Tiger Academy students produced drawings and other artworks this year following a November 2023 field trip to The Cmmer Museum of Art & Gardens in November 2023. | Submitted
Published on April 12, 2024 at 11:13 am
Art can help people overcome emotions they do not realize are present.
That was one of the motivations of staff at the Cummer Museum & Gardens and members the Bold City chapter of The Links Inc. when they volunteered with fifth grade students at Tiger Academy this year.
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Tiger Academy is a charter school affiliated with the YMCA that is situated in the Magnolia Gardens neighborhood in Northwest Jacksonville.
Fifth grade students at Tiger Academy received five months of meetings, field trips and connections with local artists, culminating earlier this month in a celebration at The Cummer.
This month’s celebration recognized four Tiger Academy students for their art. Their prompt for the competition was flight, inspired by their field trip to the Cummer and a former Tiger Academy teacher.
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Edward Moore was a beloved educator who was committed to exposing students to things they had never seen before.
Moore’s last lesson was about overcoming grief. He was set to teach fifth grade students at Tiger Academy, when he died on July 30 — two weeks before the start of this school year. Moore was 52 years old.
When Andrea Barnwell Brownlee became the Cummer’s CEO in 2020, she was committed to the museum being a more welcoming place where all of Jacksonville could see themselves through the arts.
By the time Brownlee arrived in December 2020, the Cummer’s partnership with The Links and Tiger Academy was in its first year. Back then, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the programming to be virtual. Today, events are held throughout the academic year in person, so students can experience the sights, the sounds and the smells that emanate from local art spaces.
Kim Kuta Dring has served as the Cummer’s director of education for the past five years.
“We cannot discount the importance of art space and community based experiences for young people and their families,” Dring said. “These types of experiences are really immeasurable. …Knowing and exposing kids to other places in the community that can be resources to them.”
In November, students took a field trip to the Cummer. In January, artists from across Jacksonville — including jazz musician Terrance Patterson, visual artist Erin Kendrick and poet Taryn “LoveReigns” Wharwood — visited Tiger Academy as part of a panel discussion.
Aleizha Batson, president of the Bold City chapter of The Links, said Tiger Academy students had a chance to listen to see and hear a member of the Ritz Chamber Players play the bassoon during this month’s celebration.
“Introducing the children to the arts, especially underserved Black children to the arts, is an amazing opportunity,” Batson said. “If you don’t see, you don’t know. That was a great example of introducing the children to different types of instruments and art. … We just want them to grow and thrive and art is one way to do that.”
The Links is a volunteer organization committed to enriching, sustaining and supporting Black Americans and the Black diaspora. There are nearly 17,000 members across 300 chapters in 41 states, including two chapters in Northeast Florida.
Batson said the 54 members in her chapter are on pace to devote 5,000 volunteer hours during their service year that ends this month.
“This project was special because the students were able to talk about the wings,” Batson said. “A lot of the artwork showed them in the air with doves and it was very beautiful. A lot of them express the pain they felt and the pride they had for (Mr. Moore).”
