Carnegie Picture Lab

Programs: The mission of carnegie picture lab is to nourish creativity by supporting and enhancing arts education for elementary school children in the walla walla valley. The program partners with school districts, educators, parents, artists, volunteers and the community to develop and present a robust arts education curriculum in the schools. Carnegie picture lab is currently in 13 schools in washington and oregon, reaching over 4,000 elementary schoolchildren with the help of 80 volunteers. Picture lab provides over 1,000 hours of classroom art instruction, the only dedicated arts instruction most of these children receive. Carnegie picture lab is managed by 1. 75 fte employees and overseen by a 10-person board of directors. Arts education in the united states is suffering. A survey by the national endowment for the arts revealed that participation in school-based arts education has declined steadily since 1982; according to the department of education, this disproportionately impacts children from disadvantaged backgrounds, english language learners, and students with disabilities, as these populations often have less access to enrichment opportunities outside of school. However, numerous studies show that the arts are linked with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. There is also evidence that the arts help children develop a number of capacities that are not well-addressed in other areas of the curriculum, such as visual-spatial abilities, self-reflection, and experimentation. Finally, visual arts instruction helps students learn to value diverse perspectives and cultures, something that is increasingly important in a global society. In the picture lab program, volunteers enter k-5 classrooms to provide art history and art creation lessons to children. Children learn about three artists each year (one each in fall, winter, and spring); volunteers present the art history portion of the curriculum through powerpoint presentations and art posters and then children work on hands-on art projects related to the artists they just learned about. The program provides all the art supplies necessary to enable the children to work with superior art supplies and in multiple art media. The lesson plans align with state arts education standards. Picture lab has recently added more regional, female, and culturally diverse artists to the lessons, to reflect the diversity of the walla walla valley. In addition to the classroom program, picture lab works with community partners such as the public library and the walla walla symphony to provide public arts education programs to the larger walla walla community. In sum, carnegie picture lab has a long, rich, and successful history of providing unique arts enrichment opportunities to the children of the walla walla valley.