Heritage Months/Celebrations

Rhythm & World Culture: Bringing Language and Geography to Life (5-12)

by Mandy McGee | Creative Movement/Dance, Elementary School, Heritage Months/Celebrations, Lafayette Parish, Middle School, Paula Calderon, Single Session, Social Studies

Step off the map and into motion! In this high-energy, immersive arts session, students take a kinetic journey around the globe—exploring diverse cultures, languages, and traditions through the universal power of dance, music, rhythm, and storytelling. Rather than just studying a map or memorizing vocabulary, in this session students embody the concepts. They will move through global dance forms, practice world language phrases through rhythmic call-and-response, analyze how geography shapes cultural expression, and collaborate on original movement pieces that honor global traditions. With a dash of folklore, history, and prop work added to the mix, this session is rich in options and opportunities. Prepare for a lesson with cross-curricular connections between Social Studies, World Languages, Geography, and Global Studies standards that also fosters empathy, cultural awareness, and creative collaboration. This session can be tailored to align with specific world regions, language immersion units, or school-wide multicultural celebrations, so please check in with the artist if you would like to customize.

The Colorful Art of Romero Britto (K-12)

by Mandy McGee | Art History, Elementary School, Heritage Months/Celebrations, High School, Middle School, Single Session, St. Landry Parish, Visual Art

It is NOT just about museums! We all know that art gets licensed and used in advertising campaigns. Romero Britto –whose art incorporates elements of Cubism, pop art, and graffiti– has produced some very popular examples of that non-museum art. He is well known for using bright colors, bold lines, and patterns that jump off the page. In this session, the students will not just create art in this distinctive style, but they will also discuss the way a piece of art can be transformed into other products such as t-shirts, mugs, bags, etc. Art meets advertising in this classroom!

Hip-Hop History LIVE (K-12)

by Mandy McGee | Art History, Creative Movement/Dance, Elementary School, Heritage Months/Celebrations, High School, Iberia Parish, Jude Romero (Kabuki Dancers), Lafayette Parish, Middle School, Mini-Presentation, Music, St. Landry Parish, St. Martin Parish

This program breaks down the four elements of Hip-Hop culture which are: DJing, Graffiti, MCing and Breakdancing. If booked during February (Black History Month), an additional discussion of Hip-Hop’s importance to Black History is added. The goal of this program is to explain how Hip-Hop is more than just a genre of music and provide some history on the culture. Everything discussed will be demonstrated LIVE!

Clave & Grooove: A Fusion of Rhythm and Dance (1-8)

by Mandy McGee | Art History, Creative Movement/Dance, Elementary School, Heritage Months/Celebrations, Iberia Parish, Middle School, Mini-Presentation, Single Session, St. Landry Parish, St. Martin Parish, Terrance Morgan, Vermilion Parish

Ready, Clave, Go! Discover the rhythmic heartbeat of Latin and Afro-Cuban music in this high-energy, interactive session. Students will learn the foundational clave rhythm (traditionally counted as 1-2-3-12) using authentic wooden percussion sticks. This session bridges the gap between live percussion and modern street dance, demonstrating how this ancestral pulse heavily influences house dance and hip-hop foundations.

ADDITIONAL ARTS IN EDUCATION RESOURCES