InsideOut

Art in Action enriches children's lives through art. Nearly 100 elementary and middle schools offer Art in Action in more than 1000 classrooms. Art in Action trains participating schools' teachers, docents, and volunteers to teach the sequential, standards-based visual art curriculum to more than 23,000 students in the Bay Area and beyond. More than 800 children attend summer ARTcamp, and local libraries display over 3,000 works of student art annually. Art in Action supplies pre-packaged lesson-specific art materials. Art in Action was founded in 1982 and is a nonprofit organization.

Dandelion Arts provides art eduction to children with limited access to the arts in Kindergarten through eighth grades with an emphasis on culture and social responsibility.  Art mediums are primarily visual arts and creative writing.

The Education Department at SFMOMA organizes a wide range of programs for audiences of all ages. We offer special exhibition-related events, such as artist talks and lectures; tours for students, adult groups, and walk-in visitors; and family days and monthly hands-on family studios. Visit the calendar to learn about upcoming events.

A fun and meaningful forum for education, understanding and awareness, the San Francisco Film Society’s Education Program introduces students to the art of filmmaking and celebrates both the differences and the shared values of the many cultural groups that make up our global community. The program aims to develop media literacy, broaden insights into other cultures, enhance foreign language aptitude, develop critical thinking skills and inspire a lifelong appreciation of cinema.

We are constantly establishing new partnerships with schools, cultural centers, sponsors, museums, innovators in the film industry and other nonprofit and arts organizations to support us in our educational objectives. We strive to cultivate students’ imaginations, facilitate their awareness as filmgoers and empower them as true global citizens.

Our programs are also designed to meet the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards for California public schools, providing key media resources for teaching artistic perception, creative expression, aesthetic valuing, historical and cultural dimensions of the arts, and the means for connecting and applying what is learned through film to other curricula and careers.

Since 1991, the SFFS Education Program has reached more than 30,000 Bay Area schoolchildren and 2,500 teachers from more than 500 educational institutions through film screenings, filmmaker visits and lesson plans.

The San Francisco Children's Art Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower children and foster their sense of self through artistic exploration. Our focus is on a process-oriented art experience. While providing instruction in the use of art materials and techniques, our teachers guide students through the creative process in an effort to support each child's individual style of expression. We offer a full range of classes in our Fort Mason studio, for children ages 22 months to 12 years of age, as well as Family Workshops and Birthday Parties on Sundays. Big Kid Weekly Workshops during the summer allow kids to explore more complex topics and materials. Visit www.childrensartcenter.org for more information.

RayKo’s expertise is in all things photography.  We offer affordable photo-based workshops and facility rentals for school groups, after school programs, community groups, non-profits and arts institutions. RayKo is a comprehensive rental photographic facility with black and white and color darkrooms, digital labs, studio, a gallery space and an photographic education center. We can help teachers and administrators utilize photography as a tool for teaching.  In studying photography, students can expand their visual vocabulary, learn about narrative, art history, critique, chemistry and even mathematics!

The Asian Art Museum offers a wide range of free programs for grades 2-12. Grades 2 and 3 tour the galleries and learn about Asian mythology in the Storytelling Tour. Nature in Art: Brushpainting is a hands-on class teaching traditional brushstroke techniques to 4th and 5th grade students.  Ancient China, for 6th graders, explores the content of Chinese tombs and the information that the artifacts reveal about the sociology and politics of the time. Seventh grade students explore the life of the Japanese samurai, including the warrior spirit, Buddhist sculptures, and the Japanese tea ceremony.  All middle grades can also study forms of body language used in Asian art, and the information that it conveys.  High school students can take a brushpainting class or take a tour of special exhibits

Folk Art International has an extensive resource loan program that is available to teachers and adults who work with youth in community settings.  Arts based and integrated curricula are available in the visual arts, social studies, English, literature, writing, and science.  The resource binders include background information, teaching suggestions, and student activities, and are targeted to grades K-8.