Attendance Records, Bringing Creativity Back to School

Logo from Attendance Records

For years now, public school funding for the arts has been on the decline, even before the dramatically reduced budget for public education in Texas was implemented on September 1. Thousands of teachers are losing their jobs, and hey, creationism isn't going to teach itself. With Texas schools already lagging academically, students are asked to indulge their creativity in schools less than ever in lieu of a ballooning focus on measurable (read: standardized testable) subjects. Math and reading are obviously very important, but the students who want to express themselves through writing or music find precious little opportunity to do so within the bounds of public education.

Fortunately, a creative and inspiring nonprofit called Attendance Records is hoping to give budding young songwriters and musicians an outlet by providing public school students the opportunity to design, write and produce their own album. Attendance Records is "dedicated to bringing creativity back into schools by connecting teachers and students with local writers, artists and musicians," says founder and executive director Jenna Carrens. Students will participate in a month-long workshop, where they'll learn under and work with local artists, designers and writers to develop album artwork and pieces of creative, expressive writing in order to get in touch with aspects of themselves that are often neglected in the public school system. Then, during the last week of the workshop, local bands will help the students devise song lyrics and then record an album of student-written work.

The first project is slated to start in October with a group of 24 sophomores and 7 juniors from Anderson High School. They'll have the privilege of working with Mother Falcon and The Sour Notes, who will then record a split-album at Premium Recording for the very low price of free. The first album release benefit party is tentatively scheduled for January, where students will see their creative labors come to fruition. Each project will be catered to whatever class Attendance is working with, the motivating factor being that students will build confidence skills that will result in discovering what makes them unique.

Attendance Records launched their initial fundraising campaign on Friday with IndieGoGo, and they're already a quarter of the way to the $7500 goal. If you feel like donating to the cause (and you should!), go here, where you can also read more about the project and watch an introductory video.