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Academics at School 61

Arts Integration

Arts Integration

The Arts Coordinator provides teachers with a variety of resources (links, videos, books, art activities)

to share with their students during regular instruction.

School-wide celebrations include: 

Hispanic Heritage Month

Native American History Month

Chinese New Year

Diwali

African American History Month

Jazz Month

Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday

Earth Day

Arthur O. Eve's Birthday

Flag Day

mural saying YES WE CAN out of squares with student drawings on each square

n internationally recognized hip hop dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Amirah Sackett explores and embodies her Muslim-American identity through combining hip hop movement and Islamic themes. She is widely known for her creation of the choreography and performance group known as “We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic,” which reached viral video fame after being featured on POPSUGAR Celebrity, The Huffington Post, AJ+, and Upworthy. Sackett was named one of “17 Muslim American Women Who Made America Great in 2016” by The Huffington Post. Sackett was honored to be a TEDx speaker, guest lecturer at Harvard University, and a cultural diplomat with the U.S. State Department in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Kuwait. Based in Chicago, Sackett continues to teach the next generation and encourage emerging artists to use hip hop culture as a way to uplift, inspire, and create social change.

Denzel Washington is an acclaimed American actor, producer, and director born in Mount Vernon, NY, in 1954. He attended Fordham University, where he majored in drama, and later studied at the American Conservatory Theater. Washington has won multiple awards, including two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, for his extensive film and television career. He is also recognized for his philanthropic work and his roles in stage productions, such as a Tony Award-winning performance in Fences.

Wendy Red Star (born 1981) is a modern artist from the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation. She was born in Billings, Montana, in the United States. Wendy uses humor and traditional Native American images in her art. She wants people to think about how Native Americans are shown in popular culture. Her art often mixes old ideas with new ones. It shows real cultural and gender identities. People have called her work "funny, brave, and dreamlike." In 2024, Wendy Red Star received a special award called a MacArthur Fellowship.

Music lovers call Ray Charles the Genius. Charles was a gifted singer and piano player who also wrote music. He blended gospel, rhythm and blues, and jazz to create a new form of music called soul. Ray Charles Robinson was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, Georgia. (He later dropped his last name, Robinson.) He grew up in Florida. Ray began losing his sight at a young age. By age 7 he was blind. He studied music at the School for the Deaf and Blind in Saint Augustine, Florida. In the late 1940s Charles played piano for blues and jazz bands. In the 1950s he started making records. His hit songs included “What’d I Say”; “Georgia on My Mind”; “Hit the Road, Jack”; and “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” Beginning in 1955 Charles toured throughout the United States and in other countries. Charles won 13 Grammy awards for his recordings. In 1986 he entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Charles died on June 10, 2004, in Beverly Hills, California.