Kidspace Focuses on Increased Demand for Arts Programming

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. April 2, 2012—Kidspace, the contemporary art gallery and art education program, will embrace a new model of operation beginning in June 2012. The program, run collaboratively by MASS MoCA, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (the Clark), and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), will feature increased programming at all three museums, a professional development institute for teachers, and a new website designed to share resources.  The new Kidspace is designed to meet the increasing demand for arts programs for students in preschool through eighth grade, and to broaden the reach of professional development resources for teachers.

“What makes the Kidspace collaboration unique,” says Cynthia Way, director of education and visitor experience at WCMA, “is the way in which the three museums’ varied art experiences are geared to the curricular needs of the schools, through direct and sustained engagement with teachers.” For the past 12 years, Kidspace has worked to bring art education and exhibitions to six partnering schools in Northern Berkshire County. “The new Kidspace will maintain its commitment to the core partnering schools, even as it expands its programming through the three collaborating museums,” Way adds.

North Adams Superintendent James Montepare, who has been a partner in the Kidspace program for 12 years, says that he is excited about the opportunity of increased collaboration. “I am thrilled to continue our work with the three museums,” he says, “and interested in finding ways to increase art education across the curriculum.”

Laura Thompson, director of exhibitions and education at Kidspace, explains that each year, Kidspace will “present a unifying theme across the programs at all three participating museums, galvanizing the partnering institutions and making deeper connections to student interests.”

The existing Kidspace gallery at MASS MoCA will continue to organize exhibitions for its partnering schools and the public; other interested schools will be welcome to participate as well.  In addition, complementary Kidspace programming will take place at the Clark and WCMA.  Each museum will present its own art “experience”—from exhibitions, performances, and art-making activities to artists’ residencies and specialized tours—based on that year’s theme. A teacher advisory committee, comprised of teachers from local schools, will work with museum staff to help shape each year’s theme.

Kidspace’s annual week-long Summer Teachers Institute will be conducted by the education staff of the three museums. The Institute will engage teachers in developing specific approaches to teaching with art across disciplines.

“Kidspace’s refreshed mission is to put art in education,” says Thompson. “We want to inspire teachers to explore the many ways they can integrate and utilize art in their broad curriculum.” The first Teachers Institute is scheduled for the week of July 30 and features keynote speaker Jessica Hoffman Davis, cognitive developmental psychologist and founder of the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This year’s theme is “curiosity.”

For more information and a detailed schedule, visit:  http://kidspace.massmoca.org/summerinstitute/

Additionally, Kidspace will develop a new website that is designed to share arts-centric teaching strategies, resources, and research findings. MASS MoCA’s Director Joseph Thompson says, “We hope the website can eventually become a valuable national repository of teaching strategies, providing exhibition information, teacher-developed curriculum, and a lively forum for dialogue about issues in art education.”

The Clark’s Director, Michael Conforti, says that the new Kidspace model will “serve as a national laboratory to integrate art in education and foster innovation in teaching.” WCMA’s Interim Director Katy Kline adds, “With recent cuts in school resources, many area schools have turned to the arts community to provide deeper arts programming for students. The new Kidspace responds to these new needs and also provides opportunities for teacher development focused on the arts.”

Since its founding in 2000, Kidspace has provided high-quality exhibitions and arts education experiences for every teacher and student in its six partnering schools, as well as families and the wider public in the Northern Berkshires. In 2009, Kidspace received the Distinguished Community Arts Collaborative Award and has been recognized by the superintendents and the North Adams, Mass. mayor as an integral part of the school and community life.

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Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

To visit the college on the Internet: www.williams.edu Williams College can also be found on Facebook: www.facebook.com/williamscollege and Twitter:twitter.com/williamscollege

 

Published April 2, 2012