press room

For Immediate Release

Awards Recognize Exemplary Arts Education Partnerships in the United States

(Washington, D.C.)—Americans for the Arts, the nation’s leading arts advocacy organization, and Binney & Smith, maker of Crayola products, announced today the winners of its "Power of Creativity" Community Arts Education Awards. The winners, seven leading arts organizations in the United States, were chosen for their exemplary visual arts education partnerships in their local communities. They are:

• Imagination Celebration Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
• Studio in a School, New York, NY
• The Ink People Center for the Arts, Eureka, CA
• The Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art, Pittsburgh, PA
• The Cultural Education Collaborative, Charlotte, NC
• The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Loretto, PA, and
• The Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA.

These organizations were selected by a national panel of arts education professionals, including administrators, artists and educators, based on the merits of their arts education policies and programs, their capacity to sustain the programs, and the effectiveness of the partnership with the school/districts or community organization. Through funding provided by Binney & Smith, each organization will receive $7,000.

"Thanks to the generous support and partnership of Binney & Smith, we are extraordinarily pleased to honor each of these leading organizations whose programs and services are integral to their communities," said Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts. "We received submissions from dozens of organizations who are all establishing and running valuable arts programs across the country."

"The 'Power of Creativity' award helps fuel a broad community commitment to sparking the imagination and inspiring achievement in the hearts and minds of the children we work with," said Lori Swift, president of the Cultural Education Collaborative. "We are so proud to be nationally recognized for our work in the community, which allows children to participate in powerful, engaging and inspirational arts activities. These kinds of tangible experiences send a strong signal to arts supporters everywhere that their investments are reaping an extraordinary return."

Awardees

Imagination Celebration Fort Worth creates and provides curriculum-related arts education and artistic experiences free of charge to local students by using a network of professional artists and cultural arts organizations. In 2000, Imagination Celebration reached more than 80,000 students through in-school and educational outreach programs. Through Imagination Celebration, students K-12 experience visual arts tours, workshops, student art exhibits, visual arts apprenticeships, artist residences, and competitions.

Studio in a School aims to meet the needs of at-risk youth in New York City’s urban environment by fostering the creative and intellectual development of young people through programs directed by professional artists, and by enhancing the capacity of those who provide and support arts programming for youth. Since its inception in 1977, Studio has provided more than 550 public schools with $38 million in visual arts services that allow children to explore painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpting under the guidance of professional Studio artists.

The Ink People Center for the Arts in Eureka, CA, nurtures culture through educating and involving artists and art lovers, and encourages excellence by showing, teaching, and creating art, and by providing leadership. The organization partners with individual schools, school districts, and community organizations to plan, develop, and deliver in-school programs that integrate with other aspects of existing curricula, as well as create after-school and summer arts programs.

Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory of Contemporary Art is a research and development lab for artists that encourages its museum viewers to examine the relevance of art and creativity in their lives. It commissions new, site-specific works and maintains selected individual installations in a permanent collection. The Mattress Factory houses artists while they create their work, which allows students to learn about the creative process and problem solving skills.

The Cultural Education Collaborative of Charlotte, NC, provides funding; professional development; monthly forums among partners; and staff and consultant services in program planning and implementation, student assessment, and evaluation to strengthen and expand the area’s cultural education programs in the arts, sciences, and history. The CEC works as a funded partner to the local Arts & Sciences Council and reaches 1.1 million children annually. The organization partners with 40 arts, science, and history organizations, 45 independent cultural educators, and schools to allow direct artist-to-student contact.

The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art aims to preserve, exhibit, and advance American art, dedicating its programs and activities to the people of southwestern central Pennsylvania. It establishes and maintains a museum of art and provides programs and activities of a public, charitable, civic, cultural, literary, and educational nature to 60,000 visitors and 25,000 students each year. The museum’s goal is to provide the means to create and interpret art, and works to provide enrichment to a school’s curricula.

Pasadena’s Armory Center for the Arts provides programs that encourage individual expression in both the creation and interpretation of art, emphasizes the connection between the visual arts and other disciplines, and fosters long-term collaborations with cultural, educational, and civic institutions to integrate the arts into the life of the community. It provides arts experiences to more than 25,000 children and adults annually. The Armory offers programs in: Programs for the Schools, Studio Programs, Programs in the Community, Art High: Artist Mentorship Programs for Youth, Professional Development Programs, and Gallery Programs.

Since 1903, when the first box of 8 Crayola crayons were sold for a nickel, Binney & Smith, based in Easton, Pennsylvania, has had color at its core. With a nearly 100-year heritage in schools, Binney & Smith, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards, Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., supports arts education through funding, products and programming that enable children to creatively express themselves and develop to their full potential.