Art on the Avenue (AOA) is my favorite arts event in Alexandria (and I go to lots of artsy things-—my husband plays in three different bands and sings with the Alexandria Choral Society and its select group Pro Coro) because it is a truly community-based, family-centered event, with loads of local artists, local performing groups and local restaurants. It takes place each year along Mt. Vernon Avenue in the Del Ray section of Alexandria on the first Saturday of October, and always includes arts events for children, especially young children, so they can explore a wide variety of opportunities to make their own art. These art activities for children are always sponsored by Alexandria non-profit organizations, including many of its private and public schools.

I encouraged us to consider participating, because doing so fits in so well with our mission and goals, and for the last few years, we have had a successful tent in the Kids’ Activities area on the field next to Mount Vernon Community School.  It showcases our strength in the arts, enhances our visibility and participation in the larger community and gives both the adults and students who run our tent a chance to interact with young families and tell our story (and, of course, advertise our Fair and our Admissions Open House, which always come within a week or two of AOA).

This year, we incorporated another aspect of our mission by partnering with UpCycle Creative Use Center. UpCycle Creative Reuse Center is an Alexandria, Virginia based non-profit housed at the Durant Center that rethinks the traditional notion of waste by collecting cast-offs from the community to serve as creative materials for art projects.  Burgundy has been a member of UpCycle for several years and our teachers regularly donate materials and “shop” for materials for classroom projects, but we have now forged a new relationship that we hope to expand. Our project at Art on the Avenue this year used watercolors made by recycling markers. Children, ranging from toddlers to middle schoolers who visited our tent used white crayon or pastels to create a drawing or pattern, then painted over it with the upcycled water colors. Since the watercolor does not adhere to the oil based crayons, the final product is a design that incorporates both the crayon drawing and the water color. At our first Sustainability Club meeting of the year, members again recycled the artwork that was not collected at the end of the day at AOA into posters that will be displayed at the Burgundy Fair.

Our tent was “manned” by Burgundy middle school students and their families, as well as by staff members and volunteers from both Burgundy and UpCycle. Our students loved helping young children with their art and getting a chance to see the wonderful and varied art displayed along Mt. Vernon Avenue. And, of course, none of this would have happened without the support of the Advancement team and the time, skill and organizational efforts of Daisa and Christen.