When pianist Lara Downes first read former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove’s poem Testimonial seven years ago, she felt instant inspiration by the piece’s childlike tone.
It wasn’t until she was on a plane headed to Louisville, Ky., the day after Donald Trump was elected president, though, that one message from the poem started to resound: “I gave my promise to the world, and the world followed me here.”
That line repeated in Downes’ head as she performed selections from her new album America Again in Louisville and into the next day when she visited schools in the area.
There, she met children who stopped talking to one another because of the election, exhibiting the national polarization across party lines at even the most innocent level.
In that instant, the My Promise Project was born. Downes has since gone across the country visiting grade schools to teach children themes, including community, compassion and promise, through reflections on American history, poetry and music.
In a special instance of her My Promise initiative, Downes visited Akron Sunday along with Dove to perform a public concert at the Akron-Summit County Public Library.
Downes is a Steinway Artist whose newest album was recognized by NPR as one of 10 Classical Albums that Saved 2016. Dove received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1987, and she served as the first African-American poet laureate from 1993 to 1995.
The concert, co-presented by the Lippman School and Tuesday Musical, was part of Downes’ two-day visit to Akron that includes working directly with Lippman students.
Dove typically doesn’t accompany Downes on her school visits, but the artists’ ties to Akron made for a coincidental treat. Dove was born and raised in Akron, graduating from Buchtel High School in 1970, while Downes’ mother, Ruth Downes, was a Jewish civil rights lawyer from Akron who was close to Jerry Lippman, the founder of the grade school.
“This was kind of serendipitous,” said Sam Chestnut, the head of Lippman School.
Chestnut said the kids have been studying Downes and Dove leading up to the concert, along with themes the two explore in their pieces, including civil rights, social justice and immigration.
Downes further explored some of those themes in her concert Sunday as she performed diverse bits of Americana on the piano, from national classics by Billie Holiday and George Gershwin to those by American immigrants Angelica Negron and Ernest Bloch.
In the middle of the program, Dove stepped up to recite Testimonial, the poem Downes was inspired by.
“For me, it’s a poem about the innocence and joy of an unlimited future that only exists in childhood,” Downes said. “We can always go back to that state of being.”
A main component of Downes’ initiative is asking kids what their promise to the world is. Kids usually come up with big ideas, like stopping violence or saving the environment, and Downes helps them brainstorm little ways they can work toward that goal.
Another component is teaching kids the cycle of American history through different art forms.
In today’s political climate especially, Downes said, understanding American history and making promises to help change the course of that history are important for kids.
“I think we’re too divorced from our past, and that’s what’s making this moment so terrifying,” Downes said.
Downes and Dove agreed that art is a way to bridge that gap between past and present.
“Art really does awaken our basic humanity, it does awaken all the possibilities of the human spirit,” Dove said. “It also, at the same time, connects you to other human spirits.”
Theresa Cottom can be reached at 330-996-3216 or tcottom@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @Theresa_Cottom .