Frist Center Educational Programming Featured in U.S. Department of Education Exhibition

The Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD), in partnership with the United States Department of Education in Washington, D.C., presents the exhibition Museums: pARTners in Learning 2015, on view in Washington from May 6 through June 30, 2015. The third exhibition in this collaborative initiative with AAMD, Museums: pARTners in Learning 2015 features artwork created by students participating in innovative educational programming at AAMD member museums offered in partnership with local schools. This year, the exhibition highlights programs organized by 16 museums from across the United States, including the Frist Center for the Visual Arts' exhibition Stop. Take Notice!, and spotlights a wide range of cross-curricular initiatives that seek to develop students' transferable skills both inside and outside of the classroom.

Stop. Take Notice! is a three-part project that concentrates on community issues while offering teens' insight into art's role in promoting positive social change and raising public awareness. The first component of the project was inspired by a 2012 workshop in which artist Carrie Mae Weems encouraged local teen artists to speak out on issues in the community that mattered to them. The workshop resulted in four interactive artworks and the following year, these artworks were re-created for an exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts.

In December 2013, Hume-Fogg student Elena Zamora-a member of the initial Stop. Take Notice! Project-was tragically struck by a vehicle and killed while walking in a crosswalk close to the high school. In the following months, Hume-Fogg High School students raised awareness about driver and pedestrian safety through collaborative art making in several downtown intersections, which can be seen through the photographs in this exhibition. These artworks were created by friends, teachers, and classmates of Ms. Zamora. This pedestrian safety awareness campaign aimed to "make drivers and walkers think before acting" attracted local media attention, as well as many visitors to the website www.stoptakenotice.com, which was created by the students.

"After the vehicular tragedy, the Hume-Fogg students embraced the title of their original exhibition and mobilized to create, engage, inform and inspire," says Frist Center Executive Director and CEO Dr. Susan H. Edwards. "Their efforts created public dialogue and reminded an entire community to stop and take notice when crossing a street or driving through an intersection. We at the Frist Center are honored to have been selected to participate in the Museums: pARTners in Learning exhibition 2015."

The partners for the first two components of the project were Martha O'Bryan Center's Top Floor Program with Stratford High School; YMCA Latino Achievers with Cane Ridge High School; Oasis Center with Cameron Middle School students; and Nashville Public Library Main Branch with Hume-Fogg Magnet High School students. The third part of the project was a pedestrian awareness campaign initiated by students from Hume-Fogg Magnet High School.