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Art Resources in Teaching (A.R.T.), a not-for-profit organization, is Chicago's oldest and largest educational organization dedicated to providing vibrant visual arts residency programs to school children in the Chicago area. A.R.T. Teaching-Artists make art come alive for students and teachers by establishing connections between academic subjects and the visual arts with lively discussions, slide presentations, and hands-on art projects. Students learn about the relationship of art to history, culture, and creative expression through media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and others. Residencies range in length from one-day workshops to sixteen session residencies and are designed to address Chicago Academic Standards and Frameworks and IL State Goals and build children's capacity for creative thinking.
Mission Statement
To inspire students and educators by using the visual arts to unlock creativity and engage children in the core academic curriculum.
Vision Statement
- We will be an innovator in exploring ways to introduce the visual arts into the lives of students and teachers, including the development of new links between technology and the arts.
- We will pioneer model programs that integrate the arts into instruction in core academic subjects.
- We will advocate for the importance of the visual arts in education and initiate research on the value of the arts in education.
- We will facilitate the building of school-based learning communities where the visual arts are central to the understanding of a wide range of cultures and traditions.
- We will use a diverse corps of professional artists who will involve students in the fun and excitement of the visual arts, while also transferring skills and best teaching practices to classroom teachers and arts specialists.
A Rich History
Art Resources in Teaching (A.R.T.) has worked quietly and effectively for over one hundred years to make a difference in the lives of Chicago's children. Without fanfare, year after year, volunteers, then paid staff in conjunction with volunteers, have labored to fill a need for arts education in a large and overburdened school system.
Ellen Gates Starr with her friend Jane Addams founded A.R.T. in 1894 at Hull House. It was called the Chicago Public School Art Society until 1983 when its name was changed to Art Resources in Teaching. The founders of A.R.T. were women activists who were responding to a cut in the art curriculum in the schools following a controversy over whether immigrant children needed to learn to think (through the arts) or to just learn the basics for the trades (reading, writing, and arithmetic).
Initially, the Chicago Public School Art Society developed a lending library of prints and paintings for the Chicago Public Schools. They focused on schools in the poor immigrant neighborhoods with the purposes of
1) teaching the English language, American history and patriotic ideals
2) encouraging the appreciation of artistic quality.
Gradually, the programs were expanded to include field trips to The Art Institute of Chicago, hanging prints in the schools, and teaching children about the value of art and how to appreciate art. A leader in arts education, the Chicago Public School Art Society was the first to introduce students to the new Impressionist and Cubist masterpiece.
Over the years, the method of teaching art in the schools has changed, but the mission remains remarkably similar to the one that carried the organization through two world wars, a depression, and six social changes. Since its inception, A.R.T. has been committed to the idea that art is essential for a child's development.
The A.R.T. Difference
Focus
A.R.T. focuses solely on visual arts education. This specialization and emphasis on arts integration with the school's academic curricula allows us to more effectively evaluate and improve our programs for students and teachers.
Experience
As an experienced specialist in visual arts education, A.R.T. has developed programs that meet the needs of both students and educators and that are consistent with the State of Illinois Learning Standards for the Fine Arts and the Chicago Academic Standards and Frameworks. A.R.T. Teaching-Artists have extensive teaching experience, enabling them to seamlessly bridge the world of the arts to the world of the classroom with dynamic and interactive visual arts programs.
Method
A.R.T. combines interpretive discussions with hands-on art activities to teach children about visual art and its relationship to history, culture, literature, science, math, and other academic disciplines. A.R.T. Teaching-Artists help children develop their critical thinking skills when they teach children how to observe and analyze the artist's message and formal elements of the medium. In challenging hands-on art projects, students develop creative problem-solving skills and learn art-making techniques when they create artworks that require them to think creatively and apply knowledge they have learned in the residency.
