Arts Funding in Local Public Schools
“Art is for everyone.” This quotation by Keith Haring subtitled the Walker’s hit Haring exhibition last summer. The late artist’s prioritization of publicly accessible art—and his history of working with students in the Twin Cities via a Walker Art Center residency—makes clear his passion for arts learning and belief that it must continue to be a critical area of focus. But what do people who care about the arts do when priorities at the district and state levels diverge?
Last year, staff in Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) contended with this very thing. Low enrollment in the district is the cited cause for cuts to personnel and resources for art and music programs at elementary schools, specifically art and music specialists. These specialists are the core of arts programming, and not having them onsite at schools had a big impact on students. The lack of arts education proven to help develop important skills like critical thinking, close looking, and questioning puts students at a disadvantage. Elementary schools in particular have had such specialists pulled from campuses, and the effects are felt throughout the K–12 learning experience. According to Anna King, a K–12 visual and media arts coordinator in SPPS, experiences with art and music in lower grades influence signups for art and music classes in high school:
“If kids aren’t exposed at a young age, they’re not going to sign up for it,” King said.
The Walker Art Center’s Public Engagement, Learning & Impact (PELI) team recognizes how vital early exposure to the arts is. Though PELI programs cater to all ages, almost half of guided tours serve K–12 students, thanks in part to the traditional field-trip model and an awareness of the benefits of expanded learning opportunities for community members of all ages. Exposing young students to art-making and arts learning expands their spheres of possibility and opportunity. Walker programs continue to recognize and address challenges to this goal.
Last March, the Walker’s School Programs, which are housed within PELI, rolled out the Teaching Tools for Interdisciplinary Learning, a guide to facilitate learning experiences inside the Walker’s galleries. Funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, this project resulted in updated pedagogy, classroom resources, and tactile and sensory tools. Since the tools have been put to steady use, the educator team has seen increased interest and engagement from visiting students on guided tours. Popular tools such as viewfinder notebooks, color lenses, magnifying glasses, and paint-material samples offer an alternate path to engagement for students with multiple learning styles. These tools were developed with the concept of the “boundary-less” museum at the center. The viewfinder notebook includes several prompts in the four dominant languages of the Twin Cities—English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali—to inspire students to see art in new places, whether on the bus ride back to school or in the car with their families; the viewfinder itself is a frame that helps them isolate views and see their surroundings as art.
Another program also extends the arts-learning experiences beyond the museum walls: In-School Residencies. In high demand, Walker In-School Residencies bring gallery learning to students in their classrooms. Trained Walker educators arrive on school campuses bringing photos of highly visible artworks, such as Spoonbridge and Cherry and Hahn/Cock, two landmarks most Twin Cities students have some familiarity with, even if they’ve never been to the museum. Educators hook classroom engagement through these photos before beginning a discussion about what contemporary art is and how it is made. Students are then invited to make their own sculptures with supplies provided by the Walker. By engaging students in their own context, Walker educators establish a foundation for arts learning that can be carried through to other experiences, both within and outside the school walls.
Despite the funding cuts in SPPS, principals such as Guillermo Maldonado at Chelsea Heights Elementary School are marshalling resources and creating arts opportunities for their students. With the help of parents and teachers, the school has strung together a variety of art- and music-learning experiences for students, including musicians coming onsite to play their instruments, and muralists leading young learners in art-making projects. Currently, the PELI team plans an April visit to Chelsea Heights as part of the In-School Residency program. It is important for leaders like Principal Maldonado and his parent-teacher organization to continue to think creatively about fulfilling arts-learning needs for students, and museum education professionals must help school leaders bridge those gaps. Art is for everyone, as Haring famously believed, and it is vital for museums to extend arts-learning experiences where students need them the most.▪︎
