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Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera To Kill a Mocking Bird at the Gielgud Theatre To Kill A Mockingbird is adapted by Aaron Sorkin, but based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning novel. The To Kill a Mockingbird play tells the story of young Scout and her father Atticus Finch, a lawyer tasked with defending a local, Tom Robinson, who is accused of rape. The novel explores justice and racial tension in a small Southern town, and is one of the best-selling novels of all-time. The play also calls attention to the white savior narrative story. Harper Lee's story of racial injustice has sold 45 million copies worldwide, with 2020 marking the 60th anniversary of its publication. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre The musical opened in London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in New York in 1988. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical. It is currently the longest-running show in Broadway history and celebrated its 10,000th Broadway performance on 11 February 2012, the first production ever to do so.

To better understand how to better foster creativity in students, I visited the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Studio Tour. Storytelling in films takes a creative village. And through the tour, I witnessed the many creative minds that made the incredible wizarding world of Harry Potter come to life. As a teacher fostering creativity is essential because it helps develop many vital skills in children. The library can be a place where students can express thoughts and feelings, explore their inner world, develop greater self-awareness, and cope with stress. Additionally, creativity can be a career like those working on the Harry Potter films. To further demonstrate the importance of creativity within academics the Harry Potter Studio tour also partners with schools to teach students through their award-winning education program. Harry Potter Studio Tour offers several classes including: STEM: Students will discover the technical skills involved in bringing a film to life. ART & DESIGN: Students have the opportunity to study the design processes and level of detail required to design and make props, costumes and sets in a film. FILM & MEDIA: Using world famous costumes, carefully crafted props and intriguingly designed white card models, students will be taught the secrets of film making Language Arts Lessons PITCHING: Students will be encouraged to come up with their own original idea for a film and condense it into a pitch of 25 words or less, which would sell it to a film executive. INSTRUCTIONAL WRITING: Students will get the chance to examine authentic artefacts from the film series before using these to devise their own game and instructions. SCREENPLAY STORIES: Students will have the opportunity to study the key conventions of story writing and discover how writers use the written word to convey visual representations and narrative in a screenplay.

The Gallery of Japanese Art showcases how creativity is used throughout society and culture.

In my quest to understand how to better foster creativity in students, I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum to study some of the most profound art works and artists. These artists include Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. As a teacher fostering creativity is essential because it helps develop so many vital skills in children. The library can be a place where students can express thoughts and feelings, explore their inner world, develop greater self-awareness, and cope with stress. Additionally, art, artists, and creativity can go beyond just the individual to transform and inform culture. Michelangelo's sculpture of David is one of the most famous objects in the history of art, and the V&A's cast of David has been a favorite with visitors since its arrival in the Museum in 1857. Donated by Queen Victoria, this cast has a fascinating history and continues to inspire artists, designers and film-makers today. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564) was in his early twenties when he was commissioned to create a statue representing the biblical hero of David. He was offered a colossal block of marble which had been previously worked by two other artists, Agostino di Duccio (in 1464) and Antonio Rossellino (in 1475). Both artists had abandoned their work after noticing imperfections in the marble's grain, but despite these flaws, Michelangelo took up the monumental challenge of carving the figure. How the mold was made! In 1847, to determine a suitable place to move the marble original, The Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II commissioned Clemente Papi, the royal bronze founder and cast maker, to produce an exact replica in bronze that could be used to test a suitable location. However, in the end the sculpture was reproduced in plaster. To cast the figure, Papi had to first create a mould. A piece-mould has an inner and outer layer, with the inner made up of several small mould pieces which are then held together and supported by the outer 'mother mould'. The complexity of David'sform required Papi to individually shape over 1500 mould pieces, which together all fitted inside the mother mould like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Papi was aware of how precarious the casting process was, which explains why only one complete mould has ever been produced from the surface of Michelangelo's original David. The photo’s below are from the V&A‘s Raphael Cartoons and the Sistine Chapel exhibition. The Raphael Cartoons are considered one of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance in the UK. These huge, full-scale designs for tapestries were created by Raphael – one of the most important masters of the Renaissance period. Commissioned by Pope Leo X, shortly after his election in 1513, for the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace, the Cartoons depict key episodes of the lives of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.

One of my first stops in London was the Victoria and Albert Museum. At the V&A museum there is an exhibition on the author Beatrix Potter called Beatrix Potter: Drawn to Nature. This exhibition highlights Potter’s love for nature and how it inspired her iconic works such as The Tales of Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, and The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher. Nature fueled Potter’s creativity from a young age. As a child she would spend hours in nature drawing fungi, insects, animals, and plants. Her happy place was out in nature and where her passion for storytelling was born. Nature not only fueled her creativity but her activism as well.

After a short two hour flight from Italy I arrived in London. On the day I arrived in London some of the nation was celebrating the Queens Platinum Jubilee. A jubilee is a special celebration of a King or Queen's reign. The UK and Malaysia start June with major celebrations to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee and Her Majesty's 96th birthday. On 6th February 2022, Queen Elizabeth II became the first British monarch in history to achieve Platinum Jubilee - 70 years of reign and service.

