John Cooper School combines Fine Arts Festival with Empty Bowls event for a Woodlands community extravaganza

THE WOODLANDS, TX – Recently, the John Cooper School hosted its annual Fine Arts Festival, where students got to show off their artistic skills as family members and the general public got to see what the next generation of arts would be.

Typically, the festival is held in the autumn, but – according to Head of School Dr. Stephen Popp – April in The Woodlands tends to fill up with multiple events and galas, so the decision was made to have a spring showcase.

“This is just a wonderful community event in celebration of the arts,” said Popp. “The Fine Arts Council – a wonderful group of parent volunteers – does so much to support the arts here at Cooper that are part of our curriculum and part of every student’s day. This is a wonderful time that we can all come together here in the Bayless Courtyard to see student performances like a five-year-old who just played the cello. We have art exhibits for kids to paint and create, our Empty Bowls silent auction going on, and some great community activities for folks to come and participate and appreciate the arts.”

The Empty Bowls project is an annual student-led event where JCS student art pieces are auctioned off to benefit Interfaith of The Woodlands’ food pantry. Interfaith Executive Director Missy Herndon was at the event.

“It’s such a great way for the John Cooper students to get involved and understand food insecurity,” she told Woodlands Online. “They’ve been absolutely incredible. Once this event is over, they’ll invite us back to speak to the lower school where we can educate them on how they can continue to help. John Cooper gives us great support, which allows us to give it back out to the community.”

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