Student Voice Summit, See Me Festival Slated for June 1 at the Peabody Essex Museum
Student orators to discuss equity projects; See Me Festival to showcase more than 200 pieces of student art
SALEM (May 22, 2024) – The 2024 Student Voice Summit and the See Me Festival are scheduled for Saturday, June 1 (10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.) at the Peabody Essex Museum.
The Student Voice Summit, to take place from 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Saturday in the East India Marine Hall, features Salem Public Schools students of all grades taking on the challenge of social inequity by forming a partnership with the nonprofit Equity Imperative. This partnership led to the creation of the Summit, an effort to amplify students’ concerns and help them take action to address them.
The See Me Festival, to take place in both the East India Marine Hall and the Group Hub Gallery, is an initiative that captures the Salem Public School district’s core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity through all forms of art: performance, traditional, poetry, video and photography. It will be on display from Thursday, May 30 through Monday, June 3.
Admission to both the Summit and See Me Festival is free through the Group Hub Gallery entrance. The event includes light refreshments and music provided by DJ T-Real.
The See Me Festival will feature more than 200 pieces of artwork from Salem students representing all 11 schools. Among the artwork will be a series of monologues – original and those inspired by others – by Salem High School senior Lee Santiago, juniors Nico Noyola and Taliyah Perrin, sophomore Ella Jackson, and freshman Liv Davis.
Other projects to be displayed include:
- District: A rotating photographic display of the SPS Food and Nutrition Services staff featured last fall for National School Lunch Week (photography by Dana J. Quigley).
- Salem Prep High School: A photographic display of LGBTQ+ community members with biographical narratives.
- Horace Mann Laboratory School: A 10 by 10 foot community mural.
- Witchcraft Heights Elementary School: Drawings and journal entries of Grade 4 students’ immigration stories; self portraits and poems based on the book “The Important Book” by Margaret Wise Brown; and clay sculptures.
- Bentley Academy Innovation School: A mix of traditional artwork, writings and photography.
- Bates Elementary School: Two dimensional pieces in a variety of media along with 15 works of art on a display board.
- Saltonstall School: A poster-size art piece accompanied with original writings as well as paintings by Grades 6 and 7 students inspired by Rene Magritte’s “The False Mirror.”
- Carlton School: Self reflective poetry with self portraits.
- Early Childhood Center: Self portraits and text inspired by the book “I Am Enough,” by Grace Byers.
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are all passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens we view all of our work through. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff serve all of our students, regardless of ability or language. Salem Public Schools enrolls approximately 4,000 students across its eleven schools.
