InsideOut

Kala Art Institute provides a communal meeting place forartists from around the world who are offered the gift of time and space tofurther develop their unique visions in our West Berkeley studios. These talented artists form the creative corps of Kala’s Artists-In-Schools program,through which they share their expertise with K-12 students in Alameda County.

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.

HISTORY: Performing Arts Workshop (the Workshop) began in 1959, providing classes in dance and theater at community centers in low-income neighborhoods of North Beach and the Western Addition of San Francisco. In 1974, the Workshop launched its core program, Artists-in-Schools (AIS), and became one of the first nonprofit arts organizations in San Francisco to place trained artists as specialists in public schools.

Today, the Workshop offers art residencies to over 5,000 children in public schools, county community/day schools, community centers, and transitional housing facilities throughout the Bay Area (San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties).

Over 60% of all AIS residencies serve “special needs” students, including the economically/educationally disadvantaged, limited English, and the physically and/or learning disabled.

Our other programs include: Professional Development Program which provides workshops and on-site training to school teachers, principals and artists, on integrating the arts into classroom curricula; and, Artists-in-Communities, in which the Workshop has formed partnerships with city agencies and neighborhood organizations to provide arts education to economically and educationally disadvantaged youth throughout the city.

ArtSeed

ArtSeed is an innovative arts education program that combines intergenerational and multi-disciplinary projects for students from diverse backgrounds to connect with artists and other professionals within the visual and audio arts world.