MUSEUM OUTREACH
Making Art Accessible to All
Wanda Moore, a 1st Grade Classroom
Teacher for 16 years currently at Bradley
Elementary in Richland One, found
the program a valuable addition to her
classroom schedule saying, “The students
were really engaged and enjoyed the
program and the content supports and
enhances my curriculum by integrating art
and making connections to the story.”
Making art accessible to everyone is the
hallmark of the Museum’s mission to
educate, enrich and inspire lives through
art. By using the Museum’s collection
and special exhibitions as a jumping-off
point, the education department staff
develops programs that are engaging and
informative prompting food for thought
and discussion. New tours, classes,
workshops, and community events are
continually presented to provide dynamic
opportunities for visitors, young and old
alike.
This fall, new programs, like Mystery at the
Museum: An Overnight Adventure and
Reading Readiness through Art, along with
a new partnership with the Ben Arnold
Boys and Girls Club, help realize this goal.
What could be more exciting then
spending the night at the Columbia
Museum of Art? Grab your sleeping bag
and pillow for an overnight adventure at
the Museum! The new family program,
Mystery at the Museum for 6 – 12 year
olds and their families, lets participants do
just that! Create a one-of-a-kind work of
art to take home with you, solve a museum
mystery as you take a ?ashlight tour of
the collection, and then enjoy a late-night
snack while watching the ?lm Nancy Drew.
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columbiamuseum.org
Be among the ?rst visitors in the Museum’s
60-year history to see what it’s like with
the doors closed and the lights out! For
more information or to register for this
program, visit the Museum’s website at
columbiamuseum.org.
The Reading Readiness through Art
Program is a new school outreach program
designed by Museum education staff
to improve reading skills by connecting
engaging works of children’s literature
with works of visual arts and related
hands-on art activities. Development
of this innovative new program was
made possible through a generous grant
from the Central Carolina Community
Foundation. Presented at the Museum
or in the classroom to 4K – 1st grade
students, this program provides students
with improved reading readiness skills at
a crucial point. The basic ability to read
is the most fundamental skill needed for
future success in school and beyond. The
Reading Readiness through Art program
serves as a supplement and support to
existing Language Arts curriculum in the
classroom while allowing early readers
to associate learning to read with a fun
creative art activity.
During the pilot phase of this program
last spring, 384 students were served
in Richland County. In addition to the
programs presented at schools and at the
Museum, eight sessions were presented
at the Ben Arnold Boys and Girls Club,
leading to an expanded partnership taking
place this fall focusing on programming
for teens.
The Ben Arnold Boys and Girls Club
is the only free-standing club in the
Midlands and provides daily after-school
programming for almost 100 students,
ranging in age from 5 – 16. This fall the
Museum’s outreach team will provide
programming to teen members of the club
to expose them to the visual arts as a way
to foster character development and critical
thinking skills. Students participating in
the Museum’s outreach programs master
these skills through group interaction,
creative production, and collaboration,
while developing a valuable sense of
cultural awareness and engagement with
their community.
For more information on how to
get your child involved in these new
programs, or to ?nd out how you
can support the Museum’s outreach
to the community, please contact
Director of Education Ali Borchardt at
803.343.2186.