Jazz music echoed off the light, wood-paneled walls of the Evanston Ecology Center Friday night as more than 100 people gathered to raise money for a program that brings professional artists to Oakton Elementary School.
Next year will be the fifth year Oakton has participated in the Artist-In-Residence Program, coordinated with the Illinois Arts Council, to bring working artists into schools across the state to teach students about their crafts.
“This is a big fund-raiser for us,” said Toni Sims, treasurer of the Oakton PTA and mother of a third-grader at the school. “The arts don’t get the money they need otherwise.”
The party raised $7,500 and featured performances by the Gephart Long Quartet, One Drum, and Mark Cleveland and the Seven Directions.
Money was raised through ticket sales and a silent auction in which partygoers bid on more than 100 items donated by Evanston businesses.
“We haven’t missed this event since the program started,” said Ryan Kettelkamp, the father of an Oakton student and secretary of the PTA. “Arts are always the first thing to get cut, so it’s nice if we as parents can come together and do something to bring them back.”
Ann Covode, chair of the Oakton PTA cultural arts committee, said the artists who visit Oakton Elementary School, 436 Ridge Ave., work with students in third grade, integrating the academic curriculum with their art projects.
“By bringing in artists to enhance the curriculum, it makes learning more fun and brings it to life,” Covode said. “It’s something the children look forward to and enjoy.”
The program provides students with artistic experiences they wouldn’t normally have, said Marianne Moberly, the co-president of the Oakton PTA who applies for the state funding every year.
“The kids that are very challenged in regular activities in the classroom respond well (to the art projects),” she said. “They are engaged, on task and enthusiastic.”
This spring’s artist in residence is story-teller Judith Heinemann. She focuses on Native American myths and folktales, and last week she taught students to make corn husk dolls. Soon they will be building a Native American encampment with teepees.
The money raised at Friday’s party will fund next year’s artist in residence, puppeteer Michael Montenegro. The school funds about 40 percent of the program and the Illinois Arts Council provides the remaining 60 percent.
Participating schools must apply for state funding each year, and artists chosen for residencies must be approved by the Illinois Arts Council.
Evanston-based Montenegro said he has been performing and teaching for about 30 years. As partygoers finished their dinner Friday, he jumped on a table to perform with a marionette of an old man. The only lights in the room were two small lamps aimed at Montenegro’s feet, where the marionette told the audience a story.
During the 10 weeks Montenegro will spend teaching at Oakton next spring, students will create their own puppets, write scripts and perform. It will be Montenegro’s second residency at the school.
“I enjoyed it so much last time that I said ‘yes’ to doing it again,” Montenegro said. “It gives the kids an opportunity to discover their own individuality and a sense of dignity. There is something very important about self expression and struggling to see the fruits of your labor.”
Reach Lindsay Minnema at [email protected]
