What is Happening in Art? Let the School Know!

Next year I plan to share with the school what is going on in my classroom via a bulletin board outside the art room. At this year's NAEA conference I attended a workshop on promoting my program to my school. Art teachers are loners and hermits. We stay nice and quiet in our little rooms cleaning brushes and pugging clay. We need to let the school know what we are up to. We need to spell it out for them. I plan to create a bulletin board using butcher paper and share what lessons we are doing, what multicultural and interdisciplinary connections are being made, contest info, and articles that promote art education. I'm hoping that by doing this I will excite students, inform my peers and administration, and catch the eyes of parents who may lend a helping hand in the future.

Promoting Your Art Program

I know I have spoken before about promoting my art program with parents, now I am going to discuss my experience with promoting in the community. For a year and a half my students have had their work on permanent display at a local grocery store, this was set up through a parent who works there (see how awesome parents can be!) This year I have done 3 contests. The McCarren airport contest, Housing Divisions "Where I Live Contest," and the Crayola Art of Childhood contest. With the Housing Division's contest one of my students was a runner up and two other students had their artwork displayed at the Venetian. The governor's wife Dawn Gibbons was on hand during the event. My student who was a runner up received a gift certificate for art supplies as did I for my school. I also just wrote my first application for a grant, a small grant, but excellent experience. On Friday I received a check in the mail from City Lights Artists Co-Op. In the future I would like to have local buisnesses and casinos hang our artwork and continue writing for grants. The more you promote your program, the more it benefits.

Promoting Yourself as an Artist

Here are some sites to check out for promoting your artwork. You could add them to your resume, or put them on your buisness card that you hand out at interviews. Other ways to get noticed as an artist? Always check out Call for Work or Call for Artist ads online or in your local paper. My work is on etsy and myspace.

http://www.etsy.com
http://myartspace.com/
http://www.fineartamerica.com
http://fineartamerica.com/index.html
http://www.artscuttlebutt.com/