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Quieter CSW Fest will showcase art, skip live acts
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(File photos of St. Dominic's 2019 Catholic Schools Week Festival art display by Beth Donze, Clarion Herald)
By BETH DONZE
Clarion HeraldIn an era that has seen a staggering number of event cancellations, the archdiocesan Department of Catholic Education and Faith Formation is using all the tools at its disposal to ensure that one popular event goes forward, albeit in scaled-down fashion.
From Feb. 1-5, the 2021 Catholic Schools Week (CSW) Art Festival will take place at Metairie’s Lakeside Mall with its usual displays of riveting, original student art and information on the all-around excellence of Catholic education.
Artistry set to shine
As the deadline for entry approached, 30 elementary and high schools had signed up to display a selection of their students’ painted, sculpted and multimedia pieces at the mall, said Nicole Jefferson, the department’s executive administrative assistant and coordinator of the annual festival.
“I know (displays from 30 out of 72 total schools) doesn’t sound like a lot, but many of our schools were unable to hold art classes this year because they held classes virtually or did a hybrid of virtual and in-class instruction,” Jefferson said.
“We’ll see paintings, sculptures and little artworks that children have been doing at home. A lot of the younger kids have done take-home art projects that they have brought back to their schools for display in the mall for all to see.”
The tables and folding screens holding the artworks will be more spaced out this year to encourage social distancing. The art displays will boast another new feature, thanks to the pandemic: Most will include one or more “no-touch” QR codes offering automatic, smart-phone access to informational pages and videos on everything from a school’s history, to its open house dates to video clips of its students in action.“Some schools might simply have a QR code with the names and grade levels of the students who created the art that’s on display – if they didn’t have time to make (physical) labels this year,” Jefferson said. “But we’re also encouraging schools to use the QR codes to (offer access) to student performances or perhaps their open house video. A school could have 18 QR codes just to show the clubs and sports they have at their school. The sky’s the limit!”
No live performances in mall
The traditional “Music” component of the festival will be missing this year because of COVID-19 – the live, onstage presentations that showcase Catholic school students’ talents in the performing arts. In addition to filling that void with the QR codes at Lakeside, area Catholic schools also are being encouraged to pre-record or livestream school-related content and post it on their Facebook pages and other media platforms during CSW (see the related story on page 19 for the daily social media themes).
To facilitate this process during a challenging school year, Jefferson made herself available to individual campuses to assist with photography and videography. The segments, which will be posted on New Orleans Catholic Schools’ Facebook page during CSW, will include cheerleaders from Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Belle Chasse performing a special cheer called “Trust in God” and a performance from St. Alphonsus School’s liturgical dancers.
During the lead-up to CSW, Jefferson also compiled video and audio recordings of school principals and presidents to create an iMovie entitled “I Have Faith in Catholic Schools.” The video will be released on Feb. 5 – the Friday of CSW – on the department’s Facebook page as a thank-you to school leaders for rising to the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.
Schools placed on public’s radar
While there will be no performance stage this year, the department’s CSW banner, “Have Faith in Catholic Schools,” will hang from its traditional spot beneath Lakeside’s Veterans Skylight.
Jefferson said the festival has been an invaluable marketing tool when it comes to acquainting the public with the excellence of Catholic schools and debunking long-held myths about Catholic education.
“We’ve had people (at the festival) say, ‘I didn’t know that school existed,’ or ‘I didn’t know Catholic schools offered all that – we thought the students prayed all day,’” Jefferson said. “One time we had a pre-kindergarten choir on stage singing, and it was amazing! People were asking, ‘Where is that school located?’ (The festival) is our time to show what we offer to the parents and kids who don’t know us yet.”
Jefferson said mall shoppers also comment on the impressive level of artistic ability, among both elementary and high school students, on display in the art exhibits.
“People at the mall will ask us all the time if they can buy the art,” Jefferson said, smiling. “We tell them to contact the school, so they can make that decision.”