Kidspace to Receive Prestigious Award from the National Arts Learning Collaborative

Kidspace at MASS MoCA has been selected to receive the prestigious 2009 Massachusetts Arts Education Collaborative Distinguished Community Arts Collaborative Award. Given by the Massachusetts Arts Education Collaborative division of the National Arts Learning Collaborative, this award recognizes programs and institutions that provide, support and advocate for quality arts education in the Commonwealth.  The mission of the National Arts and Learning Collaborative is to promote active engagement of all pre-K through Grade 12 students in developing artistic and academic competence by advancing excellence in teaching practice and through innovative school models.

The Distinguished Community Arts Collaborative Award is given to arts educators who have developed a model arts collaborative between school and community cultural resources.  The qualities celebrated in these educators are interdisciplinary planning and cooperative programming between cultural institutions and schools, exemplary teaching and programming in the arts, professional involvement and leadership beyond the classroom, concentration on the cultural and arts education needs of the community, and the stimulation of community support.

"Since Kidspace opened in 2000, it has been an important part of our community and has been an integral part of arts education for our kids," said North Adams Mayor John Barrett III. "The City of North Adams is deeply grateful to the Clark Art Institute and Williams College Museum of Art for their commitment to this important program which gives our students the opportunity to be engaged with the arts at a very young age. This recognition is a great honor." Kidspace at MASS MoCA will be honored among the other award recipients at the annual Massachusetts Arts Education Collaborative awards ceremony on Wednesday, May 27. The event will be preceded by a Leadership Symposium that will examine cutting-edge research that supports the importance of arts education in the development of the whole child intellectually, aesthetically, socially and academically.

Since January 2000, Kidspace at MASS MoCA has been an important and innovative anchor in the arts education curriculum for the surrounding area. A collaboration between The Clark, Williams College Museum of Art, and MASS MoCA, Kidspace is a contemporary art gallery, studio space, and educational program designed for elementary and middle school students, teachers, families, and the public to build bridges between the local community and professional artists.

Kidspace was specifically designed by the three-museum partnership to support the schools and communities of the North Berkshires by focusing on  student improvement in academic areas and also students' emotional and social needs. Kidspace is part of the life of every elementary schoolchild and teacher in six schools, and it works with the same 110 classes each year. It has become an integral part of the public schools' annual curriculum plans and continues to challenge students and teachers with innovative exhibitions and collaborative programming with the three museums. By providing integrated arts experiences that are designed by educators at the three museums, Kidspace staff, and area teachers, the partnership ensures that the educational goals of the program meet the needs of a changing student body.

While the surrounding schools benefit yearly from collaboration with Kidspace, the public is also invited to view and create art in Kidspace. Within the gallery space is a studio for creating art projects in response to Kidspace exhibition themes using processes similar to those used by the exhibiting artists. Public hours are offered on weekends, during school holidays, and every day over the summer. Kidspace also offers a range of art classes for the public and a series of family programs.

In addition to the school curriculum and public interaction, Kidspace's programming includes the new Mona Lisa Project, an after-school program for teenage girls, seeking to empower young women who lack consistent adult role models in their lives, have limited involvement in the community, and are without resources to take advantage of out-of-school activities, particularly in the arts. The Mona Lisa Project offers weekly sessions in visual art and movement activities for girls to explore positive ways in which they can express themselves, build their sense of self, and make helpful contributions to their community.