The DREAM Civil Rights Art Contest Awards Ceremony
Grady High School, February 4th, 2012
The Dream Art Contest: Visions of the Civil Rights Movement and America Today is for public schools and after-school art programs (K-12) throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area. The aim of the contest is to foster an appreciation for the relevance of history and to demonstrate the vital importance of the arts in education and in daily life. The awards ceremony for The Dream Art Contest was held on February 4th, 2012 at Grady High School in Atlanta, Georgia. The ceremony featured Congressman John Lewis, Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis, Donna Lowry, and other celebrities.
The contest is being executed in cooperation with the DeKalb County Public Schools Foundation, Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, Woodruff Arts Center (Young Audiences), the Hammonds House Museum, the Atlanta History Center, Fulton County Arts & Culture, and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, which are providing support services to enhance the educational value of the contest and to help prepare the students for their submissions. All entries are to be a portrait of someone (famous or not) from the Civil Rights Movement, a defining image of the movement, or a contemporary depiction (of people, places, or things) that pertains to the legacy of the movement today.
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS The co-presenter of the contest is Atlanta Public Schools (APS), which is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia and run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. The system currently has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a total of 100 schools: 59 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 7 charter schools. The school system also supports two alternative schools for middle and/or high school students, two community schools, and an adult learning center. The school system owns and operates radio station WABE-FM 90.1 (the National Public Radio affi liate) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television station WPBA 30.
THE CURATOR The co-presenter and curator of the contest is Richard Karz, who was the creator/curator of The Legacy Essay Contest. The Legacy Essay Contest was a joint venture of the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council for the Social Studies, and ASCD. U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, was the keynote speaker and awards presenter at the awards ceremony in Washington in 2010. For further information, please see the website at http://www.legacyandlessons.com/essay.html.
Karz is the producer/director of the critically acclaimed documentary feature, Legacy: Black and White in America, which is the third film in The Millennium Dinners documentary series. Legacy was first broadcast on PBS in 2008 (sponsored by Wal-Mart and AARP) and was expanded and updated for theatrical release in April 2009, with special screenings at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Harvard University in Cambridge, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Apollo Theater in New York, presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the National Council of Negro Women. For further information, please go to, http://www.legacyandlessons.com.
The contest is being executed in cooperation with the DeKalb County Public Schools Foundation, Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, Woodruff Arts Center (Young Audiences), the Hammonds House Museum, the Atlanta History Center, Fulton County Arts & Culture, and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, which are providing support services to enhance the educational value of the contest and to help prepare the students for their submissions. All entries are to be a portrait of someone (famous or not) from the Civil Rights Movement, a defining image of the movement, or a contemporary depiction (of people, places, or things) that pertains to the legacy of the movement today.
ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS The co-presenter of the contest is Atlanta Public Schools (APS), which is a school district based in Atlanta, Georgia and run by the Atlanta Board of Education with interim superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. The system currently has an active enrollment of 54,956 students, attending a total of 100 schools: 59 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, 10 high schools, and 7 charter schools. The school system also supports two alternative schools for middle and/or high school students, two community schools, and an adult learning center. The school system owns and operates radio station WABE-FM 90.1 (the National Public Radio affi liate) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television station WPBA 30.
THE CURATOR The co-presenter and curator of the contest is Richard Karz, who was the creator/curator of The Legacy Essay Contest. The Legacy Essay Contest was a joint venture of the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council for the Social Studies, and ASCD. U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, was the keynote speaker and awards presenter at the awards ceremony in Washington in 2010. For further information, please see the website at http://www.legacyandlessons.com/essay.html.
Karz is the producer/director of the critically acclaimed documentary feature, Legacy: Black and White in America, which is the third film in The Millennium Dinners documentary series. Legacy was first broadcast on PBS in 2008 (sponsored by Wal-Mart and AARP) and was expanded and updated for theatrical release in April 2009, with special screenings at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Harvard University in Cambridge, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Apollo Theater in New York, presented by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and the National Council of Negro Women. For further information, please go to, http://www.legacyandlessons.com.
Photos by Phil Alexander-Cox
Superintendent Erroll Davis
Please listen to Mr. Davis' comments on the value of arts education (approx. 3 minutes into video).