The Sonoma Valley Museum of Art has been awarded a $15,000 grant to support the museum’s in-school educational program, Art Rewards the Student.
The grant from Community Foundation Sonoma County was announced Monday.
“We are so glad to be able to offer this program for elementary school students and for the continued support that many in the community have shown for ARTS,” says Kate Eilertsen, the museum’s executive director. “It really engages the kids both in their curriculum studies and in the cultural life of their community.”
The Art Rewards the Student program is one of the museum’s best-known educational offerings and an important addition to the school year, according to Lance Walker, the museum’s director of marketing and development. Annually the program serves more than 800 fourth and fifth graders in Sonoma Valley.
The program also provides internship experience for a small group teens from Sonoma Valley High School and the Hanna Boys Center. The interns meet weekly to learn about exhibition design and installation as well as participate in field trips to Bay Area museums and galleries.
For the Art Rewards the Student program, the museum arranges for approximately 12 art teachers to work in collaboration with teachers at area elementary schools to design a curriculum-based theme for the year’s activities. In 2010 the theme was “Imagine: Art Inspires Creativity,” which featured work inspired by the physical sciences, earth sciences, life sciences.
“It’s a very strong program,” said Robert Judd, the foundation’s vice president for programs.
The Community Foundation of Sonoma County reviewed 18 proposals this year and funded four, including one for the Sonoma Ecology Center. Judd said the ARTS program met the criteria by having artist-teachers working alongside school teachers in the classroom. ‘Because its over a period of time, not just a one-day workshop, the students can relate to teachers and the subject over time.”
The museum recently concluded an intensive strategic planning process and has prioritized expansion of educational offerings and public programs, Walker said. As part of the mandate is a search is currently underway for a full time director of education and public programming.
