Platform Art, Inc. will send artwork to Imabari, Japan to help Sister Cities International encourage cultural diversity and understanding.
Platform Art, Inc., a non-profit organization whose focus is showcasing regional talent in the film, fashion, sound, performance and visual arts fields, has joined with Sister Cities International to conduct a cultural art exchange between Lakeland and Imabari, Japan.
Platform Art, Inc. has possession of the painting from Imabari, created by Maya Maxx and plans to display it for the first time at their Platform .5 Youth and Art Event Feb. 18. This free event will be held at Oasis Community Church on Winter Lake Road in Lakeland. Platform .5 Youth and Art Event is a one-of-a-kind event.
Every year, teachers and students from Polk County public, private, charter, magnet and home schools are invited to exhibit and perform in a professional venue. Platform .5 juries student art and provides monetary award to teachers to supplement classroom art supplies. It features interactive art workshops for attendees, student performances in theatre and dance, and special showing of annual award winning student films.
“546 people attended last year’s event,” said Cynthia Haffey, executive director of Platform Art.
In 2011, Platform Art commissioned St. Petersburg artist Paula Allen to work with children from Parker Street Ministries, St. Joseph’s Academy, and the Prodigy Program to create an original collage painting on hand-made paper for the exchange. The theme of the 4-panel, 16-foot masterpiece is bicycle safety, sponsored in part by the City of Lakeland and CSX. The canvases are hanging in Lakeland’s City Hall until the end of February.
Once Platform Art’s artwork is removed from City Hall for exchange, the piece from Imabari will take its place. Maya Maxx, an artist popular with children and young adults in Imabari, worked with elementary children to compose Imabari’s piece for the exchange.
Sister Cities International, of which Platform Art, Inc. is a member, is a non-profit organization that seeks to establish positive relationships between international communities and cities in the United States. Promoting cultural competence is just one of the avenues Sister Cities International utilizes to achieve its mission.
Through Sister Cities International, students from Imabari visit Lakeland each year. During their visit in August, Platform Art is planning an art-day for the students and adults from Japan featuring a commissioned choreographed dance performance and reception to honors the cultural art exchange.
For more information on this project, call: (863) 838-2262.
Comments