Giants’ Tiki
Barber Supports Arts Education
By Nazneen Malik
Recently, the Museum of Modern Art, in conjunction with JPMorgan
Chase and football running back Tiki Barber of the New York
Giants, launched a new program, Exploring the Modern, aimed at incorporating the Arts into New York City
elementary and middle school education.
Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase, the program is a year long initiative
and is comprised of a series of educational tours that allow
students to gain familiarity and appreciation of contemporary
works of art.
A spokesperson for the Exploring the Modern program,
Tiki Barber is acutely aware of the need to provide students
with different avenues such as music, art, and athletics,
to serve as alternative modes of expression. A lot of the
time, he says, students’ affinity for these particular
areas gets lost because they lack the exposure.
Indeed, Barber found
his own method of expression in athletics at the tender age
of eight and it continues to remain an integral part of him. “Sports always gave me structure in my life,” he
says. Nevertheless, he maintained a balance between sports
and his academic education, excelling in both. In fact, he
graduated as valedictorian, boasting a 4.0 grade point average
from Cave Spring High School. Barber credits his mother for
his academic success and fondly recalls, “my mom would
not let us go to practice unless we did our homework, so I
got very good at learning things quickly and getting it done
so that I could go do the things I wanted to do.” Even
while he was in college, Barber’s mother still pushed
her sons. She went back to college to obtain her Master’s
degree when Barber enrolled at the University of Virginia. “Literally
every week, she would call and tell us I’m still making
straight A’s, what are you guys doing?” he laughs, “we
competed against mom all the way through college.”
It was in college that
Barber developed an interest in education issues. He participated
in a program that paired up elementary school students with
college students, and had them meet every once in a while
to talk. “When I got to New York City,” says
Barber “I found so many avenues for giving back. I know
that as an athlete, I have a big power of influence. Sending
the right message to kids is important to me.” And he
does.
Barber is involved
with numerous charities and community initiatives such as
the Fresh Air Fund and the Children’s Miracle
Network, of which he is a board member. He is also very enthusiastic
about the Exploring the Modern program
at MoMa. “This is such a great thing for JPMorgan Chase
and MoMa to do,” he says, “because it opens up
another avenue and gives students exposure to it. I was exposed
to a lot when I was younger,” he continues, “and
it shaped me into the person I am today.” #
