Dear Decaturish – Student performances were a hit at Mead Rd. Mardi Gras
Photo provided by - Emily Berg
Photo provided by – Emily Berg
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Dear Decaturish,
Mead Rd. Mardi Gras would like to thank everyone who came out for our parade and festival this year.
Despite the end of times forecast we were looking at, we had a great turnout and a beautiful, beautiful parade!
And even more impressive, we had a beautiful post-parade celebration, highlighted by student performances and it really brought this event full circle.
We were treated to a preview of the DHS spring musical “Grease”. (Shameless plug; you can get your tickets here: https://decaturhighdrama.wordpress.com/)
Performers included two up-coming singer songwriters on Mead Rd., Payton Kashdan and Zoraya Soleto, and the 4/5 Academy African Drum Ensemble.
In case you didn’t know, Mead Rd. Mardi Gras is more than an awesome Mardi Gras celebration with a Decatur twist…. we are a non-profit that raises money to fund music and arts grants that the Decatur Education Foundation awards.
One of the grants awarded by the DEF went to the 4/5 Academy to buy a set of African drums. And what 4/5 music instructor Nick Brooks has done with his grant left me teary-eyed and speechless.
Nick and 20 of his students demonstrated the power of music and how it can bring people together. The kids were poised and proud and they did a terrific job following his direction and keeping up with all the complex rhythms.
After the performance we were speaking, and he told me how this group of students are kids that he approaches, kids that he thinks might benefit from that extra shot of self-esteem that can make all the difference in the world. Nick works on leadership skills and teamwork skills with these students and they meet twice a week at 7 a.m., before school, and then do performances during the year.
After I was done getting the dust out of my eyes, I just wanted to scream so loudly that this is why we do this. Music and arts are such an important part of kids’ educational experiences and if we can help make it more accessible to all students, then we’ll keep wrapping ourselves up in the purple, green and gold and making music in the streets.
I just wanted to sing the praises of all our student performers and the teachers that work with them.
And I wanted to thank community again for their support of our crazy carnival Krewe. It’s amazing to live in a place that embraces what we preach and does its best to share the love.
– Emily Berg, Mead Rd. Mardi Gras, Co-Founder
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