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230 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R / F A L L 2 0 1 7 T he excitement was palpable as the shiny red SUV r umbled into the parking lot of Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Seaside. And with good reason. It's not every day that a rock star shows up at an elementary school. As he stepped from the car, Jackson Browne was visibly delighted to be greeted by three enthusiastic children carrying hand- painted welcome banners. With him was Kathy Fletcher, national director of Turn- aound Arts, a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts program that strives to transform school's culture and climate through exposure to various forms of art. Browne is a designated "Turnaround Art- ist," along with many other high-profile artists in a wide range of disciplines such as fellow musicians Elton John, Herbie Hancock and Esperanza Spalding; actresses Cameron Diaz and Jane Fonda; performance painter David Garibaldi; and architect Frank Gehry. Each artist is assigned a participating school. "Turnaround Arts is a national program that brings arts education to high-poverty elementary and middle schools around the countr y," says National Director Kathy Fletcher. "We bring in arts supplies and musi- cal instruments and train teachers on how to integrate the arts into other subjects, like reading and math." Browne is excited to be a part of that para- digm. "It's really well known that learning music actually aids in brain development," he says. "By learning to make music, especially in a band, you can learn math easier. Most of all I think that it helps with organizational perception. Like if you're in an orchestra, you're a small part but what you do is important to the whole. I think "No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child." Rock star Jackson Browne recently visited with students at Seaside's King Elementary.