Developing a parent volunteer art program takes time and dedication from a school community, and the Venetia Valley Elementary School in San Rafael has decided to take that plunge.
Youth in Arts staff met with the Venetia Valley Arts Committee (which includes the new principal Cindy Jaconette, as well as teachers and PTA members) to brainstorm on possibilities for designing a parent-led art docent program for their school.
Questions included:
Do teachers want art projects to connect to classroom work?
Do teachers want students to focus on art fundamentals?
Does the school want the arts program to tie into school community events?
The Arts Committee decided to focus parent training on the fundamentals of Visual Arts. To begin the program, a Youth in Arts Mentor Artist will lead workshops for parents and interested teachers in the areas of Drawing, Watercolor Painting, Sculpture, Print Making and more.
The Mentor Artist will then model the lesson from the workshop in a classroom of the school’s choosing, with Art Parents observing and assisting. This will help to reinforce the workshop projects. The final step in the parent training program will be for the Mentor Artist to coach Art Parents as they teach the lessons in their “own” classrooms.
The school will get lesson plans, extensions for teaching the lessons in each grade level, and also enough art supplies to teach the class in at least five classrooms.
We are so excited to help Venetia Valley undertake this step toward developing a vibrant Arts Learning Community.