Grant Recipient: Cape Cod Opera   The Cape Cod Opera performed on October 26 in Chatham as part of their High School Outreach Program, supported by the Chatham Cultural Council and the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod.
Grant Recipient:  Odaiko Drummers On October 25, 2007 the Odaiko drummers performed for the students of Chatham High School, a performance made possible by a Chatham Cultural Council grant.  Click the movie at the right for a sample from the performance.
Chatham Middle School “In a return trip to Chatham Middle School, Neal Nichols and his Geography Game Show visited the fifth and sixth grade students on May 25. Supported by a grant from the Chatham Cultural Council, it was standing room only at both shows, as word spread that Mr. Nichols was in the building. Mr. Nichols, a resident of Cape Cod, uses his artistic talents, photographic memory, and traveling experience to create an excitement about the world and geography. Students were awed as Nichols drew the map of the world from memory and told stories of his travels to places such as Borneo and the Philippines. The game show centered upon the map and listening skills of the students. Students were rewarded for their correct answers with souvenirs from around the world; a Canadian Frisbee, a scarf from France, a Chinese painting, a pen from Japan. It was an experience few will forget.” Mary Hammett, 6th grade teacher
Petticoat Patriot Program Chatham Cultural Council Grantee: On March 15th, 2007, the 3rd and 4th graders of Chatham Elementary School were treated to a performance of the “Petticoat Patriot” AKA Deborah Samson telling about her adventures and life in the 18th C. Colony of Massachusetts during the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Dressed in a period costume, she described what her life was like as a child is a large family and as a woman who had to do daily chores over and over again. She left her own family to go live with another family in Plymouth, She brought 2 costumes for 2 of the students to try on and feel what it was like to live in the 18th C. She also carried on a lively conversation with the students as she demonstrated various objects, such as a “horn book” for teaching reading. She described how bored she became because she could not go to school, so she decided to join the Continental Army as a man. She served 17 months before her commanding officer discovered that she really was a woman. The students enjoyed her many stories about her life.
Raindrop Journey: Kettle Pond to Pleasant Bay Poster Project: The Chatham Cultural Council is funding, 2006-07, a partnership supplement to a year long project by the three 4th grades, funded by Friends of Pleasant Bay. The overview program is to explore the Raindrop Journey: Kettle Pond to Pleasant Bay to observe the Pleasant Bay watershed in three seasons—fall, winter without leaves, and spring with leaves just coming out. Chatham CC funding cost of printing the community posters and five visits by Leo Kenney, a biologist and teacher to work with the classes before the trip and spend the three days during the school year with students as they follow the Raindrop Journey and create their poster thorugh the seasons integrating art, writing, and research activities. Leo is engaging students in the scientific method of predicting (making hypothesis), observing, and drawing conclusions with collection of and compilation of real- life data, and developing it into a three season poster to communicate to the community the importance of sustaining a healthy watershed which feeds water into surrounding bays. In 1992 Leo Kenney, teacher and biologist, founded the Vernal Pool Association at Reading Memorial High School and began to to apply his photography and prior wetlands studies to produce guides, posters and a website for the public and educational materials and workshops for teachers. EacHe has involved innovative students in art and design projects for their education and that of the public. To date he has produce and printed over 40 “Poster Outreach Projects” for classes including Chatham 5th.
Soloists from the Cape Cod Opera performed at the Chatham High School on October 20th for students from French 4 and 5, and Music, English, Creative writing Band, Art, Photography and Creative Writing classes.  The students were chosen by the English teacher Lisa Forte-Doyle. The soloists sang songs mostly in French even from Bizet’s Carmen and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Les Miserables and other madrigal songs from the Renaissance. This is part of the Cape Cod Opera’s Outreach Program for schools.
	Ruthann Hellfach, President of the Cape Cod Opera
	(Standing left to right) Loma Jane Norris, Martha Evans, Gregg Jacobson, and Thomas Crumb.	Mezzo Soprano Martha Evans