On January 24, 2020, Al-Bustan hosted more than 20 students from Pennington School at our newly opened Hub on Lancaster Avenue. The faculty at Pennington had heard about An Immigrant Alphabet and wanted their students to experience the installation firsthand and better understand the immigrant experience through a day long excursion to Philadelphia. Although the public art display was no longer at Cherry Street Pier, our team was able to introduce the students to the message and process of creating An Immigrant Alphabet.
Al-Bustan’s Director of Public Education David Heayn-Menendez and Program Coordinator Madeline Conley hosted the students for an interactive art-making presentation about immigration and the immigrant communities of Philadelphia. After a short presentation, video, and discussion of An Immigrant Alphabet, students were encouraged to create their own alphabet letters. To start the process, they answered one of the prepared prompts which emerged from the project and used markers, photos, and magazine clippings to reflect on their own understanding and experience with immigration.
○ What experiences have you had with immigration?
○ What does ‘home’ mean to you?
○ What would leaving home mean to you? What would you miss or not miss? What would you want to bring with you if you left home for a long period of time or for good?
After the young artists completed their alphabet cards, they were asked to share the choices and stories expressed in their creations. They had a lively and interesting conversation that highlighted the salient topics raised in the public art project.
Due to the quarantine Al-Bustan’s Hub has been intermittently open to the public, however the work and message of An Immigrant Alphabet continues. Our team has incorporated lessons learned from the project, and workshops like those presented to the Pennington School, in a new catalogue of student workshops and professional development sessions for educators. These Al-Bustan led sessions demonstrating the impact of arts integration will be available in 2021.
We continue in our efforts to disperse the 26 banners at sites across the city, at Philadelphia public schools and other institutions. Several are already installed at the Nationality Services Center, Heim Center for Civic and Cultural Engagement in the Parkway Central branch of the Philadelphia Free Library, Penn Alexander School in West Philadelphia, and Northeast High School. Several others will be installed in early 2021 on the exterior walls of our public school partners, notably Greenfield, Comly Elementary, John Moffet, and Stephen Girard, and Francis Scott Keys.
We are seeking host sites for the remaining banners and look forward to seeing all 26 distributed soon after the New Year — after which we will create a map of the host sites, inviting youth and adults to look for the banners on display as they explore the city.
