CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS; SHOW FRIDAY AT SOUTHEAST

Jennifer McClure, left, and Holly Pritchard played recorders.

The mediums of music, art and dance will be celebrated during the second annual Children's Festival of the Arts Friday.

More than 250 elementary and middle school students from throughout Southeast Missouri are expected to participate in the free event. The festival will take place at 7 p.m. in Academic Auditorium at Southeast Missouri State University. Susanna Baylon, a news reporter for KFVS-TV 12, will host the evening's events.

Pam Dumey, festival director and creator, directs children's choruses in the public schools and at Southeast. "I wanted to show kids the connection between all of the arts: Music, visual and dance."

The festival is scheduled to coincide with national Music in Our Schools month and Youth Art Month. On March 3, Mayor Al Spradling III signed a proclamation declaring March Music in Our Schools Month in Cape Girardeau.

Students may participate in the festival through their schools, the Southeast Missouri Art Academy or the Southeast Missouri Music Academy. Banners, special dance routines and a mass choir performance are only some of the artistic expressions scheduled during the festival.

Dumey said she thought the festival was important because elementary students don't get to appreciate and participate in the arts as much as older students. Most high school students can become involved in art clubs, dance troupes or school plays for artistic expression. Elementary students have fewer choices, however, and don't get the opportunity to collaborate on performances.

"We're trying to give younger students a venue for expression," Dumey said.

Eight corporate sponsors have provided funding that allowed Dumey to secure a guest clinician to direct the mass choir performance. Anthony Richardson, a music educator and composer from Memphis, Tenn., will rehearse and conduct three of his compositions with the choir.

Sponsors for the arts festival are: Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, Southeast Missouri Hospital, Saint Francis Hospital, Cape Girardeau Physician Associates, Marybeth E. Kapp, M.D., MidAmerica Hotels Corporation, Noffel-Feuerhahn Center for Orthodontics, and Shivelbine's Music.