2012-13 Artsmart Public School Program -
currently being planned.

As in years before, I will provide as many programs, to as many children, in as many media as funds allow.  We have been so lucky to have so many multi-cultural artists from our area with strong commitment to community and environmentalism.  We not only hire local artists at decent pay, but we give our children the joy of experiencing a spectrum of arts that open doors to their imaginations about who they might become and what they might do to contribute to our culture.  News about the '12-'13 school year will be posted here.

Program description
Nicole Emanuel has chaired Artsmart at Briarwood Elementary since 2007.  During this time, Artsmart has provided cross-cultural, community arts programming in several Shawnee Mission School District public schools.  Students are exposed to a variety of artists, who act as stewards or mentors, who discuss their career in the arts and who provide diverse creative projects and artforms.  The programming themes are creative diversity and environmental concerns.  Artsmart links elementary students, high school mentors, parents and community artists through sculpture, performance art, story telling, music, puppetry, painting, fashion design and other artforms.

Nedra Bonds - Fiber Artist - quilts, dolls and soft sculpture - exhibits nationally and internationally.
nedrabonds@hotmail.com

Bonnie Brown nationally renowned fine artist, painter, owner of the GIFT program.
6brown@sbcglobal.net

Mattie Rhodes Art Center - Multiple cross-cultural, hands-on classes.  http://www.mattierhodes.org/web/english/Art_Education.html

Pete Cowdin (a.k.a.Albert Bitterman) - Author "Fortune Cookies," and co-owner of Reading Reptile!

Jenny Whitehead - Author/illustrator "Holiday Stew", "Lunch Box Mail", "Punctuation Celebration" http://jennywhitehead.com/.

Pete Whitehead - Illustration http://www.hermanagencyinc.com/pete_whitehead.htm

KC Ballet - Students will see the Nutcracker set to Tchaikovsky's score, played by the Kansas City Symphony - all performed at the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.  Lina Martin, KC's Director of Community Programs will do Pre-performace education at Briarwood.www.kcballet.org/education

Joho - local story-teller performs global folktales with environmental themes http://www.johostoryteller.com/.
"Crossing Bok Chitto" (Native American); "All Things Connected" (African); "Bad Ogres of Kauai" (Hawaiin); "Agatha's Feather Bed" (American);
"The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal" (Indian); "Paca and Beetle" (Brazil)

Anthony Pack – local sculptor who uses recycled materials. http://www.whohadada.com/apack/index.html

Kurt Flecksing – local artist & Andy Warhol "Rocket Grant" recipient http://www.charlottestreet.org/opportunities/rocket-grants/ teaches social studies based art programming with a reuse materials emphasis. flexart7@gmail.com   http://www.facebook.com/people/Kurt-Flecksing

Kristie Velicer – KC Symphony's Second Violinist http://www.facebook.com/pages/Musicians-of-the-Kansas-City-Symphony

Chris Doolittle – Musician and songwriter http://www.chrisdoolittlemusic.com/index.html  cdoolittle2@kc.rr.com,

Holly Swangstu - local artist and Director of the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center http://www.leedy-voulkos.com/:
"Camouflage Collage", "Mega-Cool Animal Sculpture", and "Textile Patterning"

StoneLion Puppet Theater – local NFP arts organization will: http://www.stonelionpuppets.org/
Artsmart/StoneLion Public Art Program: The entire 4th grade (including ELL) made giant puppets to float on Brush Creek in the Country Club Plaza at The Green Festival 2010 with Stone Lion Theater's "Gian Puppet Pageant" a community art performance about water conservation.

Artsmart/StoneLion Assemblies: "Spelunking,""Backyard Buggin" and "Down the Drain", environmentally focused performances, with marionetes, rod-&-mouth puppets and lots of audience interaction!

Artsmart/StoneLion Classes: "Very Hungry Caterpillar" turn-about sock puppets, "Kansas River Wildlife rod puppets/Celebrate Urban Birds", "Foot prints on the planet collage", "Endangered Species Rod Puppets", Recycled Art Masks"

FUNDING: Each year, Emanuel's Artsmart Program is partially funded through the Kansas Green Schools Grant Program http://www.kansasgreenschools.org/ by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KSDHE) and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) funds.  StoneLion Puppet Theater is funded by Johnson County Stormwater Management http://stormwater.jocogov.org/ Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) http://www.marc.org/ , Missouri Arts Council https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/ , KC Parks and Recreation http://www.kcmo.org/CKCMO/Depts/ParksandRecreation/index.htm and ArtsKC http://www.artskc.org/

 In 2008-2009 Emanuel's Artsmart Program brought artists from KS, MO, WI, & IL, together with local high school and elementary students into Kansas City's Cross Roads district for a series of events: "Sorry for the Miscommunication: a carnival of dialogue between artists and the community;" "Avant Garb: Shawnee Mission School District fashion show and performance art happening;" "Museum of the Streets: a public forum about the history of street art and the role of artist in the community." http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sorry-for-the-Miscommunication/50464045591 Portions of the events extended to Chicago, Illinois and Madison Wisconsin.  Simultaneously, Emanuel's Artsmart program provided dozens of community artists' programs at the elementary school level.

Emanuel's 2008-2009 work was funded by ArtsKC's Inspiration Grant http://www.artskc.org/inspirationgrants.aspx; KC Artists Coalition MAP grant http://www.kansascityartistscoalition.org/grants/map/map.html; Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) http://www.kdheks.gov/ , the Kansas Association for Conservation and Environmental Education (KACEE) http://www.kacee.org/, Parent Teacher's Association (PTA) and Madison, Wisconsin's BLINK grant.  Dozens of local organizations and merchants also provided In-kind and material donations.

In 2009-2010 Emanuel organized the Shawnee Mission East/Briarwood Elementary Mentor project:  This innovative project linked Shawnee Mission East (SME), the National Arts Honor Society (NAHS) and the Artsmart.  With Adam Finkelston (SMSD teacher & Arts Honor Society Chair http://www.smsd.org/schools/smeast/club593.htm and Nicole Emanuel, 3 SME high school students (Briarwood alumni & NAHS students) mentored 6-graders.  The high school Art Mentors planned and taught a curriculum that included using recycled materials to create sculptures; practicing teaching and self promotion; exemplifying the student journey, through the arts, with an eye on environmental concerns.

Artsmart provided 53 classes and an assembly (two classes to each room) -- eleven different programs, taught by five local artists and organizations -- during the 2009-2010 school year.  Over 37 classes and an assembly are set for 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.  English Language Learners (ELL) and interpreters are included in all programs.

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