Healing after violence touches a schoolyard

Gunfire rings out from a schoolyard and a garden of hope blooms. This is a story about one school community, four years of crafty 5th graders, and the transformative power of arts education.  

Six years ago, a man in his late 20s was shot and killed in the playground at Alexander McClure School in Hunting Park, Philadelphia. The shooting occurred late at night and while it wasn’t a ‘school shooting’ per se, that it happened on school grounds had a dispiriting effect on the student body and the neighborhood.

“Many parents didn’t feel that that was a friendly atmosphere for the kids,” artist Carlos Aviles, a parent of a former McClure student, told WHYY recently. 

The McClure community in North Philadelphia pondered not only how to heal the school but also how to make things better. After careful consideration, the school’s art teachers, and noted public art nonprofit COSACOSA art at large, Inc., took aim at a very special art project to heal the community, beautify the school and neighborhood, and engage hundreds of students. 

After four years, the project nears completion. Soon, all four walls of the school will feature beautiful tile mosaics of children at play and other colorful scenes of the neighborhood. And in the yard, a Hope Reading Garden. 

The mosaic tile mural was the handiwork of four years of 5th graders and made with the assistance of four years of Picasso Project mini-grants, PCCY’s arts education advocacy wing.

Today, despite the lingering winter chill and gray skies, the vibrant colors of McClure’s tile mural sparkle, reflecting a new optimism in the community and inspiring students to new heights, as the school’s principal Sharon Marino attests.

“I watched my students work with Picasso Project-funded artists and saw their love of learning swell and their self-confidence grow,” Principal Marino told PCCY. “Arts in school is not an elective, it’s a must-have.”

Recently, Picasso Project director Tim Gibbon crisscrossed the city, visiting all 14 grant recipient schools. With work already underway at every school, he returned energized and inspired, and is excited to share the completed works at the end of the school year.

[Watch this space for community updates and year-end celebrations. Don’t forget to follow the Picasso Project on Twitter and Facebook!]

If you believe in the impact of quality, innovative arts education and want more students to unlock their full potential, support Picasso Project today.