Todas las Personas
PS 319
Brooklyn, NY 2026
Our openness to variety brings harmony /Nuestra receptividad a la variedad es el puente hacia la armonía
Tranquilaaaa.
A young artist sings the word stretched all the way out, the last of a long list of everything the people in this neighborhood are: curiosa, valiente, generosa, ambiciosa, talentosa, tranquila.
The kindergarten and first grade young artists of P.S. 319 made a multimedia portrait of their neighborhood out of color, shape, and the things their families shared. The portrait took the form of a mural, a song, individual relief prints, and a music video.
P.S. 319 is a tight-knit school in Williamsburg with a long history of a strong presence of Spanish-speaking families, plus a dual language Spanish kindergarten. Many of the young artists have parents who once sat in these same rooms as students, and some of the educators have taught here for decades.
To make the portrait, the young artists started by asking their families questions. What language do you speak at home? What is a term of endearment your family uses? What is a trait you admire in your child? How long has your family called this neighborhood home, whether one month or many years? The answers came back in Spanish, English, Russian, and Patois, from families who arrived as recently as this year to families who have been here for half a century. Those answers became the project's material, the words and the data from which the young artists would build.
For the visual design, the young artists brought in shapes from around their immediate surroundings. Looking at their own school, they found shapes everywhere – the rectangles of the bricks, the circle of the basketball hoop in the courtyard, and the triangles of the rooftops above the playground. The young artists cut their own versions of those shapes out of paper, with no two the same. These cut shapes did double work in the visual design. Projected large, the shapes were traced into the mural alongside the pie charts, with every wedge representing a real answer from a given family. Brought back down small, the shapes were glued onto each young artist's relief print. The same shapes in the portrait on the mural also fill the relief print that a young artist carries home. Set all the prints side by side, and harmony is what shows.
Then came the chorus. The notes and the lyrics are sung out loud together during studio time, over the cutting and printing and painting. Later sessions brought focus to the song and dance for the verses. The young artists sang into microphones, together and then one at a time, and practiced their timing, learning to sing together on cue.
The multilingual learners, strongest in Spanish, led the way into the bilingual verses. The song moves between Spanish and English in the same breath, the way the young artists do – all the many people becomes Todas las personas. The rest of the chorus goes as follows: each a little different, cada una un poco distinta, put us together, ponlas juntas, we shape the bigger picture, y forman la imagen completa. Now the track is out on Spotify and Bandcamp, so their voices are available for anyone in the world to hear, repetition and volume welcome.
In the music video, the young artists dance against a green screen, while behind them their mural, their prints, and real footage of the neighborhood are layered in. Thus on the screen the young artists dance inside their own artwork and their own streets all at once.
The teachers played essential roles in the making. They sang along, pulled prints side by side with the young artists, and in professional development workshops they painted color wheels of their own, of the same family of shapes that runs across the mural.
Like many public schools, P.S. 319 does not have a standalone art class, so these hardworking teachers are always seeking cross-curricular moments. They teach math, ELA, social studies, and science, and they shared that core vocabulary with The Painted Cloud.
In turn, The Painted Cloud integrated their core vocabulary into printmaking lesson plans, adapted with social-emotional connections. Now the teachers have printmaking lessons with their core curriculum built in, a tool to use within their teaching for years to come.
Many hands made the mural. Many voices made the song, ready to be a summer hit ringing down the block. Together they are a portrait of this neighborhood as it is right now, the people here this year, in the languages spoken now – a record of this moment – that the school and the families can revisit again and again.
Harmony is the answer to the following question: How does a neighborhood look and sound when it makes a portrait of itself?
Supported by the New York City Public Schools Arts for Diverse Learners grant.
Todas las Personas
Algunos crecimos en este barrio
Y nuestros padres y abuelos también
Algunos somos nuevos aquí
y este es nuestro barrio…nuestro barrio extraordinario
all the many people / Todas las personas
each a little different / cada una un poco distinta
put us together / ponlas juntas
we shape the bigger picture / y forman La imagen completa
La gente del barrio es curiosa, independiente, amable, determinada, servicial, comprensiva, cariñosa, valiente, colaborativa, considerada, feliz, graciosa, aventurera, generosa, artística, inteligente, ambiciosa talentosa y tranquila.
Amo este barrio
y a cada uno de mis vecinos,
todos diferentes.
Yo tambien!
Algunos crecimos en este barrio
Y nuestros padres y abuelos también
Algunos somos nuevos aquí
y este es nuestro barrio…nuestro barrio extraordinario
all the many people / Todas las personas
each a little different / cada una un poco distinta
put us together / ponlas juntas
we shape the bigger picture / y forman La imagen completa
the bigger picture / La imagen completa
it wouldn’t be the same / no sería igual
without the many people / sin las muchas personas
we make it special in so many ways / lo hacemos especial de tantas maneras