Once a week for three months, Jason Ewing’s fourth- and fifth-graders at Kingsley Elementary School rehearsed a rap song and a skit about understanding people’s differences.
On Saturday the group, We Are One World, joined with thousands of other artists and performers and presented its work to an audience at the Young Evanston Artists festival.
Children from 48 Evanston schools displayed their artwork and performed at the annual festival, known as YEA!
Billboards, tables and stands set up in the area around Dempster Street and Chicago Avenue showcased crayon drawings, yarn weavings and paintings along with dozens of other art forms. Some of the businesses even taped pictures and paintings on shop windows.
Festival founder Harvey Pranian estimated that 5,000 to 6,000 Evanston students from pre-school to high school participated in the event.
Ewing, a Kingsley drama teacher, said his young performers worked hard to prepare for their show.
“It went really well – the kids were really invested,” Ewing said. “I’m proud of them.”
Each school displayed a variety of creative works.
Teachers and students monitored the tables, talking to families and answering questions about the art.
Drawings, paintings and collages were the standard works, but there were many other pieces, including glazed ceramics, small sculptures, African puppets and knittings. Children searched for their own art with their parents, and families picked out different pieces they liked.
YEA! also featured performing arts groups. Throughout the day, students staged live performances in the street at Sherman Avenue and Dempster Street.
Performances included jazz ensembles from Evanston Township High School and Nichols Middle School, choruses from elementary schools and several dance and drama groups.
Courtney Thomas, a third-grader from Lincoln Elementary School, performed with the Lincoln Chorus at noon. The chorus, composed of about 30 students, sang four songs, including “America, Our Home” and “Scales and Arpeggios” from the Disney movie “The Aristocats.”
“It was really fun,” Thomas said. “You get to cooperate with a lot of other kids. I’d do it again.”
Pranian said the idea behind the festival, which he started 14 years ago, is that Evanston businesses “should be involved in the community around them and give back (to it).”
Multiple organizations in Evanston help support and organize the event.
Although students create the artwork and perform, teachers, parents, businesses, the City of Evanston and the Chamber of Commerce also contribute to the festival.
“This is a highly supported event,” Pranian said. “I can’t think of a sector of the city that’s not involved.”
He said the focus of the festival is to provide “an opportunity for children to display their artwork in non-competitive settings.”
“Nothing is for sale,” Pranian said. “There are no first places, second places. All of the children receive a certificate signed by the mayor and their art teacher.”
Ewing said the festival not only showcases student artists and performers, but also helps foster school spirit.
“Any opportunity that gives kids a chance to feel better about school is good,” Ewing said. “Each individual school comes and cheers on their students. (The children) also get to see all the fine arts.”
