Elmer’s
Story

Elmer’s story will be coming soon. In the meantime, here’s his press release.

Play Me Again Pianos unveils public piano at the Chastain Arts Center
Neighborhood pianos inspire joy and strengthen communities

ATLANTA, Ga.– Play Me Again Pianos, a nonprofit aspiring to make metro Atlanta more musical through 88 public piano installations, will cut the ribbon on its newest donated piano Saturday, Nov. 12, at 11:00 a.m. at the Chastain Arts Center on the Gallery Porch. The event is free and open to the public and everyone is encouraged to play the piano, named “Elmer,” after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“Street pianos and public pianos inspire people to connect with each other in ways that were once common, but seem increasingly rare,” said Jason Brett, co-founder of Play Me Again Pianos. “By adding our pianos to the landscape throughout the metropolitan area, we hope to nurture that connection into an evolution of Atlanta’s culture, community and the arts.”

Having partnered with the Chastain Park Conservancy in 2016 to host their very first public piano at the Chastain Park Playground (now retired), Play Me Again Pianos is excited to extend that relationship to include the Arts Center for the debut of their 25th piano installation.

“The Chastain Arts Center is a community arts center home to a multitude of visual artists with varying skill levels and this is the first time we are incorporating a musical component to our programming,” noted Alma Kadri, Facility Administrator. “Elmer brings us the opportunity to be a dynamic place for people to not only look and create visual art, but also to immediately impact anyone within earshot of the Chastain Gallery porch. This new permanent experience will bring joy to all from the novice to the experienced, including any passers-by to visit the historic building turned arts center.”

Donated by Mary Thomas of Marietta, this newest street piano was brought to life by the Joseph Sams School (JSS) Fine Arts Team of Misty Lackey, Visual Artist and Art Teacher, and former JSS Music Therapist, Caroline Beson. Lackey was inspired by the classic children’s book “Elmer and Friends,” a book about Elmer the patchwork elephant by David McKee. This fueled the conceptual design for the JSS piano named “Elmer.”  Every classroom was designated a color, therefore, every student had a hand in the process of painting.

The Joseph Sams School is a private school which specializes in the education of children with special needs. The message from McKee’s book has been an instrumental literary example and encouraging self-expression while bridging literacy through art. “The meaning behind McKee’s books is to embrace and celebrate our differences while being true to oneself,” Lackey explained. “The literature is quite symbolic and reflective of our special school, a reminder that we are not all the same and that we should celebrate our differences with compassion, inclusivity, and friendship”.

The school’s Fine Arts team uses community outreach through the arts as a bridge for their students and families, as they focus on ABILITIES rather than disabilities. Their vision of a community enhanced by the meaningful contributions of their students aligns perfectly with the Play Me Again Pianos vision to enrich and strengthen communities, inspire joy, and bring people together through shared encounters with public music and art. 

You can find other pianos installed by Play Me Again Pianos in Atlanta at the Woodruff Arts Center, Ponce City Market, and Atlantic Station as well as in Alpharetta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, East Cobb, Roswell and the Serenbe Art Farm Community.

With the increasing rarity of home pianos, public access to them uplifts the entire community, but donations to charities for non-essential services have been crushingly low since the pandemic. Contributions right now can make the difference between a charity surviving or closing its doors. If you love the thought of having pianos available to the public in your city, please donate today, while it’s on your mind. It’s never been needed more. For information about volunteer opportunities, the impact of Play Me Again Pianos, and a link to donate, visit www.PlayMeAgainPianos.org.

Chastain Arts Center
The Chastain Arts Center operates under the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs. The Arts Center offers a wide variety of visual and creative cultural arts classes for all ages and skill levels throughout the year, as well as a popular Summer Arts Camp. Started in 1968, Chastain Arts Center is recognized as the first arts center in the metro Atlanta area.

Each year, the Center enrolls on average over 2500 students in 5 sessions, and on average more than 450 children in Art Camp each summer. The artwork created by resident instructors and students is showcased twice each year in the Chastain Gallery, along with an additional 4-5 exhibits of local, regional, and national artists in both two-and three-dimensional media. To find out more, visit www.OCAAtlanta.com/Chastain.

Joseph Sams School
The Joseph Sams School, Inc. is a private, non-profit school serving children from birth through twenty-two years of age who have mild to severe intellectual and/or physical disabilities or diagnosed developed disabilities. The school provides intense educational training as well as speech and language therapy for its students.

There are no geographic restrictions for attendance in the program although the majority of students reside in Clayton, Coweta, Fayette, Fulton, and Henry counties. The Joseph Sams School is one of few privately operated schools of its kind serving children with intellectual, physical disabilities and/or developmental disabilities in the Atlanta area. Find more information, at www.JosephSamsSchool.org.

Play Me Again Pianos

A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity founded in Georgia in 2016, Play Me Again Pianos places, maintains and promotes public pianos to strengthen communities, inspire joy and bring people together through shared encounters with public music and art. Each piano is uniquely painted by a variety of volunteer artists ranging from internationally acclaimed professionals to aspiring students. The organization is currently working to place 88 pianos throughout metropolitan Atlanta. To find a map of Play Me Again Pianos installations, donate, volunteer or find out more, visit www.PlayMeAgainPianos.org.

Elmer's Birthdate: November 12, 2022
Installation #25

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