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Contact: Deb Polich, 734-395-9868 Contact: Robert Whitman, 419-285-2184
Put-in-Bay, Ohio/Ann Arbor, MI –Eighth-grade students from the Ypsilanti Community Middle School are going on an international arts education mission this week centered on the War of 1812.Paths to Peace: War of 1812 Arts Legacy Project is a project of Ann Arbor-based Artrain, Inc. and the National Park Service (NPS) Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial (PVIPM) located in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, USA. Paths to Peace interprets the War of 1812 and the long-lasting 200 plus years of peace between nations that were once at war –Canada/Britain, First Nations/American Indians and the United States –from multiple perspectives through the cultural arts. Canadian partners include: Greater Essex County District School Board and the Parks Canada Fort Malden National Historic Site. The Six Nations Legacy Consortium contributed to the education curriculum content. Traveling across the Detroit River to Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada on Friday, October 21, 2016 for the Paths to Peace Symposium, 140 Ypsilanti Community Middle School students will meet up with 140 students from the Windsor- Ontario, Canada region schools (Coronation Public School, Ford City Public School, Giles Campus French Immersion Public School, W.F. Herman Academy and Suzuki Public School) in Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. Matched in international groupings, students will receive curriculum instruction presented by War of 1812 content specialists from Canada and the United States and participate in artist workshops and interpretive activities. A highlight of the day for the students will be a tour of historic Fort Malden, a Parks Canada site. After completing the October 21St Paths to Peace Symposium, students return to their classrooms and, with the guidance of their teachers and artistic mentors, will keep in touch while spending the next several months researching their respective community's ties to the War of 1812, artists/crafts persons of the times, peace movements and international relations. Throughout the year, students will explore various art forms –visual, media, performing and literary –to create work reflecting their observations and interpreting their experience as they incorporate period art and craft. Paths to Peace will culminate in May 2017 with the Paths to Peace Art Fest where the students will meet again with their international partners at the Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, USA. There they will present their artwork to each other and the general public and enjoy tours of the National Park Service site. Paths to Peaceaims to provide a life-long learning experience while educating future generations about an important piece of North American history that is fairly unknown to both American and Canadian residents. It will also connect students to the concrete historical sites, the social and cultural milieu of the time, the war's outcome of 200 plus years of peace and result in the creation of artworks, both visual and performing, speaking to that legacy. Through international dialogue students will learn about one another's history and cultures and be given the opportunity to appreciate the very real differences in national interpretations of historical events. Funding for Paths to Peace is provided, in part, by the National Park Service, Artrain, Inc., Michigan Council for Arts &Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support for the October 21st Paths to Peace Symposium project is provided by Greater Essex County District School Board, Fort Malden National Historic Site, Parks Canada and the Ypsilanti Community Schools. A full list of participating sites, schools and organizations and their locations follows:
Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was established to honor those who fought in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812, and to celebrate the long-lasting peace between Britain, Canada and the U.S. The Memorial, a Doric column, rising 352 feet over Lake Erie is situated 5 miles from the longest undefended border in the world. For more information about Perry's Victory visit www.nps.gov/pevi, Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial on Facebook, Twitter @PerrysVIPM, instagram @perrysvictorynps,or call 419-285-2184. |
Last updated: October 19, 2016