Build a fort
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Create a fidget toy
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Make art for public service announcements, about an issue of concern to you
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Create a “How To” video.
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Create a heart mural and include words about the world in which you want to live
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Inspirational Performances
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Doodle
#4 Please consider filming (or sending a film of) your students pitching a theme for the 2018-2019 school year.
We post new ideas once a year, when we reveal our annual Spring Global Gallery. In order for all kids to feel equally connected to BPF opportunities, it would be best to have our themes come from all of our countries.
#5 EXPO Day at Rye Middle School
Last Friday, around 20 kids spoke for an hour and a half to over 800 RMS kids about Big Picture Foundation opportunities for using the arts for outreach and for global community building initiatives. At the end of the morning assembly, we audio recorded all 800 kids singing “We are the World,” by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson. Rye Middle School kids spent the day making heart art, in which they incorporated words about the world in which they want to live. Finally, the day concluded by filming a group of around 60 kids singing and signing, “We are the World,” while holding their hearts.
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#6 Zanda’s Story
Last year, Zanda Gareb sent Big Picture Foundation a written account of her family’s exodus from Syria. If you click on the cat and mouse of the homepage top menu bar, you’ll find her submission. A few weeks ago, Zanda wrote to me in dire straights. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan’s army had surrounded her childhood town, Afrin, Syria. The arms was dropping bombs and shooting, with the intention of killing anyone who resisted annexation. Afrin lies on the border of Syria and Turkey. Zanda had lost contact with her sister, a week earlier. Her sister had stayed in Afrin, with a new baby and husband, while the rest of the Gareb family moved to the United States. Zanda asked that I help share news from Afrin. Since then, Turkey has completely seized control of the town, but in a stroke of luck….
A week ago, Zanda heard from her big sister. Her sister and her baby niece had escaped the Turkish occupation and were on their way to Lebanon.