Lou Qiaoying and Jacqueline Brown-Williams, teachers at Polk County High School, were recently awarded a Tryon Fine Arts Center B.I.G (Be Inspired Grant) for their students.

Ms. Lou, Mandarin Chinese teacher, and Ms. Brown-Williams, theatre teacher, were awarded grants to assist with two upcoming classroom performance projects. Ms. Lou’s grant will be used toward costumes and props. Ms. Brown-Williams’ grant will pay for an Artist-in-Residence.

In an effort to support teachers and creativity in the classroom, Tryon Fine Arts Center’s Arts in Education Committee is working with businesses and individuals to award mini-grants of up to $500 each for arts-related projects to educators in Polk County and some schools in Greenville County and Spartanburg County.

“We want to help the dedicated, creative teachers who might otherwise purchase educational supplies with their own personal funds or be unable to provide the arts experience,” said TFAC Board President Tim Brannon.

Lou and Brown-Williams will co-produce a bi-lingual (Mandarin/English) performance of the traditional Chinese tragedy, “The Butterfly Lovers,” based on the legend of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai set in the Eastern Jin dynasty (265-420 CE). Adapted into play form by Ms. Brown-Williams, students from Ms. Lou’s classes will perform in Chinese, as Ms. Brown-Williams’ theatre classes will ‘shadow’ the Chinese characters, and translate into English. Performance dates will be in mid-December.

Ms. Brown-Williams will have a professional actor in October teaching the art of Commedia del’Arte mask making. Brown-Williams is directing an adaptation of the Commedia ‘The Servant of Two Masters’ by the late 18th century Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni. Production dates are November 20, 21, 22.

– Submitted by Jacque Brown-Williams

 

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Lou Qiaoying, Aaron Greene and Jacqueline Brown-Williams