March 08, 2018

Artists in the Classroom Grant Recipient List

ArtStarts in Schools is pleased to announce that we have distributed $229,049.48 to schools across the province to bring artists into their classrooms. Artists in the Classroom grants funded 69 projects including 9 large scale projects of up to $10,000. This is the second of two intakes for the 2017-18 school year. To see the grant recipients from the first intake, click here. 

Through these projects,

• 7,142 students will get the chance to engage in hands-on arts experiences with professional artists to facilitate deeper learning
• 114 professional artists will further develop their artistic excellence and practice
• 348 educators will integrate arts into their classrooms to inspire creativity and innovation

The projects span British Columbia from Fernie to Terrace to Gold River for students from kindergarten to grade 12. Artistic disciplines range from opera to carving to spoken word. The 69 projects competed in a merit-based assessment of artistic quality, student engagement, curricular connections and project scope. Each project is unique; you can see a full listing of these projects below.

Here is just a taste of some of the projects:

Connecting Student Identity to Traditional Carving
Gwa'sala-'Nakwaxda'xw School
Port Hardy

The students will look into the history behind carving and what it means to their cultural identity, learn and demonstrate how to draw basic native shapes and designs without the use of stencils or tracing techniques and how to safely handle and act around tools used for carving. The final layer in this multi-step project is for each student to transfer an image that they have designed, with relation to their culture, and carve it into a piece of either red or yellow cedar. Another exciting opportunity unique to this year is the building of this community’s Bighouse. One of the locals in charge of organizing the carving for the Bighouse said, “it is planned that when we build the carving shed, it will possess lots of space for students to view or even contribute! The carvers have said they look forward to seeing students around while they work on the posts and beams.” Seeing carving happen in the school is one thing, but seeing it happen and have a purpose in the community will give the students a sense of wonder and future purpose. Together this will serve as a wonderful means of cross-curricular connections.

New Media - New Beginnings
Guildford Park Secondary
Surrey

With a focus on process and inquiry-based learning, students will use innovative littleBits technology and diverse materials to explore some of the big ideas in two of the New Media Gallery’s upcoming exhibits. Students will develop an understanding of how artists create their own projects, then learn to incorporate technology into their own projects in creative and imaginative ways.

Throughout the process, students will be encouraged to develop critical thinking and creative problem solving skills. The focus is to introduce students to significant contemporary art, creative thinking and ideas connected with core curricular themes and then challenge them to develop their own creative projects using various levels of technology and materials while developing an understanding of the invention cycle and how to build and prototype through creative process and play.

Mine
Pacific Coast School
Prince Rupert

Mine is an inter-disciplinary project that combines dance and sewing with story-telling and live music to explore consumption, globalization, materialism, identity, gender and queer expression, manufactured value, fast-fashion, history, culture and memory, using clothing as the common thread.  It provides students with an opportunity to develop critical thinking skills as they investigate our relationship to clothing and allows them to communicate their ideas creatively through the exploration of applied and fine arts.

River of Wonder
J V Humphries School
Kaslo

Through experiental learning, collaborative poetry and mixed media play, students will discover the many gifts of their local river. Beginning with a “wonder walk” to the Kaslo river students will take photos and collect natural elements to bring back to the classroom and create a wall of ideas. By inspiring curiosity and wonder through direct observation and experience, students will be encouraged to share ideas and investigate how rivers are essential to our community and our lives. The class will then be guided through a series of writing prompts using analogy and poetry techniques to collectively tell the story of their river. The culminating project will be to create a personal visual story on a wooden panel using collage and painting techniques, words, and natural elements (collected on their river walks). This work will be showcased in the school for all to see as a gallery exhibit.

Artists in the Classroom grants offer up to $3,500 for small scale projects and grants of up to $10,000 for large scale projects. Artists, teachers, principals and PAC representatives in British Columbia are eligible to apply. The next deadline to apply is May 25, 2018, for projects taking place in the 2018-19 school year.

AIC grants are disbursed by ArtStarts in Schools and funded by BC Arts Council and the Government of British Columbia's Creative Futures program.

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