Pinwheel Writing Festival

This year, ACMA’s 6th annual Pinwheel Writing Festival will help bring a writer’s dream to new and revolutionary heights! Drawing new faces, names, and styles from all around Oregon each year, Pinwheel has grown to be an important annual event for the school and the community. Senior writer and dancer Rebecca Kahn will be coordinating this year’s Pinwheel, aided by the talented Cordelia Albertson. The duo has been working diligently to make this year’s festival special, not only for the department, but for the entire school.

“Pinwheel is the only big event for writers of all genres at ACMA,” said Kahn. “It is the event that showcases the writers at the school and encourages them to become even more excited about their art form.”

Authors, songwriters and illustrators from all over Oregon have been asked to share their insights and techniques at the five-hour forum to be held in the ACMA library on Saturday, Feb. 28, beginning at noon. Kahn’s creativity and persistence drew the attention of many well-known local artists including novelist and illustrator Mark Ferrari, and songwriter Christopher Marshall, who will discuss how to connect the bridge between art forms. In addition to those two, Zine specialist Mary Higgins will conduct a workshop, and slam poet Erin Shick will share her verbal stylings at the event.

Both Kahn and Albertson are bridges themselves, working to apply what they learn through multiple art forms every day, Kahn is dedicated to making Pinwheel more useful and accessible to ACMA writers. The two introduced the Pinwheel Writer’s Contest in correlation with the festival to provide students with the opportunity to be published in the school yearbook as well as win prizes. Children in both the middle and high school sent in poetry, scripts, and short stories which added to the sense of a community within the small department. The duo has also kept intact the tradition of a poetry reading near the end of the festival, where anyone who wishes to can share their work.

“I remember going to Pinwheel for the first time,” Said Albertson, sharing her thoughts on the festival. “ It was a lot smaller than what it has become. It has definitely improved under Rebecca’s direction and drive. I would like to see it go a lot further still.”

In last year’s festival Kahn dashed between a photo shoot and Pinwheel with few minutes to spare; challenged by the same vigorous schedule this year, she has organized everything from the funding for the event to the speakers. Feats, such as these two young adults have achieved are admirable to say the least, and after so much work behind the scenes their dream is beginning to pay off. The festival has become the writing event of the year for ACMA students, a place where aspiring artists can come to work and learn in an accepting, creative atmosphere with some of the best talents in Oregon. New styles and ideas are just what the small but growing writing community at ACMA needs, and thanks to Kahn and Albertson, this year’s Pinwheel promises to be the best yet.

For more information on Pinwheel, email acmapinwheel@gmail.com or contact the event organizers on their Facebook page.

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