Since October, members of the Art and Soul Fest have been preparing to showcase the talent existing in the art and music programs.
The fest was held on March 16 from 6-9 p.m. in the main concourse. Art and Soul Fest ioriginally started as a senior project.
The concept was created by a student named Anthony Delaware, about a decade ago, in order to celebrate the arts.
“We have representation from the elementary, middle and high school and it’s a great way to build the community around the arts,” co-advisor Sean Redmond said, “and to celebrate students who are excelling and having a lot of fun with it.”
During their weekly Tuesday meetings, club members and sub-leaders brainstormed the theme, which was Hollywood this year, made the decorations and organized the schedule for the night.
“So much hard work goes into planning stuff like the layout of the decorations,” leader Jackson Rohrbaugh said. “It’s like a five month planning process and there’s 23 students who are involved and are putting in hard work to put it all together.”
Students were able to sign-up to either perform or display their artwork at a table.
“I think it’s a great way to build a platform for all of the students to be able to showcase anything that they may not be able to, in other situations, to a greater community,” administrative leader Bryan Wu said.
According to co-advisor Jon Timmons, the fest allows art students to “connect” with community members and “engage” with them, which is something they aren’t able to do in class.
“Oftentimes they make something in class and who’s going to see it? Their classmates or their teacher. So, [this way] the community gets to see it,” Timmons said.
The goal is to raise money for the art and music programs and show the community what arts students at the high school work on everyday.
“All that money [that we make] goes to the music and art departments,” Timmons said. “And we do give a scholarship out. We give an art scholarship and a music scholarship to a senior.”