Children”™s Art Exchange project — Los Angeles/St Petersburg sister cities

Currently on exhibit – today until Thursday – is a large collection of original artwork by Local District 4 Elementary, Middle and High School Students.  The exhibition is being displayed at the Charles White Elementary School Gallery, 2401 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90057.  There will also be a closing reception on Thursday, May 6^th – details below.

Entitled A Twenty-Year Friendship Between Los Angeles and St. Petersburg, this is a celebration of unification between the students of Los Angeles Unified School District and their peers in their sister city, St. Petersburg, via an art and cultural exchange and citizen outreach project.  This ambitious exhibition is an initiative of the LA/St. Petersburg Sister Cities Committee with support from the LAUSD, Local District 4.

Approximately one hundred and fifty Artworks of LAUSD, Local District 4 students will be displayed at the Charles White Elementary School Gallery. For the next stage of the art exchange project, the various artworks will then travel to the annual Master Class International Art Festival, in St. Petersburg, in June 2010.

The following year, the program will be expanded to reach a larger group of artist students, while concurrently exhibiting paintings in Los Angeles from St. Petersburg students.

Master Class is a non-profit organization supported by the State Hermitage Museum, the Ministry of Cultural of the Russian Federation, the Committee of Culture from the State Duma, and the Administration of St. Petersburg. The President of the Festival is the Director of the State Hermitage Museum.

Exhibit:

Charles White Elementary School Gallery

2401 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90057

Monday, May 3^rd – Wednesday, May 5^th, 2010

1:00 – 5:00pm

Reception:

Thursday, May 6^th, 2010

5:00 – 7:00pm

Deputy Mayor of Education, Joan Sullivan, and Deputy Mayor of Children, Youth and Families, Miriam Long, will represent Mayor Villaraigosa. Los Angeles District 4 Council Member, Tom LaBonge, is expected to attend the beginning of the ceremony.

Byron Maltez, LAUSD, Local District 4 Superintendent and James Kodani, LAUSD Local District 4 Assistant Superintendent, will also be present.  Joint congratulation certificates from LAUSD and LASPSCC will be delivered to the artists at the end of the ceremony.

For more information, please contact Jackie Olvera at (213) 241 0136

Or via email at Jacqueline.olvera@lausd.net

Report by Pauline Adamek

ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA

Founded by Peter the Great in 1703, St. Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia for over two hundred years. Russia”™s “Window to the West” is a major Baltic Sea port and a European cultural center known worldwide for its music, art, ballet, architecture, and literature. The city”™s technology and academic leadership is marked by the presence of many foreign diplomatic offices, international corporations and banks.

The Los Angeles-St. Petersburg Sister City Committee is a non-profit organization that has supported intercultural and commercial exchange for twenty years.

Website

Sister City Since
1989

Distance From L.A.
5720

Population
City: 4,662,547; Country: 146,001,176

Climate
Summers are cool and humid while winters are long, cold, with frequent warm spells.

Local Time
GMT +3; LA time +11

Currency
Russian ruble