To help recognize International Education Week, eighth- and ninth-grade student artworks inspired by Washington, D.C.'s Anacostia River will be on display beginning Tuesday in the lobby of the U.S. Department of Education alongside student artworks illustrating London’s Thames River. Six public schools from both D.C. and London are represented in the show.
The exhibit is part of the British Council's Rivers of the World project, linking schools and more than 2,000 13–14 year olds around the world through a common theme: their city's river. D.C. students contributed artwork portraying the Anacostia. The project is sponsored by The (London) Mayor's Thames Festival in partnership with the British Council and supported by the HSBC Education Trust.
Opening ceremonies for the exhibit begin at 11 a.m. Tuesday with remarks by Assistant Secretary Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana, British Council Chair Martin Davidson, the HSBC's Aimee Daniels, U.S. artist Abigail Byrd, and Bell Multicultural High School art teacher Mandy McCulloch. Students from D.C.’s Winston Education Campus will read poetry and artist and poet Regie Cabico will perform.
Throughout the school year, schools involved in the project study their partner city's river and collaborate on a joint curriculum covering environmental science, river bridges and history of their partner city's river.