Foundations Team-Up to Widen Southington Student Exposure to the Arts

Caption: The New Britain Museum of American Art will play an important role in bringing the art experience to Southington third grade students thanks to a partnership of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Southington Education Foundation and Southington Public Schools.)

Southington 3rd-graders will get more exposure to the arts after The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain and Southington Education Foundation teamed-up to provide a grant.

The nearly $25,000 grant will provide a New Britain Museum of American Art artist in residence to offer hands-on lessons for students in the creation of Connecticut landscapes, according to a release from CFGNB.

Students will also be able to travel to the museum and Southington 3rd-grade art teachers will have a full-day workshop at the NBMAA. Those are just some of the benefits of the grant.

This is another terrific example of invested community partners coming together to bring a promising concept to fruition, and we are thrilled to be part of it,” said CFGNB President Jim Williamson. “Being part of this collaborative effort to broaden the educational experience of our area’s youngsters at such an impressionable age was an opportunity we could not pass up.”

There will also be an end of the year art show at elementary schools to showcase student work.

Southington school administrators are equally as excited about the opportunity to widen the exposure of art for students.

“We’re extremely enthusiastic about this wonderful opportunity,” said Southington Assistant Superintendent of Schools Karen Smith, who explained that the program will be a blend of arts and social studies curricula. “Our goal was to look broader than art, broader than social studies, and broader than just one or two schools. This is a perfect chance to extend a unique opportunity to all of our third graders that is extra-curricular, but still based on the tenets of our written curriculum.”

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