After more than 580 submissions from 13 district campuses, 21 pieces of art were awarded this month by the Santa Monica-Malibu Council of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) as part of the National Parent Teacher Association “Reflections” program. The program has been a national staple since 1969, selecting the most creative and expressive works under a common theme, with the 2023-24 program themed “I am hopeful because…,” chosen from input by children across the country.
The district winners of the Santa Monica-Malibu PTA’s Award of Excellence in the 2023-24 program now move onto the 33rd District level of competition, the next step into possibly taking the national spotlight. In last year’s program, based on the theme “Show Your Voice,” multiple district submissions reached the state level of competition.
“[The program is] really about advocating for arts in the schools, really recognizing that it’s so important for kids to have the ability to express themselves in a variety of ways, and just how important it is for kids mental well-being and their intellectual and physical growth to have expression” said Santa Monica-Malibu PTA Arts Education Chair Area Kramarsky.
Winning students came from all grade levels and school sites, broken down into six different artistic categories. Projects moving onto the 33rd District level include works in dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts. Judges were chosen by the PTA for each category, including professionals in the entertainment industry and instructors at local colleges. Along with the Award of Excellence, the PTA also handed out Awards of Merit and honorary mentions to worthy participants.
Submissions were made with positive thinking and expression in mind, something students showed in spades through both their art piece and a written artist’s statement, an explanation of their thoughts and feelings surrounding the art and the theme. Kramarsky noted that the submissions made her cry “for a good reason,” with many students choosing to reflect on the environment and their ability to make positive change in their surroundings.
“It’s just very dear to see the earnestness and the thoughtfulness that they put into it … art is such a great way of expressing things when life is hard,” Kramarsky said. “I think that’s the real gift of [the program], it gives kids the ability to reflect on things that are sometimes difficult and find a way to share their feelings about it, or just emote [and] get the feelings out there. This was a particularly moving theme choice, because there is so much in our world right now to feel stressed about, and seeing that these kids have ways to express that feeling … to focus on what is coming next and to remain hopeful and positive and optimistic about their ability to affect it.”
Award of Excellence recipients are broken down into four divisions, the “primary division” for Transitional Kindergarten through 2nd grade students, the “intermediate division” for 3rd-5th graders, a middle school division and a high school division.
In the primary division, Grant Elementary’s Zora Ziaeian was awarded for dance choreography, Franklin Elementary’s Eli Porter was awarded for literature, and Malibu Elementary’s Bickleigh Copperfield and Fia Michael were awarded for photography and visual arts, respectively.
Intermediate division recipients were Malibu’s Vivienne Keenan (dance choreography), Poppy Lickfett (film production) and Everly Jensen (photography); Grant’s Elodie Barker (literature), Webster Elementary’s Juniper Benjamin McKee (music composition) and Franklin’s Brett Woodruff (visual arts).
Top middle school submissions came from Lincoln Middle’s Jiyoo Lim (film production) and Lara Masood (photography), John Adams Middle’s Jade Martinez (literature) and Graciela Buccioni (visual arts), and Malibu Middle’s Tiernan Stimpfl (music composition).
The district’s two high schools also had award-winning work, with Samohi recipients being Lucas Molacek (film production), Lily Hynding (literature) and Marleigh Neumeyer (music composition, special artist division). Malibu High School submissions moving onto the 33rd District competition are Lauren Lapajne (music composition), Hank Norby (photography) and Thomas Drummond (visual arts).
Regardless of how these submissions fare at higher competition levels, the program was what Karmarsky called a “celebration of art,” emphasizing that everyone who participated is lauded during the artistic endeavor.
“It is really about celebrating the art [of] everyone … I think that it’s mostly about that you extended yourself, you express yourself and that in and of itself is worthy of praise,” Karmarsky said of the students.