Public School 705 is a 10-minute walk through Crown Heights to the Brooklyn Museum. When Shevon Gant started teaching visual art at PS 705, she wanted to take her students to their neighborhood museum. The Museum’s School Partnership Program was just the ticket.
Through this program, Museum educators work with teachers to enhance their classroom lessons through custom, collaboratively designed visits. “The students need to see the art in person,” Gant says. “When I show them on the smart board, it’s cool—but they don’t see the scale, they don’t see the size, they don’t see the brushstrokes.”
Making art in a non-classroom environment unlocks students’ creativity, Gant says. It also helps them think more critically.
“They’re thinking about art differently, thinking about history, thinking about different cultures,” she says. “It’s giving them different perspectives that they may not have thought about before. That’s one of my goals as an art teacher.”
To request a partnership, complete a request form. Schools must assign a coordinator to oversee the partnership throughout its duration.
