Sixth-grade students from the school in the Murcian neighborhood bury texts and photographs in a box that will open in 2030
Can you imagine where they will be in eight years? Will the trees on your street have grown? Will your neighbors still be there? Will they remember what they were doing while reading these lines? The 6th grade students of CEIP Barriomar 74 in Murcia do. The children of the last year of this stage prior to secondary school have buried a time capsule this Wednesday in the schoolyard with photographs and texts written by them that symbolize all their wishes for the future of the neighborhood. They have done it in front of a group of children from Early Childhood Education who, in 2030, in 8 years, will be in charge of opening that capsule and checking if the wishes of their classmates have come true. An initiative born from joint work with the students of the Master’s Degree in Artistic Production and Management of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UMU. Aurora Alcaide, professor of the Master, coordinates this artistic and cultural action that has culminated in today’s act after a series of previous activities.
“We are Arabs, Gypsies, Venezuelans, Algerians or Ukrainians. We live in the neighborhood and here we are all the same»
In her speech, Marian, student representative, wanted to show the diversity and tolerance of this educational center in the capital. “Almost all of us are Arabs, others are Gypsies, Venezuelans, Algerians or Ukrainians. We live in the neighborhood and here we are all the same », indicated this 11-year-old girl who explained the positive of an activity that has helped raise awareness about caring for the environment and develop a critical spirit. «This inclusive and intercultural center has been carrying out work closely linked to artistic manifestations for 25 years. Through art, children are able to express many other things that they do not achieve through traditional subjects, in addition to working on values”, says the director of the educational center, Ana Luisa Pedauye.
The wishes of the participants have been very varied. Some have been carried away by the sentimental and have wanted to keep in the capsule the desire to maintain the good friendships that have been born between classes and breaks. Others have focused on the environment and have asked that the plants that now grow next to the door of their house continue to be there and that their surroundings be more friendly and green. In addition to preserving what is good, the little ones also want the rubbish that litters the streets to be eliminated, for there to be more sports areas and for the neighborhood to be safer.
university on the street
This teaching innovation project is part of a new line of collaboration that aims to bring the activities of the University of Murcia closer to the public. Specifically, this proposal has been carried out by the students of the subject Migratory Aesthetics in Contemporary Art, within the Master’s Degree in Artistic Production and Management, and has had several phases. “First we made a tour of the neighborhood,” says the project coordinator, Aurora Alcaide. «That walk inspired different works: a psychogeographical map was created, dialogues inspired by the texts found in the neighborhood, such as graffiti or posters, artist books about the contrast between nature and garbage, or an Instagram in which they told their vision about nature”, explains Alcaide.
“Another group”, recalls the teacher, “looked at the bars on the main street, practically the only meeting place for the residents of the neighbourhood”. In addition, they handed out disposable cameras to the children, who, during a guided visit to the Faculty of Fine Arts, saw the results of their snapshots, which are now part of the time capsule that has been buried today, in an act that has with Master students Diego Gutiérrez, nurse and anthropologist; and José Luis Gómez, craftsman; as well as the tutor of the center’s students, María Ángeles Marín. Although he was not present today, Professor Giovanni Croatto also collaborated.
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