Spring at Paradise Valley Community College
from Storytelling to Samba
By Candace Oehler
Festival of Tales & Music
Paradise Valley Community College students are bringing books and music to life during the Spring Festival of Tales & Music, 9 am to 2 pm, Saturday, April 25, 2015, in and around the Kranitz Student Center (KSC).
In its 14th semester at PVCC, the Festival of Tales & Music is a fun day of reading, literacy and cultural activities for local children, and features arts and crafts, games, simulations, face painting and music. More than 2,000 new books will be given away to participating children.
Storytelling sessions are at 10 am, 11 am, and 1 pm. In addition, PVCC’s Partners in Art Club will provide demonstrations of pottery making and clay sculpting, and local elementary school schools will perform live music.
The festival also features live music by Heidi Swedberg and the Sukey Jump Band (children’s music), Tambores de Paraíso (world music), PVCC student music ensembles, and performances by local elementary schools and community groups.
PVCC’s Art of Storytelling classes, Club Ed, and the Education program present this free event for children in the community. Since its inception, the festival has grown from just 250 participants to nearly 1,000, with more than 100 volunteers at each event. In the past six years, more than 30,000 new books have been given away to children, many of whom come from low-income families.
“Storytelling is beneficial for everyone involved because it helps develop an awareness, understanding and respect for other cultures and new ideas. For children, storytelling is especially beneficial because it enhances literacy skills and sparks the imagination,” said PVCC education faculty Meggin Kirk. “Students in the Art of Storytelling class are pursuing a number of different careers, such as education, business or nursing. Everyone can connect to a story. It’s wired within us as humans. The skills learned in this class and at the festival will carry over into many aspects of PVCC students’ lives, and it’s a lot of fun too!”
Please RSVP for this event by emailing meggin.kirk@paradisevalley.edu. Be sure to include the number of the children who will be attending and their ages.
An Evening with Grupo Liberdade
The 2015 Paradise Valley Community College Fine & Performing Arts Scholarship Fundraiser takes place on Saturday, March 28, and features the lively Brazilian rhythms of Grupo Liberdade. The event supports the Fine & Performing Arts Scholarship fund that benefits students in the college’s award-winning Dance, Music, Performance, Creative Writing, Art, and Theatre Arts programs.
Grupo Liberdade is a performance group dedicated to freedom of expression through culture, movement and sound. They draw on the traditional and contemporary rhythms of Brazil and beyond, while bringing an original sound and energy to their performances. Specializing in Batucada including the Afro-Brazilian styles of Samba, Samba Reggae, Côcos and Maracatu, Grupo Liberdade shares the infectious sounds of Brasil to enrich, move, and inspire audiences.
The festivities begin with a 6:30 pm silent auction, followed by the concert at 7:30 pm. Both events will be held in PVCC’s Performing Arts Center, and advance tickets may be purchased online at www.paradisevalley.edu/cpa or by phone at (602) 787-7738.
Paradise Valley Community College is located at 18401 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. Parking is free.
