The Clarke County School District and Athens-based nonprofit AthFest Educates today announced the launch of Athens AIR: Artists in Residence, a new partnership that will bring professional teaching artists in the community into every CCSD elementary school over the next three years.
This exciting opportunity will create unique, meaningful arts experiences for CCSD students and school communities. It supports one of the district’s anchoring priorities of building a more connected culture between schools and the Athens-Clarke County community and emphasizes the district’s core belief that all students deserve engaging, relevant, and challenging learning experiences to help them fulfill their potential.
"Athens is home to an incredible creative community," said Dr. Dan Smith, CCSD Fine Arts, Health, and PE Coordinator. "By offering a paid, week-long residency, we support local artists financially while giving our students a hands-on look at how a professional artist brings an artistic vision from concept to completion. AthFest Educates is the perfect partner to help bring this unique opportunity to our schools."
Beginning this school year, selected CCSD elementary schools will host a one-week artist residency centered on a collaborative project designed by the school’s art teacher, in which the teacher, a selected artist from the community, and students will work together to complete. Potential projects may include murals, sculptures, or similar artwork installations at the school, or an immersive experience in a specialized art form such as ceramics, printmaking, fiber arts, digital media, or other artistic media.
Art teachers at each elementary school will be invited to submit a proposal describing the residency they would like to bring to their schools and will be asked to either propose a specific artist or request an artist match to fit their vision for the project.
Three schools will be selected to participate in the inaugural year of this three-year partnership, and additional schools will be added each year until all 14 of CCSD’s elementary schools have hosted a residency.
AthFest Educates is a longtime partner of CCSD and supporter of arts education in public schools and, to date, has awarded more than $750,000 in grants for projects in art classrooms across the district. Much of those proceeds have come from the annual AthFest Music and Arts Festival held every summer in downtown Athens.
"We are thrilled to partner with CCSD on this long-term project to further our support of arts education and the engagement of local artists in our community's classrooms,” said Mary Joyce, Executive Director of AthFest Educates.