Prior to Monday’s announcement of its new $22,000 arts grant, the Newhall School District agreed to establish a new community arts partnership program with California Institute of the Arts.
Continuing the district’s ongoing push to provide a well-rounded education to students, district leaders said the new CAP program will allow CalArts’ faculty, alumni and student instructors to work with the district and Newhall Elementary School to provide free, after-school, school-based and summer arts programs to NSD youth.
“We’ve been working with CalArts for awhile and it seemed like a natural fit for the district,” governing board President Philip Ellis said. “Anything to do with the arts is important.”
Each learner will have the ability to work with a number of different techniques and media during the program, according to the new agreement. Basic concepts found in the fields of animation, creative writing, dance, digital and media arts, music, theater, photography, film, video and puppetry will all be covered, along with the visual arts.
“Students will make art from their experience in the world,” the agenda report reads, as each learner will have the opportunity to make sun prints, create molds to use in sculptures, build a camera obscura and craft imprints using natural objects found on the grounds of the school.
There is no cost for the after-school program, according to the district, since CalArts will provide all equipment, supplies and materials at no cost to the district.
At the end of the program, district leaders said, student work will be displayed at CalArts for public exhibition.
