Thanks to Variety’s essential support, Change for Kids has been able to continue their partnership with the Bronx Museum of Art this year, ensuring that 475 P.S. 73X students from second through fourth grades—more than half of the school—continue to receive crucial art programming. More than a hands-on art class, in 24 sessions throughout the course of a semester, the partnership with the Bronx Museum of Art gives students the chance to engage with works of fine art by local artists, interacting with their community in a new way. Art lessons delivered in the classroom and in museum visits tie in to school curriculum, enhancing the impact of all, while giving students the opportunity to express themselves. At the end of the semester, museum staff, teachers and parents come together to celebrate student achievement in an exhibition at the museum.
This year, the second graders are immersed in a curriculum that centers on architectural art and local architecture. During a lesson in May, one class headed out of the classroom and into the neighborhood. Walking to the museum, their instructor asked students to consider the landmarks of their home turf–Yankee Stadium, the nearby park, the elevated train–with fresh eyes, to see how form followed need and function. Once inside the galleries of the museum, the instructor presented students with an arrangement of bricks balanced on four water glasses. Students came up with endless explanations as to how the sculpture could stand, and each idea pushed against what they had previously understood as brick and glass.
With those ideas fresh in their minds, students then set to work creating structures out of Popsicle sticks and rubber bands. Their work took all sorts of forms, from the practical to the wildly imaginative. But the lesson didn’t end there: once a student had a structure he liked, he recreated it on paper, as an architectural drawing. At the end of the semester, a few of the drawings will be selected to be built in the local community gardens near P.S. 73, allowing students to contribute to the local architecture they studied.
We’re grateful to Variety for making this partnership possible. With their support, we’re helping students at P.S. 73 develop new skills and connect with their community in exciting and impactful ways.