The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis have announced a new partnership. Through events, publications and community projects, the Brown School and Pulitzer hope to explore how social work and the arts can interact in a meaningful way.
The first public event of the partnership is a street festival at Grand Center from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. The festival celebrates The Community Light Project (CLP), an initiative with the goal of bringing together people of all ages and interests around light, art, and community.
The festival, which is free and open to the public, will feature activities for families and students of all ages and is designed to highlight the work of the CLP. The event also will include two performances by students playing percussion instruments they have constructed that will light up when struck. Members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform with the students.
The CLP involves art and music projects with elementary, middle and high schools, as well as other institutions, such as the St. Louis Science Center and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition to other programming, select students from Cole Elementary, Cardinal Ritter Preparatory School, Loyola Academy, and Metro High School, under the guidance of commissioned artists, will create light installations in their individual schools and will work together to build a collaborative light installation that will be displayed in the Grand Public Arts Plaza, adjacent to Powell Symphony Hall on Grand.
“This project seeks to open dialogue about what light means to different community members—for some it may mean security, for others it may mean salvation, while for others still, light may mean pollution or surveillance,” says Lisa Harper Chang, manager of community engagement, a joint position shared by the Pulitzer and the Brown School. “By learning more about each individual’s personal relationship with light and art, the Pulitzer and the Brown School seek to explore what role light and art can play in the process for community change.”
A trolley tour will be available the evening of the 3rd to help visitors explore the light installations at the schools and the Grand Public Arts Plaza.
The CLP is based on the Pulitzer’s current exhibition, Dan Flavin: Constructed Light, and The Light Project, a corresponding series of outdoor installations in the immediate neighborhood of the Pulitzer in Grand Center.
Upcoming partnership projects focus on the Pulitzer’s next exhibition, Ideal (Dis-) placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer, and involve working with further community partners, including Prison Performing Arts, Metro Theatre, the Alzheimer’s Association, and Employment Connections.
For more information about the partnership contact Harper Chang at 754-1856 or lharperchang@pulitzerarts.org.