Students from Al-Bustan’s Arab Arts After-School Program had their winter concert and exhibition at Moffet Elementary School on Thursday, December 14. Their music performances and art presentations not only brought holiday spirit, but also showed how much they have accomplished just halfway through the year.
The celebration opened with Teaching Artist Lisa Volta and her students, who presented two art projects. The first was paintings based on graffiti muralists El Seed and Belal Khaled, who both make work using Arabic calligraphy. Their next project was a large, long term fiber artwork based on Sara al Haddad, an Emirati artist working with fibers. The students will collaborate to complete a fiber piece before June, name it together, and reflect on their experiences in the program.
The celebration was followed by performances led by Choir Director, Serge El Helou, and Percussion Director, Hafez Kotain. The students were also involved in classroom performances led by Moffet’s Music Teacher, Irene Pelech. Many of Al-Bustan drummers accompanied their classmates using percussion!
Al-Bustan would like to thank all of the staff involved in the program this year: Serge El Helou, Hafez Kotain, Lisa Volta, Irene Pelech, Kathy Medina, Alia Barakat, and Adam Bdeir. Al-Bustan is also grateful for the support of Moffet Elementary School community and the William Penn Foundation. We look forward to our end-of-the-year celebration in June 2018!
Check out what our Moffet kids are up to in our monthly series “Speed Interviews with Moffet Little Leaders”!
