Acceptance and kindness

By TORY DENIS
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — Amplified Arts, LLC has partnered with Rural Outright, a committee of the TLC Family Resource Center, to host an art exhibit featuring Claremont students in grades K-12 and focusing on kindness and art in schools.

The Creative Expressions exhibit opened on Thursday at Amplified Arts, a theater and arts studio space on the second floor — and soon to expand to the third — at 31 Pleasant Street, above the Granite State College space.

Featured artists included Alexis Ford, Alysa Wyman, Annie Sweet, Ashlyn Marsh, Brianna Bunten, Caitlyn Streckerl, Hadley Rich, Jacob Ford, Kaylee Sheppard, Lacey Lawson, Loren Howard, Nicholas Carver, Sage Hutchinson, Van Schofield, Wyatt Spaulding, and students in grades K-5 at Disnard Elementary School, who worked together on a large, colorful painted mural.

The exhibit ran in January at the Claremont Opera House with a theme of “Kindness in Action” and in conjunction with No Name Calling Week, according to Matt Mooshian, chair of the Rural Outright Committee for TLC Family Resource Center.

The hashtag #kindnessinaction has been trending on social media in an effort by students and educators to help end slurs and stereotypes in schools.

The purpose of the current exhibit was not only to display the students’ works with the theme of kindness, but also because it is Art in Schools month, and to allow the show to run for the length of Amplified Arts’ “The Laramie Project,” Mooshian said.

“The Laramie Project,” a play by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project, is based on the true story of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who in October 1998 was kidnapped, severely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming.

The play is also a partnership between Amplified Arts and Rural Outright.

A cast of 13 from Sullivan Country and members of Amplified Arts’ Academy program will perform the play, which opens on April 27 in recognition of the Day of Silence, a student-led national event where participants can “take a vow of silence to draw attention to the silence and erasure of LGBTQ people at school,” according to the Amplified Arts website.

Following each show will be a panel discussion featuring the cast and crew, LGBTQ community members, and other experts.

Due to strong language and mature subject matter, the production may not be suitable for young children, according to organizers. Show dates will be 6:30 p.m. April 27, 1 p.m. April 28 and 6:30 p.m. April 28.

For more information on Rural Outright, visit tlcfamilyrc.org/rural-outright. For more information on Amplified Arts, visit http://amplifiedartsnh.com/.