April 23, 2003

Festival friendship

VSA arts workshops bring together 260 area students

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

What do roaring like a bear, drawing, juggling scarves and singing have in common?
These activities and more provided an opportunity for 260 area special and general education students to forge bonds and deepen friendships.

Herald photo by Garret Leiva
Students work on art projects using bits of color stone during the sixth annual VSA arts of Michigan-Grand Traverse Area Festival Thursday at Dennos Museum Center.

These students gathered Wednesday and Thursday mornings at the Dennos Museum Center for the sixth annual VSA arts of Michigan-Grand Traverse Area festival. Called "Friendship is a Breeze," the event brought together the arts, books about friends and friendships present and future. Participating students came from Central Grade, Long Lake, Norris, Glenn Loomis and Eastern Elementary schools, East and West Junior High schools, St. Elizabeth Anne Seton Middle School and St. Francis High School.
Students are paired for the day as buddies, matching a special education student with a general education student to promote friendship and understanding. Dayna Ryan, executive director of VSA arts, noted that this year the program included nearly equal numbers of special education students and general education students. This is in keeping with the organization's mission to use arts to include people with disabilities in a variety of activities.
"This year we were so bold in that we required a 50-50 enrollment, or close to it," Ryan said. "We would not accept just a few general ed or special needs kids in a group."
The day's events allowed participants to meet and get to know students who are different from them.
"I think it is good not only for the special education kids but the general ed kids because we are all in this world together," she noted. "That's the time to learn, at this early age, that we all bring a piece to the table and it just may be that different people offer a different kind of piece."
Workshop activities ranged from circus and visual arts to drama, creative movement and music. As students rotated among activities, they drew, sang, danced, choreographed and juggled. One station armed participants with a hammer and had them smashing old cups to create pieces for a sundial. Another had them slithering like a snake, swimming like a fish and soaring like a butterfly.
Each session began with one of ten area artists reading a story that revolved around the theme of friendship. Stories included "Marsupial Sue" by John Lithgow, "A Color of His Own" by Leo Leonni and "Pumpkin Soup" by Helen Cooper. These stories set the tone for the arts activity that followed.
"The story expresses the way I feel, like my own words when I start drawing," said Tony Vereeke, a student at the Adult Work Center, as he listened to "The Many Colored Days" by Dr. Seuss.
Vereeke then drew a slide showing what friendship meant to him, which was added to a group slideshow on the topic.
"I drew my two nephews and me," he said. "And my brother. I'm with my brother a lot I see him in Detroit, he lives there."
Maggie Olson, an eighth grade student at St. Elizabeth Anne Seton Middle School, returned to the festival this year as a helper. She first attended three years ago and enjoyed making friends with a special education student named Curtis.
"I still have the drawing he made me," she said. "I just really liked the environment, it was upbeat and the kids really looked forward to it."
Lorraine Laird, a special education teacher at East Junior High School, brought 13 students with her who were thrilled to once again meet their pen pals from Long Lake Elementary school. The two groups get together monthly for activities, including bowling, going to the Music House Museum in Acme or attending the Special Olympics.
"This is more opportunity for them to get together in a different type of situation, less academic or structured than a school situation," Laird said. "We always do Very Special Arts because it is perfect for us, particularly with this year's theme of friendship because we hope that they really develop friendships."