Important 2009 Dates

Mark your calendars for these dates.
All are located at the Community Room in the East Flagstaff Public Library:

• Wednesday, May 27th 6:30-8:00 pm: School Coordinator Meeting for returning all prints, pockets, and supply boxes.
• Thursday, August 20th 7:00-8:00 pm: School Coordinator Meeting to pick up prints, pockets, and supply boxes for the new school year.

About Us

The Flagstaff Masterpiece Art Program provides elementary school children of our community opportunities to become familiar with many artists and their work. Our volunteer Art Guides, consisting of mostly parents, visit individual elementary school classrooms to present works of art, lead discussions and supervise a related art project. We encourage children to enjoy exploring the visual arts. Our collection of 234 prints includes works from artists of different cultural backgrounds and time periods. The corresponding art packets contain unique research materials about each artist along with projects that have been "kid-tested" in the classroom. The number of prints we own grows every year as we purchase more.

Since 1991, we have been recruiting and training volunteer Art Guides for the classroom. We currently serve 14 elementary schools, with another school joining this upcoming school year. Our materials are also available for loan to school and community members.

Our program provides specialized materials, training, and support to the participating schools. Recruitment efforts to add more member schools and more parent volunteer Art Guides to the program will continue. To better serve and prepare our volunteers, a training session takes place at the beginning of each school year. Volunteer School Coordinators oversee the prints and packets at their school, as well as recruit new Art Guides. New prints will be purchased and taken through the approval process of the Flagstaff Unified School District. Acknowledgment of the source of our funding will be gratefully made at the Governing Board Meeting and also during our training sessions.

Organization Mission Statement

To enrich Flagstaff students' enjoyment and understanding of art through visual presentation and dialogue about various art masterpieces, the culture of their artists, and the context in which their art has been created, using and exploring a variety of art media.

Goals

• To recruit all educational programs charged with education of children to participate: private, charter and home schools, as well as FUSD schools.
• To support school coordinators in recruiting enough volunteers so that each classroom has enough adult supervision to provide at least 7 presentations per year per classroom (7 out of the 9 month session).
• To bring attention to the artistic needs of children, collaborating with the existing art program (if one exists) and the classroom teachers to provide variety and integration with the classroom history curriculum.
• To increase parental involvement and awareness of their child's art education, including training volunteer parents to present, providing support resources such as a web page with access to tools and help guides, as well as partnering with other artistic organizations who could also provide volunteers for the classroom, spreading the responsibility and support to more people.