美国国家公共电台 NPR Art That Transformed A Miami Neighborhood Now Making Its Schools Cool

Art That Transformed A Miami Neighborhood Now Making Its Schools Cool

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Let's check out the pretty vibrant 2 art scene in the city of Miami. Each December, Miami's Art Basel fair draws artists, dealers 3, buyers from around the world. This year, though, dozens of artists could be found not in galleries or at cocktail 4 parties, but painting at a Miami elementary school. NPR's Greg Allen explains why.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE 5: Over the last decade, Miami's Wynwood neighborhood has been revitalized by art. Walls throughout the area are now covered in murals, and Wynwood has become a tourist destination. Now, Eneida Hartner Elementary School is getting in on the action. Last week, Spanish painter Marina Capdevila was one of more than 30 artists working at the school.

MARINA CAPDEVILA: I'm painting a group of old ladies doing aqua gym.

ALLEN: Water aerobics 6, yeah.

CAPDEVILA: Exactly.

ALLEN: Capdevila lives in Barcelona but wanted to be involved in the project at the school while in Miami for Art Basel. She wanted to do something with a sports theme. Her cartoon style, she says, is intended to get the kids to smile.

CAPDEVILA: I always am trying to, when I do murals, to put a little bit of my sense of humor to make people laugh.

ALLEN: On other walls, local artists and internationally known muralists like Axel Void and Shepard Fairey have contributed their own paintings. The school's playground is now overseen 7 by a smiling group of chimpanzees by the Dutch artist Pipsqueak Was Here. It's all part of RAW - Reimagining the Arts in Wynwood, a project organized by Robert de los Rios.

ROBERT DE LOS RIOS: This is it, you know? Wynwood, for years it's been painting walls and boutiques and restaurants and - which is all great. I love that. I mean, it's - it's what - you know, paint anything. But if we have an opportunity to help a local institution where our children are raised, why not?

ALLEN: De los Rios and a partner first brought their project two years ago to another nearby school. Today, 86 murals cover the walls at Jose de Diego Middle School. Principal April Thompson Williams says the art has had a tangible 8 impact.

APRIL THOMPSON WILLIAMS: Students now feel that this is a place that they really want to be in. They take pride in their school. They take pride in the - in the environment. I know that we're able to now retain more of our students who used to go out to more of our private schools and our charter schools.

ALLEN: Miami-Dade School District has stepped up as well, funding new engineering and art magnet programs at the school. Together, they've helped boost enrollment 9 and contributed to higher test scores at the middle school. And it all started with the art covering the school's walls. Artists are hoping to have a similar impact at Eneida Hartner Elementary.

PAULIE NASSAR: I had - what? - 15, 20 kids - something like that - here watching at one point.

ALLEN: Paulie Nassar works a lot with young people. He's part of a non-profit that puts young graffiti artists to work doing street art. Last week, he was painting a large purple jellyfish on one of the school's walls, mostly using spray cans.

NASSAR: And this one kid walks up, and he goes, you're using a skinny tip. I was like, OK. I'm like, you're 7; how do you know this? But cool that you know it. And he's like, I prefer fat caps. And he just walks away. And I was like, are you kidding me? Like, this is why we're here doing this.

ALLEN: Miami's Wynwood neighborhood is, in some ways, a case study in gentrification. Many of the neighborhood's longtime residents would never consider going into some of the galleries, restaurants and boutiques that are now common here. That's one reason Eneida Hartner's principal, Derick McCoy, was eager to bring De los Rios' RAW project to his school.

DERICK MCCOY: Eneida Hartner, we service six shelters. These are students that are displaced. They don't have a place of their own. To have those children to have access to this is what really touches my heart the most.

ALLEN: McCoy says the project is already having an impact. For his students now, he says, art is cool. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.