At Claxton Elementary School, our Specialist Team is committed to providing opportunities for students to be exposed to the arts by individuals outside of our school. It is wonderful to connect students with resources in our local Asheville community as well as around the world through technology. Our Specialists continue to explore possibilities with our Workshops and Residencies program within the current school health and safety protocols.
Claxton has a wonderful tradition of having 5th graders build and customize their own ashiko hand drums with resident artist Steven Turner of Giving Tree Music. Giving Tree Music is an amazing non-profit organization that empowers community building through drumming. Our amazing Claxton PTO sponsors this project and this year we again had a generous donation of materials from our local East Asheville Home Depo to help make it happen. Each year Claxton 5th graders tie-die genuine goat skin drum heads, sand and paint the drum shell, and attach the head to the body of the drum.
This school year our drum building residency took place October 12st through 15th. The residency culminated with drumming performances by 5th graders for the school community and at L.E.A.F. (the Lake Eden Arts Festival) led by Steven Turner. To learn more about Giving Tree Music, check out their website: www.givingtreemusic.com.Â