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Band Builds Confidence, Community and Creativity at Little Rock School

Photography by Alex Kent

Nov 20, 2018
4 min

Band Builds Confidence, Community and Creativity at Little Rock School

It’s game night, and inside the band room at Hall High School in Little Rock, student are buzzing with excitement. Basketball season is starting, and Hall’s brass band is fine-tuning the music they’ll perform to pep up the audience and the players tonight. Band instructor Rojay Moore leads the musicians, stopping them every now and then to pinpoint where they could make changes. “Being in the band helps students develop the discipline needed for success in and out of other cl

How a School Dance Program Changes Lives with Help from the Community

Photography by Katie Childs

Nov 13, 2018
4 min

How a School Dance Program Changes Lives with Help from the Community

“Students who dance have a reason to come to school,” North Little Rock dance instructor Christen Pitts says. “They can express themselves, get out emotions through movement, their grades are better, and they learn time management skills.” When the morning bell rings, Mrs. Pitts’s students are dressed and ready to warm up. They listen attentively and answer as roll is called, then they get in formation in front of the mirrors that fully surround them, eager for their instruct

Help Thea Restock the Closet This #GivingTuesday

Thea Foundation

Nov 5, 2018
1 min

Help Thea Restock the Closet This #GivingTuesday

This #GivingTuesday, Thea Foundation and Arkansas teachers have a great need. Just two months ago, we made the big announcement that we were DOUBLING our budget for Arkansas teachers in need of supplies this school year, giving $50,000 in art supplies and creative materials to underfunded classrooms across the state. Well, it’s just November and we’re down to $7,000 left in our Art Closet funds. By mid-November, we’re expecting to be completely out of funds, with six more mon

Arkansas Teachers Show Joint Exhibition at Thea Foundation

Thea Foundation

Aug 30, 2018
1 min

Arkansas Teachers Show Joint Exhibition at Thea Foundation

Teachers from schools across central Arkansas will debut a joint mixed media exhibition at Thea Foundation this month. These teachers are part of our Arts Reconstruction program, which provides professional development and advanced arts materials to local visual arts teachers. The exhibition, titled "Connections," will be up Sept. 10 through Sept. 27 at Thea Foundation, located at 401 Main Street, Suite 100, in downtown North Little Rock. A reception for "Connections" will be

Meet Carmen Alexandria Thompson, Thea's Next Art Department Artist

Thea Foundation

Jul 25, 2018
3 min

Meet Carmen Alexandria Thompson, Thea's Next Art Department Artist

August 3, Thea Foundation welcomes Little Rock mixed media artist Carmen Alexandria "Allie" Thompson to the gallery with an exhibition that includes several new works of art. "The Mind Unveiled" will focus on the state of mental health and society and include mixed media works, many of which have never been exhibited. Thea staff chatted with Allie leading up to the show to talk about her process and inspiration. Thea: When did you start making art? Allie: I've been making thi

The Right Steps: Dance Transforms at Mabelvale Middle

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,

Creative Chemistry: Sylvan Hills Teachers Mix Science with Art

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

Laying a Foundation: Local Architect Supported Career with Art

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,

Firing Up Fine Arts in Arkansas Schools

Jul 7, 2017
2 min

Firing Up Fine Arts in Arkansas Schools

Do you know about Thea's Arts Reconstruction program? Through Arts Reconstruction, Thea Foundation implements new and augments existing arts programs in schools by providing advanced training and tools for visual arts teachers and string instruments and instruction. Summer visual arts training sessions just ended, and teachers from schools across central Arkansas learned to create and fire hand-built pottery and many techniques in metalworking, and they left with the tools to

2017 Performing Arts Scholarship Winners

Thea Foundation

Mar 20, 2017
1 min

2017 Performing Arts Scholarship Winners

More than 160 students from across the state signed up for this year's Performing Arts Scholarship Competition, held Saturday, March 18, at the Center for the Humanities and Arts at the University of Arkansas at Pulaski Tech. The talent was astonishing! We are so proud of every single student who walked across the stage that day and of the 10 students who will receive scholarships: 1st place: Aryana Gardner, Conway High School, $4,000, vocal performance 2nd pace: Katie Cleven

One Big Way Thea Brings the Arts to Schools Near You

Stacey Bowers / Photos by Mark Fonville and

Mar 1, 2017
3 min

One Big Way Thea Brings the Arts to Schools Near You

In 2014, Thea Foundation launched a new program, called Arts Reconstruction, to create new and augment existing arts programs within schools, making sure that the arts are accessible during the day when school is in session. Orchestra programs were added to schools throughout central Arkansas, and visual arts teachers were trained in new techniques and given specialized equipment and supplies to carry out these enhanced lesson plans. Each Arts Reconstruction school is monitor

Building Bright Futures on a Budget

Dec 12, 2016
3 min

Building Bright Futures on a Budget

In the fall of 2016, Brad Wreyford, a teacher at Arkansas School for Math, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA) in Hot Springs, took his students to visit Thea Foundation, where he learned about Thea’s Art Closet. Always looking to expand his lesson plans, Wreyford quickly got to work on his first Thea’s Art Closet project. “Our art budget is adequate for what we do now, but it is spread thin when we attempt to grow,” Wreyford said. “Having funds to expand what we offer usually come

Art, The Unifier: Rogers Heritage High School Finds Funds to Further an Arts Program that Draws on A

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

For Conway Students, Science is Music to Their Ears

Mar 30, 2016
4 min

For Conway Students, Science is Music to Their Ears

Patty Oeste, a seventh grade teacher at Ruth Doyle Middle School, located in Conway, Ark., didn’t know what to expect when she launched her first project on DonorsChoose.org, but she knew that her students needed supplies and she had to try something new to make up for what her school’s budget severely lacked. “Over the years I have raised funds by selling candy, pencils and waiting tables with student helpers,” she explained. “The money comes together very slowly that way.”