FOR nearly two decades, visual arts teacher Dave Cooper kept running into the same troubling gap. Children could tell him when Carnival was, which band they wanted to play with and who was the Road March winner the year before.

But when he asked them what Carnival was – where it came from, how its elements worked together, its cultural relevance to people – the answers were less than satisfactory.

That disconnect is what led Cooper, 47, to create the Wireman Initiative, an immersive cultural-education project that blends wire-bending, recycled materials, music technology and Carnival history into a hands-on learning experience.