Famed Architect To Work With East Palo Alto Students

EAST PALO ALTO, CA — Costaño Elementary School students will get to envision their brightest dreams Tuesday when renowned contemporary architect Frank Gehry makes a special appearance for Turnaround Arts – a program funded by Facebook that's intended to engage a group of students in a hands-on project.

The East Palo Alto students will imagine the future of their community and work in teams alongside Gehry and his associates to build models used by the architectural whiz's own practice.

Gehry's best known work is the titanium-based Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

The event will result in students reviewing goals and highlights of the project with the leaders of the program. For three years, Facebook has funded Turnaround Arts at Costaño Elementary School.

Turnaround Arts is part of a national public-private partnership that leverages the arts to spark transformation in the nation’s highest-need schools. The program in California represents one of 14 partner organizations from across the nation working with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Other collaborators include the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts.