Celebrating Cultural Diversity through Community Outreach

Story appeared in the 2015 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY ANGELA ANDERSON

“Connecting the arts and education by developing mutual awareness, respect and appreciation” is one of the fundamental goals of the Artists in the Classroom program.

This year, with help from a grant from Art Starts and with the support of the Duncan Business Improvement Association, students at Queen Margaret’s School took this goal a step further. They invited young stu-dents from Khowhemun Elementary School to join them in the creation of a collaborative mural that celebrates elders, community and cultural diversity. This is the third mural that students from Queen Margaret’s School have created for the down-town Duncan community. Centrally located at the home of the Cowichan Green Community Society and Dun-can Cycle Therapy, the mural will help make visible the respect our students have for their elders. It also recognizes the importance of sharing our experiences in a culturally diverse community.

Grade 10-12 visual arts students from QMS and Grade 6 students from Khowhemun Elementary School worked with First Nations storyteller and artist, George Littlechild. They researched a significant elder and creatively translated aspects of their chosen subject in a visual form. While the warm spring breeze flowed through the open doors of the art studio at Queen Margaret’s School, the older QMS students shared their creative expertise and exchanged stories while working alongside the younger visiting stu-dents. This collection of portraits that contain symbolic references to a broad range of diverse backgrounds (First Nations, East Asian, Mexican, Middle Eastern and North American) is a lasting demonstration and reminder of personal and meaningful appreciation of other cultures.