As the last outing of our Earthwatch trip the volunteers were taken to the Castle of Populonia and the Etruscan Museum of Populonia: Gaspari Collection The Castle of Populonia was born as a real fortified complex, equipped with a watchtower and defensive walls, on the hillock where in Etruscan times stood the upper town of Populonia, of which some evidence remains on the northern side of the hill. The fortified centre was built at the beginning of the 15th century by the Appiani, Lords of Piombino, as a defensive bulwark along the northern border of the nascent state of Piombino. Set above the entrance door to the town, it preserves the family coat of arms, with winged dragon, chivalrous helmet and allegorical ribbons, the work of the Florentine sculptor Andrea Guardi (ca. 1405 - 1476). In order to encourage the population to move to Populonia, the Appiani provided the village with defensive walls, thus creating the Castle itself, a rather common phenomenon in the late Middle Ages. Above is a video from the top of the castle. Above is a photo of the Castle of Populonia Photo of the view from the top of the castle. Photo of the view from the top of the castle. Etruscan Museum of Populonia: Gaspari Collection The Etruscan Museum of Populonia represents the oldest museum institution in the Val di Cornia. Inaugurated in 1943, according to the wishes of Giulia and Tommaso Gasparri, it hosts the archaeological finds belonging to the family's private collection. In the first half of the 20th century, the Etruscan necropolises of Baratti and Populonia were discovered on Giulia and Tommaso Gasparri's property. Since the archaeological discoveries were found on properties in their possession the Superintendence of Etruscan Antiquity gave a finder's reward (equal to a quarter of the value of the finds) to the Gasparri family. In the 1950s and 60s, the collection was enlarged with finds coming from government excavations of the necropolises, as well as objects found out of their original context in the fields and sea of Baratti. Photo of artifacts on display at the museum. The cups on the top shelf were wine cups where Etruscan‘s used to have a beverage of wine, cheese, and water mixed together. Each wine cup was meant for one person.

On the second to last day of our dig the volunteers were given a pottery lab lesson on the pottery found at the site. Many of the artifacts discovered at the Poggio de Molino are in the Etruscan Museum of Populonia. Below are photos of the artifacts featured in the pottery lab demonstration. The first few artifacts pictured are lamps imported from North Africa from the 4th to 7th century. The last photo is of a piece of tile a child stepped on while it was still drying. If you look closely, you can see the footprint.

La Villa Marittima In the second half of the 2nd century CE, after a profound reconstruction, the building was developed into an elite residence oriented around a large garden and including a residential quarter align with bathing facilities whose elegant pavements and mosaics are preserved today. Post-villa Between the late 4th century and late 5th century CE, the site was inhabited by a community which systematically dismantled the villa’s construction and decorative materials. In particular, marbles was sought as a raw material in lime production while metal objects were recycled into new products. Additionally, numerous indications suggest that a ritual/cult area, probably for Christians, was established in the residential quarters in the villa.

The Farm and the Production of Garum At the end of the 1st century BCE, the fortress was transformed into a farm connected with a cataria, or facility for manufacturing garum, a condiment which was extremely popular in Roman cuisine. Historical sources attest to the existence of an economy in Populonia backed upon fishing activities. Archaeologically speaking, the Catarina (fish-sauce factory) at Poggio del Molino represents the most significant evidence of such activites in the territory. Above is a photo of the vats the popular garum fish sauce were made in. There is a possibility there were more but part of the property fell into the sea. Above is photo of evidence archeologist found of fishing methods used to catch fish. Similar to modern net fishing the inhabitants put pottery at the bottom of the sea to catch fish then pulled the pottery back up to retrieve the fish. The pottery in the exhibition is placed in the exact position the underwater archeologists found them on the seafloor.

Castellated Militare: The Roman Fortress Against Pirates The city of Populonia where the excavation site is located had been under the domination of Rome for over a century, around the middle of the 2nd century BCE. During this period a fort was built on the plateau overlooking the canal which connected the sea with the lake of Rimigliano with the specific strategic purpose of the military defense and the political control of the territory of Populonia. The fort was quadrangular in shape in shape with thick perimeter walls, defensive towers overshadowed the entrance gates and a watchtower facing Populonia. The castellum was built as an outpost to defend the territory from attacks by pirates who between the 2nd and 1st century BCE infested the waters and coastlines not only of the Tyrrhenian Sea but of the entire Mediterranean. Above is a photo of what is left of the Roman Fort Above is a photo of the prison quarters Romans created for pirates that tried to invade their territory. Above is a photo of the seafront that surrounds Poggio del Molino.

Above is an aerial shot of the excavation site one of the fellow volunteers took with his drone. The Purpose of the Excavation For one week myself and four others are participating in an archaeological dig in Piombino, Tuscany Italy. The Earthwatch archeological dig is located in the Roman settlement of Poggio del Molino and is found in the heart of the territory of Populonia. The goal of the excavation is to discover the history of the people who inhabited and visited the settlement of Poggio del Molina during the Roman age. The excavation aims to bring the site to light in its entirety, to understand its function and reconstruct it’s architecture throughout its various life stages. With each stage the inbitants built over what the previous inhabitants built initially. Therefore when digging there are three layers of history to uncover. Throughout the week finding evidence of all three periods during the digging process was a fascinating and rewarding experience. There are three phases or stories the site went through spanning from the Republic period 2nd century BCE to late antiquity 5th century CE. Above is photo of our group digging during the excavation.