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Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Alex Kent
- May 8, 2018
- 3 min
The Right Steps: Dance Transforms at Mabelvale Middle
Inside the portable classroom that serves as a dance studio at Mabelvale Magnet Middle School in southwest Little Rock, Kimeka Williams’ advanced dance students buzz with excitement. Today they’re unpacking a new set of jazz shoes that Ms. Williams acquired through Thea’s Art Closet, a program of the Thea Foundation that provides arts materials to classrooms across the state. Energetic, smiling teenagers stretch and move independently in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors,

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Alex Kent
- Jan 12, 2018
- 3 min
Creative Chemistry: Sylvan Hills Teachers Mix Science with Art
Under a colorful schoolroom ceiling, with a hand-painted periodic table of elements radiating rainbow overhead, close to three dozen high school students hover in groups around laboratory stations. Mr. Johnson’s chemistry class at Sylvan Hills High School in Sherwood, Ark., normally isn’t this crowded. Today, Ms. Brannen’s art students have joined the science students for a lesson on how art and chemistry collide. “Art interacts with all subject matter,” Brannen says. “For me

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Katie
- Nov 14, 2017
- 3 min
Laying a Foundation: Local Architect Supported Career with Art
As a teen, Caleb Tyson knew exactly what career he wanted. When he graduated from Jacksonville High School in 2009, he planned to go to college and study to be an architect. “Knowing that I wanted to be an architect and knowing the financial baggage that comes with that, I knew it was going to be difficult to pay for it all,” he says. “I knew that I was going to have to take it one year at a time, and that’s what I did… Since I was paying for most of my college out of pocket,

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Kat Wilson
- Sep 1, 2016
- 3 min
Art, The Unifier: Rogers Heritage High School Finds Funds to Further an Arts Program that Draws on A
Together, Nakia Brener and Allen Sullivan, both teachers at Rogers Heritage High School in Rogers, Ark., have posted six projects to DonorsChoose.org appealing for supplies to teach arts-related material to their students. Five of those projects received half of their funding from Thea Foundation through Thea’s Art Closet, whose mission is to fill in the gaps where schools lack or don’t prioritize funding for arts materials. “I am very fortunate to have a school district and
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