This Friday, May 8, Bernard Zell will hold its annual Grandparents & Special Friends’ Day/ Arts & Humanities Festival. With this year’s festival theme of Arts in Conversation, visitors will get to enjoy student art exhibits, poetry readings, and musical performances. This celebratory day will highlight the depth and diversity of our arts programs here at Bernard Zell.

As visitors enter the building, they can enjoy breakfast while being serenaded by the Middle School Jazz Band. At 9:00 a.m. the all-school Morton and Zelda Reisman Music Festival will begin in the sanctuary. The audience can expect to hear a wide variety of songs from 4th-6th graders in the instrumental music program—think band instruments, ukuleles, guitars, and even Boomwhackers! The Lower School music portion of the program will highlight call-and-response songs, a staple of elementary music education. Grandparents and special friends in the audience may even hear a song from their childhood ("Down by the Bay," anyone?) and will be invited to sing along with the children. In between each song, 3rd and 5th grade instrumental soloists will perform, and middle school students will read their original poetry.

Following the all-school performance is the Lower School and Middle School Open House, where grandparents and special friends are invited to explore different student art exhibitions around the school. The pieces will be on the first floor in Makom Kehillah, and on the 2nd floor in the Dream Space and Science hallway. Students and grandparents and special friends will also be invited to participate in a scavenger hunt to help guide them through the exhibits and highlight student learning. There will also be opportunities for guests and students to share their thoughts about the artwork with the artists themselves!

We look forward to our hallways being filled with music, poetry, artwork, and connection this Friday. The Arts & Humanities Festival brings our community together to celebrate the creative process of our student artists, musicians, and writers here at Bernard Zell. Whether you are coming as a parent volunteer, or as a grandparent or special friend, we look forward to seeing you on May 8!