Cook6Project summary: Parent-Teacher Conference will include three components: a music video with commentary; 3 discussion forums between students, parents, educators, and local community activists; and interviews captured at these events. The team will use music and the spoken word to educate, motivate, inspire, and open up dialogue regarding the Kansas City Missouri school district’s continuing lack of accreditation. The goals of the project are to engage its audience and spark new commitment for educational improvement at the grassroots level.

Project details: Artist and activist King Kihei has completed a song collaboration with The Recipe Poetry Guild, entitled, ‘Parent/Teacher Conference’. This will form the backbone of a music video that will depict a day in the life of a high school bus driver, a high school student, a parent of the high school student, and people on school administrative staff. Throughout the video, facts related to school funding, economies, and district decisions in Kansas City (and supporting national statistics) will populate as the visual story is told. A final scene will show the parent of the student attending a Town Hall meeting to discuss their concerns related to Kansas City education and its accreditation

Cook4As part of the project, the team will also hold a rally and provide parent attendees with report cards so that they can grade themselves on how active they have been in their scholars’ education, and take pledges for improvement. Additional grade cards will be created for student and educator attendees so that they can make a similar commitment.

Broadly, the targeted audience for this project is people affected by non-accreditation, and specifically metropolitans in Kansas City, Missouri who have students in inner-city schools. The team imagines the issues surrounding accreditation to be manifold and to contain many different perspectives, and wish to invite maximum input in order to tell a richer story with less bias. For this reason they will also invite other local activists to participate in the forums. Ultimately the team will be providing a platform for dialogue, and a commitment to educational improvement at the grassroots level.

Additional collaborators include a number of community members who wish to be an active part of the project, including: Brandon Ellington, the 22nd District State Representative, who has verbalized his willingness to host one (or more) of the discussion forums; videographers, Ebonie Jeneus and Woodland Media; digital producer and director, Lyn E Cook; and Independent Filmmaker Coalition winner, Jason Piggie who will oversee the editing process, to ensure the best quality visual product.

The final video will be made available to the public though a complementary DVD disc that will also include film footage captured from the discussion forums, and interviews with people affected by educational non-accreditation.

 

Lyn E Cook photoLyn E Cook*, is a graphic designer, editor, researcher, photographer and web designer, who will serve as the director of the music video.

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King Kihei photoKing Kihei, (Pronounced “key hey”) Is An Artist of Hawaiian and African American descent. Born in Honolulu, raised in South Central Los Angeles and Kansas City, King Kihei has experienced many different walks of life. With an uncanny ability to mesh these influences within his lyricism and music, King Kihei creates an unprecedented style.

A community activist and education advocate, King Kihei has garnered the reputation of having one of the most innovative minds in the local scene. With the creation of “The Griot Gathering” album, a project specifically based on social commentary tackling the major issues in The Kansas City area, King Kihei was able to capture an educated perspective of the anger and frustrations of the community.

Cancer survivor, Guinness Book of World Record holder (for the longest poetry reading ever), King Kihei does not plan on ending his journey to accomplish greatness any time soon.

The Recipe KC is Dramatic Art N Rhythm, poetic theater and music all ages appreciate. From a Tom Joyner morning performance, to New York City’s Times Square, to San Antonio by way of a stop in Chicago, poetry has taken the Recipe KC around the United States, and also overseas – via a web performance that made front page news in Nagasaki, Japan. Their delivery cooks various tempos, harmoniously seasoning combined aromas in one song. Their performances and CDs take the form of concept albums in the manner of Pink Floyd, full course plays of poems, or story telling recitals. The Recipe KC’s lyrics live by the responsibility of the effects of words have on culture, and their poetic form presents itself in 16 bars, always with a message of social morality through critical self-analysis. They aim to be the next evolution of poetry and music.

Theodore “Priest” Hughes and Desmond “3-3-7” Jones, who make up The Recipe KC, believe that by exemplifying excellence and teamwork as spoken word artists/activists they can influence, change, and encourage people by example, with a goal of working together towards common goals. Their Nu Muse-ik POetry supports Expression without Weapons, youth and adult creative writing programs in schools and homeless & juvenile institutions, nurturing a generation of understanding through honest conversation.

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