The Dream Flag Project

2006 Dream Flag Celebration

~why go and what to know~

The 2006 Dream Flag Celebration is coming up on Saturday, April 22! Our students have made wonderful poems made even more spectacular from their art work.

Part of what makes this project a great experience for us is that, in addition to sharing our dream poetry with each other, we have the opportunity to share it with thousands of other students and teachers along with our families and the general public. It's a wonderful way to include our school families in what we are doing and to show our students how important their words are to so many people.

For the third year, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Broad and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia) has invited us to hold our Dream Flag Celebration there. The program starts at 12:00  and will end by 1:30.

At the Dream Flag Celebration, Dream Flags from all the attending schools will be displayed across the balconies of the main atrium of the Kimmel Center. In the past we’ve connected as many as 2,000 flags, circling that huge atrium several times with colors and poems of hope. Representative poets from each school will read their work while faculty from the University of the Arts accompany them with improvisational music. We’ll all join in “The Dream Flag Song," led by student singers from participant schools. To see some video and pictures from last year's events, check out our Share page and to read a description of last year's celebration, click here.

We'll have representative readers from each school attending.  As soon as we know how many schools plan to come, we'll send out a notice with a specific number of readers for each school. We try to keep the reading segment to about 40 minutes or less.

For many details on timing and transportation for the day, see the bottom of our calendar page in the News section.

Here are some general tips based on past years' experiences:

1. Send home a note well in advance to invite parents. For a sample note, click here (Microsoft Word Document).

2. Make sure kids know that even if they aren't reading a poem that day, it's really important to have flag holders to display the school's flags. At a certain time in the program, kids get up and go all over the Kimmel Center to hold up their flag lines and yell out their school name when it's called. You can use at least one flag holder for every 15-20 flags. It's also good to emphasize that the poem readers are representing all of the poets from the school, and it's our job to cheer them on!

3. All interested students can help sing "The Dream Flag Song” It would be great if we had hundreds of voices raising the roof! This is another great way for students to have a defined role at the Celebration.

4. Bring a back-up copies of the poems to be read by your school's readers.

5. A great way to pack the flags you'll bring is to fold them like an accordion, put the group in a file folder, and clip it with a large binder clip.

6. Tell kids and parents it's OK to bring a snack. Since the program runs from 12-1:30, they'll be hungry.

7. Allow plenty of time before the program starts. The flags are laid out before the program , and it's lots of fun to walk around to see them and read the poetry.

8. The setting is pretty informal. There's no specific dress recommended. There is some seating (200-300 chairs), but lots of people stand, sit on stairs, and move around.

9. We hope to have Dream Flag tee-shirts at the event (or to be taking orders). They'll be $10--just over production cost. They have "Dreamer" on the front and "The Dream Keeper" on the back.  Here's a picture.

10. There are lots of bathrooms, and they're easy to get to.

We hope everyone in driving distance can come and join in the fun. If you can't we still want your poems and flags, so send them along and you'll be with us in spirit!