OUTREACH
Museum Making Connections
In an effort to provide educational and cultural experiences to students in the Tri-State region, the Huntington Museum of Art has developed an outreach program called Museum Making Connections. Outreach into the community has been part of HMA’s commitment since the early 1950s when museum volunteers visited schools in the area, contributing to students’ education in the arts. Now we have a seven-pronged outreach program, called Museum Making Connections, which serves more than 10,000 children a year, from pre-school aged through high school students. Counties served are Cabell, Wayne, Mason, Putnam and Lincoln in West Virginia; Lawrence County in Ohio; and Boyd County in Kentucky. The benefit to students is far reaching. They learn about the museum and its varied collection that represents cultures throughout time and from around the world. And, not only do they participate in art-making opportunities for self-expression, but they also gain valuable experience practicing 21st Century Learning Skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, team work and collaboration.
Museum Making Connections: Tri-State Elementary, our original program, provides presentations and art-making opportunities for first-, third- and fifth-grade students at their schools. The program travels to elementary schools in the seven counties that surround the museum: Cabell, Wayne, Putnam, Mason and Lincoln (West Virginia), Lawrence County in Ohio, and Boyd County in Kentucky.
Museum Making Connections: After School provides art-making opportunities in which children can learn about art as well as develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration.
Museum Making Connections: ArtWorks! provides opportunities for under-served teen-agers to create public artworks, including large-scale sculptures, in addition to the opportunity to act in and present theatrical events.
Museum Making Connections: Saturday KidsArt provides instruction on-site at the Museum to children in grades K-5, completely free of charge thanks to the generous sponsorship of Heiner’s.
Museum Making Connections: Community Events serves to introduce large numbers –often more than 500 at a community event – of children and parents to the Museum, its educational activities, and its exhibitions and programs.
Museum Making Connections: Middle School provides cross-curricular instruction through the integration of science and art to middle-school students.
Museum Making Connections: Distance Learning, our newest program, offers virtual field trips by way of video conferencing to schools in remote locations.
All of the above programs reach large numbers of children with exciting activities and educational experiences that would be difficult to find elsewhere. Each fulfills a need in the educations of the children it serves. Each contributes to the development of important skills and attitudes. And each touches children on a personal level, bringing about significant and demonstrable inner change in a short time.
Museum Making Connections: Tri-State Elementary teachers are on the road, making their way to elementary schools in the Tri-State Area of West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. When they arrive at the schools, they unload their cars and carry in PowerPoint presentation equipment and art-making supplies for all of the students in a particular grade level: first grade, third grade or fifth grade. State standards in education are addressed in all three grade levels, not only in art, but also in math, reading, language arts and social studies. The first-graders enjoy a bookmaking and storytelling project. They start by looking at images form the Museum’s collection and finish by making a book and composing a story based on the images they have seen. The theme of the third-grade program is “masks.” By way of a PowerPoint presentation, students learn about cultures from around the world by viewing different masks and the ceremonies they represent. During the second part of the program, students are able to express themselves by making their own personal masks. The fifth-graders focus on elements of art and principles of design as they view images from the Museum’s collection. Then they enjoy a printmaking project using tools and materials, brand new to their art-making experiences.
Museum Making Connections: After School provides hour-long, art-making projects to 10 locations in Cabell and Wayne counties. Each after-school site is visited at least once a week during the school calendar, which allows for a building process to take place, not only in knowledge and skill levels, but also in mentoring. Teachers design their art projects based on a curriculum that focuses on the child becoming an active and important part of society.
Museum Making Connections: Community Events serves to introduce large numbers – often in the hundreds – of families and children to the museum’s educational programs, exhibitions and activities. HMA teachers bring materials, tools and creative ideas to share with community members.
Museum Making Connections: ArtWorks! is an award-winning program developed in response to the problems of inner-city teens living in public housing. This program deals directly with teens who are under-served. An artist/mentor works with the teens for two weeks, developing and implementing ideas that culminate in a finished work of art that is installed in Huntington. The teens are learning valuable skills in art making and critical thinking as well as developing a sense of community. Several of the completed ArtWorks! projects are visible throughout Huntington: Building Blocks at the foot of the Robert C. Byrd Bridge on 6th Street, the Mosaic by the Ritter Park tennis courts, Bridges on Main St in Guyandotte, Passages and Circle of Life on the museum's exterior wall and Windows on the corner of 4th Avenue and 8th Street.
in downtown Huntington.
Museum Making Connections: Saturday KidsArt welcomes elementary-aged children with their families to the Museum every Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. Afternoon activities include an hour of art making followed by movement and theater dramatizations. No registration is required.
Museum Making Connections: Middle School is a program in which students explore themes from the two perspectives of art and science. In the C. Fred Edwards Tropical Plant Conservatory, students examine themes from a scientific perspective. In the studios, the same themes are addressed through hands-on art making.
Museum Making Connections: Distance Learning, our newest program, offers virtual field trips by way of video conferencing to schools in remote locations and makes it possible for children without physical access to the Museum to experience a live tour of the Museum.
