We Should Try Having Eisteddfods in American Schools

Eisteddfod (n.) Roughly pronounced eye-STED-fid. Welsh for "sitting together," historically a festival with ranked competitions in art, drama, poetry and music or the like.

Welcome back to the blog, fellow firebird reader! There's a good chance you clicked on this post because of the weird word in the title (and defined above). I didn't know how the word was even spelt the first time I heard it back in third grade. But what I didn't realize was that participating in eisteddfods laid the initial groundwork of the writer and artist I became.

I grew up in South Africa and attended five schools in that ten-year timeframe, and at almost all of them I participated in a concert, a play, a competition, a gallery showing, a talent showcase, or, as the title suggests, an eisteddfod, which culminates every single art form. Being involved in this artistic space is where a good chunk of my positive memories from growing up abroad come from, and opportunities to perform was definitely a deciding factor in my college choices. Which is what led me to a Waldorf-type college where I could design my own degree and there were impromptu open mics periodically. I ended up transferring out of there (another story for another day), but had I not, I wouldn't really have a career that started from the Mini-Fringe Festival on my new campus that produced my playwriting debut later on.

My first time participating in an eisteddfod was in middle school, and you could enter something into the art, poetry (in English, Afrikaans or Zulu), dance or drama categories and then get awarded bronze, silver, gold, or a diploma, which is higher than gold. I entered a painting I did and then recited a poem I wrote myself about this fancy island I made up that was situated in a made-up country where most of my stories were based at the time. Both got silver. Not bad for a first try. My best friend at the time had been doing them for probably longer than I'd known her. This same school had something called Idols that ran every year for fourth- to sixth-graders who mostly made up dances to songs they lip-synched to. I never made it past the first round except when we danced as a group to "Mamma Mia," but alas, I've had no problem dancing or performing in public ever. That's the beauty of these kinds of showcases though. Not the competition part (unless it's friendly), but just the showing of your art. Because the more you show and demonstrate, that's when you gain the confidence to continuing showing and demonstrating. And if you're a bona fide creative, you have to be able to do that.

I figure American schools have eisteddfod-like things like showcases and the like, but being an adult now who didn't grow up in the American school system, I don't know what schools outside of Massachusetts do. I've already touched on the importance of artistic subjects in schools, but now you need to give your students a place to play. My first time acting whatsoever came in high school from something that's very common in South African public schools called House Plays, where each house puts on a play for awards like best ensemble, best supporting actress, etc. I played an evil Doofenshmirtz-like professor and we won Best Play (can still do an evil laugh). Which is what led to me studying theatre in high school. It was hard to get away from being involved in performing at that school since we also were involved with the Shakespeare festival, the Tshwane Youth Arts Festival, and the Schools One-Act Play Festival through the Repertory Amateur Players Society (RAPS), among others. Coming back to America though, most of my performance experience was limited to whatever was going on around campus. I wasn't aware of most of the playwriting opportunities I've applied for until after I graduated. Which is why we need to develop the same things and the same attitude towards the arts in America as we do in South Africa.

The purpose of the eisteddfod in Welsh culture was to promote and preserve the culture. So my vision for there being eisteddfods in American schools is promote the importance of arts and culture in America. It would still be a competition like originally intended, but not like the forced-curve grading scale where there are only a select number of bronzes, silvers and golds (notorious in some colleges). Just graded based on how well the artwork, poem, dance, monologue or song is executed, and by actual professionals who have a wide range of perspectives and life experience and not just your teacher. Remember the science fairs that are constantly shown on TV shows? Eisteddfods are kind of like that. But everyone who shares their art wins something. And I'm not talking participation trophies, millennials. You win being exposed to other art forms, and keeping your skills, and maybe your dreams of being creative alive. Because the way to promote and preserve arts and culture is to make it and share it.

Thank you for reading this through to the end, dear reader. Note that all the experiences I've mentioned here are at least ten or more years old, so the South African arts culture is probably not even the same as I've described. But when you give a lot of opportunities to students to perform or the like in schools, you create a future like me: unapologetic and unafraid to create. Social media makes it easy to share your art now, so if this is you or someone you know, own your stage. Just do it.

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Stay educated,

Alexia