After an extended hiatus and a planning period made hectic by security concerns and logistical changes, the familiar sounds of the renowned Focus on the Arts festival filled the halls at Highland Park High School last week.
Hundreds of students who had missed out on the biennial arts festival — last held in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic — were at last able to partake in the tradition, which has been embraced by the community and has been credited for inspiring the creative careers of some Highland Park natives.
As an array of musicians, artists, dancers, actors, producers, singers and even Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson converged on the school to showcase their talents, junior Kalin Patel was eager to soak in the scene.
“The variety here is really fun and hopefully that gives me more than what I usually have,” Patel said. “I don’t take arts classes here at school often.”
Patel, one of many students who worked to plan the event, said he was signed up for a variety of sessions, from a course on woodturning, where he made a pen, to metal and glass crafting classes and another class about making art with masking tape.
The timing, after most seniors have made their future educational plans and as the weather turns warmer, wasn’t bad either.
“We’ve been planning this for a while (so) I think the timing’s perfect,” Patel said. “It’s a good way to wrap the year for juniors and seniors.”
He said the sessions are not just “a little class to take,” and that he appreciated the applicability of presentations put together by people like “Chicago P.D.” actress Melissa Carlson, a Highland Park High graduate who has frequented the festival.
“It’s not (just) a little class to take, but they’re really valuing it just as much in our education,” Patel said.
“You get to learn not only about what the role is, but (Carlson) gave tips on auditions, how to get started, what classes to take and I think that’s more valuable, especially when you choose what you want to do here,” he said.
District 113 Superintendent Bruce Law said the event, which has captured hearts on the North Shore since its first edition in 1964, is a “passion project for so many in Highland Park.”
“It’s days of jampacked events for students to enjoy and maybe get some inspiration for a future they want to pursue,” Law said.
Between increased security concerns resulting from the tragic summer parade shooting, as well as the resignation of longtime event coordinator Jody Weinberg, there was considerable community anxiety in the fall about what form the event would take, and whether it would be up to its usual quality after a long layoff.
Instead of being open to the public during the school day as has been the tradition, District 113 officials opted to instead open the event to the community at night to allow for tighter security and knowledge of who was in the building.
The public was able to attend Focus’ Opening Night on April 17 before the school opened its doors for prime-time events on Art Night, which was held April 19, and Dance Night on Thursday.
Law told the News-Sun he was confident the event would be a success, and that it was “incredibly humbling for me just to see all the work and commitment” to the event from community members.
New Focus on the Arts program director Tamara Jenkins remarked that the months leading to the event had been “pretty hectic,” and that she had already recorded nearly 20,000 steps.
She thanked the “really great group of volunteers, parents and community members” for all the work they put into organizing the event, and reflected on what she thought would be a “mind-opening experience” for students, including the senior Class of 2023, that nearly went without the event during their high school tenure.
“The mission of Focus is to teach students, not just exposure to art, but also new ways of thinking and viewing the world through the way an artist approaches life or their craft,” Jenkins said. “This particular program, we bring in people that have stories to tell as well as an art to share.”
Jenkins said it was an emotional and satisfying moment when the event kicked off.
“To hear the kids cheering, tears just came to my face,” Jenkins said. “It makes it all worth it. You can feel the excitement.”
Jenkins estimated that between 25% and 30% of presenters this year were “successful Highland Park graduates that come back and serve the program,” after having positive experiences while attending the school.
“They’re so emotional about coming back,” Jenkins said. “They’re really invested in returning because it was life-changing for them.”
Artist Jacqueline von Edelberg collaborated with students to create a large display of plastic water bottles designed to “highlight the harms of plastic waste,” using about 5,000 upcycled water bottles and other plastic waste acquired from area lunchrooms, retirement communities and local events.
“Everything you see here has been recycled and upcycled from the trash,” von Edelberg said.
Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans in recent years has reached “unprecedented levels,” according to a study on plastic waste released earlier this year.
Students also wrote positive intentions to improve the world, which were displayed on another exhibit displayed at the school’s front columns.
Senior Yossi Jamieson said the exhibit proves that people can repurpose plastic waste, “instead of just throwing it away and letting it go into the ocean.”
Jamieson said that he thinks it is good to increase awareness of the masses of plastic entering the Earth’s oceans at increasing levels, and hoped that the project helped do so locally.
“I think this is just kind of getting the message out there for people that, honestly, plastic is just horrible in general,” Jamieson said. “It’s just easier to use, but then you see all of this. Most of these (bottles) were only from one day.”
As the Highland Park community returned to partake in the event, so too did members of Deerfield High School, which sent student and staff delegations to the event in order to absorb what goes into its production and brainstorm as District 113 officials consider expanding the event to Deerfield High in the near future.
Deerfield High School band director Pam Holt said she believes an expanded festival could help neighboring students form strong passions for the arts, just as Highland Park and Highwood students have.
“We feel like the arts are really outstanding at Deerfield, and there are a ton of students through generations who have continued in various areas of the arts,” Holt said. “Highland Park and the community has a reputation for arts that have permeated throughout the lives of the people who go to school here, but I think that is because of Focus.”
