On Saturday, October 24, Concord Academy had an Arts Day, an on-campus event for community members to participate in various art and crafts stations including pumpkin carving, pumpkin and rock painting, mural painting, and sidewalk chalk art.
Originally, the Student Life Office developed the idea of an Arts Day event for community bonding after on-campus learning has resumed during STAC 2. As a new organization, the Arts Council saw this great opportunity for a bigger project and reached out to collaborate with the Student Life Office in planning Arts Day. The goal of the event was to give CA students an opportunity to meet in person and to promote the presence of arts in the CA community.
One interesting activity during Arts Day was mural painting. Through art, participants had to answer the question: “What does community engagement mean to you?” Rylie Robinson ’21, one Arts Council members present at the event, shared, “On the wall where we were painting the mural, there were some really cool art pieces [such as] flowers, butterflies, and people standing together and holding hands to answer that question on community and engagement.” Jack Lin ’21, another member of the Council, added that a highlight of the event was to see people’s talents and different artistic expressions in the mural paintings and sidewalk chalk drawings, which have become part of the campus now.
Rylie also shared that she had great fun carving pumpkins with some friends. She recalled seeing others use materials creatively during the event, such as having two toothpicks to resemble a pumpkin’s teeth.
Other than the art stations, Arts Day was a special occasion for in-person socialization. Rylie had a great time with friends engaging in conversations about the art activities and helping each other out, while Jack enjoyed the opportunity to talk to new people such as the freshmen class. Even though the event could have been improved by being more accessible for remote students and including more activity options, it served its purpose of community engagement, as the question for mural paintings stated. Rylie concluded, “I absolutely loved it.”