second art exhibition<\/a> in St. Petersburg\u2019s Poynter Park in March. It will host its first Bucket Fillers Reading Day, a Pre-K to third grade initiative, in the county Nov. 13 (World Kindness Day).\u00a0<\/p>\nThe event will take place at three St. Pete schools, Maximo Elementary; Lakeview Fundamental and Campbell Park Elementary.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Introduced in Sarasota in 2017, the Bucket Fillers Reading Day initiative is a partnership with Venice-based author and educator Carol McCloud.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wrote a series of books relating to the concept of \u201cbucket filling,\u201d said the nonprofit\u2019s vice president of learning and engagement Patrick Arthur Jackson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This refers to the acts of kindness that students can do to fill up someone\u2019s emotional \u201cbucket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vision as an organization is to create a world where differences are respected and valued,\u201d Jackson explained. \u201cPart of that is really working with primarily K-12 students and helping them be more kind, respectful and inclusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schools have the option to work with an in-person volunteer, who will read to the students, or use a pre-recorded webisode, which features appearances from members of local arts organizations and community partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The children will then participate in activities after the read-alongs to encourage further conversations, he added. They will also receive their own copies of the \u201cBucket Fillers\u201d book that was read to them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Approximately 10,000 students in Sarasota and Manatee counties participated in last year\u2019s event.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Embracing Our Differences is also hosting its inaugural St. Petersburg Luncheon Dec. 5 at the Mahaffey Theater. This event will feature a presentation and guest speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we plant some firm roots in St. Pete and Pinellas, it\u2019s been really important for us to have an event that brings the community together,\u201d he said, \u201cso that we can share more deeply about our mission and vision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Embracing Our Differences started with a partnership with the Florida Holocaust Museum, which is located in St. Petersburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 2004, the organizations collaborated to bring a traveling exhibition entitled \u201cCoexistence\u201d to Sarasota from the Museum on the Seam, which is located in Jerusalem, Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The nonprofit\u2019s next art exhibition at Poynter Park will be Mar. 7 through April 12. It will feature pieces by amateur artists, children, teenagers and educators from around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think it\u2019s important to continue to expand this mission, especially in the climate that we are in,\u201d Jackson explained. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how our artwork and education initiatives can create spaces for conversation and discussion in a way that\u2019s safe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Embracing Our Differences website<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sarasota-based nonprofit Embracing Our Differences has been heavily investing in Pinellas County.\u00a0 The organization, which focuses on art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-38508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}