#education

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

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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

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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,

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Shaping Young Minds: How a Little Rock Teacher Funds Sculpture in the Classroom

Stacey Bowers / Photography by Mark Fonville

Mar 16, 2017
2 min

Shaping Young Minds: How a Little Rock Teacher Funds Sculpture in the Classroom

Elena Petroukhina, an art teacher at Mann Arts Magnet Middle School in Little Rock, is a Thea’s Art Closet veteran. Over the years, she’s been able to supply her classroom with creative materials that typically fall outside of her annual budget. “We get a budget for each school year. Usually that covers the basics like pencils, markers, paper, some paint. To give students a variety of experiences with art media, I have to raise extra funds,” Petroukhina said. “Because Mann is

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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

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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

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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

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Registration for Thea Foundation’s 2017 Scholarship Competitions Is Open

Stacey Bowers

Aug 30, 2016
2 min

Registration for Thea Foundation’s 2017 Scholarship Competitions Is Open

As of Monday, August 15, 2016, Thea’s annual scholarship competition are open for registration, which will close the Monday before each competition in the spring of 2017. Thea Foundation’s scholarship program, which awards 30 scholarships each year ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 to Arkansas high school seniors, partners with 27 colleges and universities in Arkansas and across the nation, who match or exceed Thea’s scholarships, translating to more than $2 million in scholarshi

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401 Main Street, Suite 100

North Little Rock, AR 72114

tel: 501-379-9512

fax: 501-379-9513