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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

Thea Foundation to Match up to $50,000 in Grants for Arkansas Teachers

Thea Foundation

Aug 13, 2018
2 min

Thea Foundation to Match up to $50,000 in Grants for Arkansas Teachers

Thea’s Art Closet, a program of Thea Foundation which awards funding for art supplies and other creative materials to Arkansas classrooms, is now open and accepting submissions for the 2018-19 school year, and with $50,000 to award — that’s double the grant money that was offered last school year. Thea Foundation is inviting public school teachers of grades K-12 across the state of Arkansas to submit requests for art supplies and other creative materials to DonorsChoose.org,

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

Self-Constructive: Working with Power Tools Builds Confidence in Parkview Students

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Alex Kent

Nov 20, 2017
4 min

Self-Constructive: Working with Power Tools Builds Confidence in Parkview Students

The stage at Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School is abuzz two weeks before the opening of the school’s fall play, Arsenic and Old Lace. Stage left, on a French-inspired settee, a student uses a needle and thread to touch up seams in a costume. Stage right, another student brushes gold paint onto a false wall to create the illusion of patterned wallpaper. Near the middle of the stage, a group of young men takes down a large rectangle of wood painted to resemble a wind

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,

Melting Pot: Little Rock Educator Teaches Science, History Through Pottery

Nov 10, 2017
3 min

Melting Pot: Little Rock Educator Teaches Science, History Through Pottery

“Awesome feet!” Middle school art educator Jordan Wolf compliments a students on the little clay “feet” she’s added to the bottom of her pinch pot, a type of accessible hand-built pottery that’s a perfect jumping-off point for working with clay. “This is the first time most of these students have worked with clay, so we’re spending a lot of time learning how to use our hands. Students have spent several classes just practicing pinch pots and rolling coils,” Wolf says. “I try

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

Not Just Child's Play: Creative Collaboration in the Classroom

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Mark

Mar 23, 2017
2 min

Not Just Child's Play: Creative Collaboration in the Classroom

A group of third graders huddles around a table at Seventh Street Elementary School, their arms weaving over each other and brows furrowed as they thoughtfully stack Legos. “Who knows how to build a house?” one asks. “I do!” another shouts. They’re collaborating to build a set with the plastic bricks, which they’ll use to film a stop motion animation starring Lego characters in a story the students wrote. Each student wrote his own film, their teacher, Melinda Bissett, says,

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

Making School a Magical Place to Be

Words by Stacey Bowers / Photography by Mark

Feb 22, 2017
2 min

Making School a Magical Place to Be

Take a stroll through White Hall High School, and you’ll see it couldn’t be more aptly named. The walls are stark and bare, unless it’s almost the Chinese New Year and you’re in Mr. Bowman’s wing. Near his art room, the walls come alive with colorful paper dragons, all part of a project funded by Thea’s Art Closet. “I believe it is important to celebrate with other cultures, and it gives my students an opportunity to try a different form of art, “ Bowman said about the appeal

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

Teaching Philanthropy with Puppies and Paint

Apr 4, 2016
3 min

Teaching Philanthropy with Puppies and Paint

When Stephanie Darnell, an art teacher at Maumelle Middle School, comes up with a new project she knows will really excite and engage her students but that her budget won’t cover, she doesn’t quit the project. Stephanie submits her project proposal on DonorsChoose.org, knowing that a project that totals $600 or less and incorporates the arts will automatically qualify for half-funding through Thea’s Art Closet, a program of Thea Foundation. Through social media, she can share

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.”