By Stephanie Vaccaro, Staff Writer
On Monday, Prineton’s Paul Robeson Center for the Arts was filled with kids learning while creating. The activities were inspired by the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The Arts Council partnered with Kids Bridge in Trenton, the Historical Society of Princeton and the recently formed community service volunteer group from Princeton High School.
The afternoon featured an assortment of creative hands-on art workshops and collaborative projects, for both elementary and middle-school students, commemorating Dr. King’s message.
”We like to teach how things happen, and how they’re carried through and how they move forward, so we have lots of different activities today,” said Maria Evans, community arts manager for the Arts Council.
Kids Bridge set up a puppet-making station where kids could create puppets that could later be used in one of a variety of skits that had to do with tolerance. Among the topics were race, gender, athletic ability and appearance. Each skit had an “upstander” who helped promote tolerance and inclusion.
”We want to encourage kids to be upstanders,” said Rebecca Erickson, who works part-time with Kids Bridge.
The Historical Society of Princeton had a certificate-making activity where kids could decorate and sign a certificate called the Peace and Justice Award.
The Arts Council offered printmaking and jewelry-making.
The prints were of people known for championing social justice: Rosa Parks, Gandhi, John F. Kennedy and Dr. King.
The participants were also able to make rings that contained excerpts from Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech, including the following about the Emancipation Proclamation: “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering justice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”
”Everyone who comes here loves making an art project, and we like to have our projects based in education, so you’re learning as well as creating,” Ms. Evans said.
”It is Martin Luther King Day, but we’ve also introduced a lot of different figures from that time frame.” Among them were Malcolm X and Rosa Parks.
They also had the Birmingham Pledge, which gave participants the chance to select among five or six statements and choose the one that makes the most sense to them and write it on a silhouette of Dr. King.
”We’re hoping that if you write it, you’ll remember it, and you’ll let it influence your life,” Ms. Evans said.
The first among them: I believe that every person has worth as an individual.
