Art in Schools

The Arts Council’s Arts in Schools Program

Transylvania Community Arts Council believes that arts programs are essential to the intellectual and personal growth of every young person. Whether in schools or communities, the arts help young people develop self-confidence, higher order thinking skills, discipline, interpersonal skills, academic success, and creativity. The Arts Council partners with Transylvania County Schools to present Arts in Schools at the nine public schools with its Artist in Residence Programs and its Take Art to Heart Program.

Artist In Residence

The Arts Council works with Transylvania County Schools to place local and regional artists in the schools for week-long residencies with students who are given a hands-on, sequential arts experience. The current roster consists of about a dozen artists and encompasses a variety of disciplines including visual arts, music, sculpture, pottery, drama, creative writing, photography, creative movement, and much more.

Take Art to Heart

In the Take Art to Heart program, elementary school students create and respond to art through a variety of subject matter, content, and ideas. The presentations are engaging and interactive incorporating fine artworks, literature, and video.  Students then have an opportunity to demonstrate their learning by creating a work of art that is connected to the content.

“Take Art to Heart is a vital program,” says teacher Jennifer Cunniff. “Our Take Art to Heart instructor is a retired teacher …. She uses art to teach comparison and contrast, counting and new vocabulary. I hope and pray that this program will always be in the schools.” Retired teacher Louise Stroupe explains, “Students look forward to [Take Art to Heart]. They learn about art and math; the effects of light; the mood of a picture; about artists’ lives, where they lived, where they were at that point of time. They learn a new awareness and perspective on things. It’s a whole new social studies.”

Student Art Show

Every spring the Arts Council and Transylvania County Schools, along with their art teachers, present the Transylvania County Student Art Show to recognize talented young artists and to allow them the opportunity to participate in the cultural landscape of our community. Kindergarten through senior high school students exhibit over 200 extraordinary and enjoyable works of art focusing on different subject matter and using many kinds of materials.

Why Arts Programming is Essential for Young Students

  • Art helps students make new connections and think “outside the box.”

  • Expression in the arts helps students develop cognitive and physical skills.

  • Each art form brings special ways of perceiving the world, utilizing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

  • The arts help transform the school environment to one of discovery and learning.

  • Art criticism helps students develop observation and analytical skills that can be transferred to other areas of study.

  • The arts are essential to an understanding of personal, local, national, and global cultures, past and present.