Arts Council Napa Valley Receives Arts Education Grant From Foster's Group Award Ceremony At Bel Aire Park Elementary's Poetry Cafe Stacey Abeyta's 2nd Grade Class to Perform
NAPA, California, April, 2010: Arts Council Napa Valley (ACNV) will receive $25,000 for Arts Education from Foster's Group next week at a presentation taking place at Bel Aire Park Elementary in Napa. This generous grant will support much needed arts programming in Napa County schools as well as at family arts activities at local festivals.
On April 28, 2010, Ed Matovcik, Vice President of Government and Community Relations for Foster's Wine Estates, will formally present the funding to ACNV. That evening, Bel Aire School will also host a "Poetry Cafe", to celebrate the poetry and artwork of teacher Stacey Abeyta's second grade students. Stacey and her class have been working with local artist and art teacher, Lynne Tuft, to write and perform their poetry as well as create visual art inspired by their writing. The project was funded in part by ACNV's Arts Education Program. The public is invited to attend this special event and performance from at Bel Aire Park's Library, which will be transformed in to a Bohemian Cafee for the event.
"Quality arts education is vital for well-rounded students, both as an avenue for creative expression, and for their individual development," says Kristina Young, ACNV's Acting Executive Director. "We are deeply grateful to Foster's Group for their support, and for the opportunity to provide schools like Bel Aire with funds to help them create relevant arts programs like the Poetry Cafee."
"Since the world is changing so quickly, we can prepare our children by assisting them in developing creative thinking skills," explains art teacher, Lynne Tuft. "Then they can't help but be curious and fall in love with language and learning. They become committed to their own progress while developing a self-directed, self-motivated practice."
The classes offered through ACNV's Arts in Education program are diverse, creative, and exciting. Classes cover visual, literary, and performing arts, everything from small projects working with clay to full-school musical productions; from mummifying apples in the ancient Egyptian technique to creating collage art from found objects; from puppet performances to hip-hop dance. All Napa County schools, as well as all community organizations that provide arts programming, are invited to apply for matching funding. ACNV Arts in Education catalogs and applications for funding are available on the ACNV website at www.artscouncilnapavalley.org. For more information, please call (707) 257-2117, email kristina [ a t ]artscouncilnv.org, or visit www.artscouncilnapavalley.org.
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