The Beach Museum’s Young Curators and Artists program was awarded the 2014 Excellence in Programming Award from the Mountain-Plains Museum Association (MPMA) Education Committee. The award was presented Oct. 1, 2014 at the association’s annual meeting. MPMA is a ten-state regional organization of museums and museum professionals that advocates excellence in the field and provides a forum for communication among its members.
Created by Kathrine Schlageck, senior educator at the Beach Museum, Young Curators and Artists is a series of summer programs that get children, from 6-year-olds to seniors in high school, involved in visual art experiences, including exploring careers in museum work.
“The program was piloted in summer 2011 with funding from a Youth in the Community Grant from the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation,” Schlageck said. All programs use the art on display for inspiration.
In the Young Curators program, youth ages 11-17 worked one afternoon a week as a team to create an exhibition using works in the museum’s permanent collection galleries.
The Young Artists and Young Observers half-day workshops consist of tours, activities and art workshops for children ages 6-12. Schlageck is assisted by high school and university students.
New programs in summer 2014 included Young Musicians and Young Writers. Young Musicians was offered in four-day workshops for ages 6-9 and 9-12 where they created musical compositions that included instrumentals, vocals, sound work and song writing. Young Writers was a weeklong, full-day program for middle and high school students run by students and staff of K-State’s Department of English.
At the end of the sessions, the work of all the participants is displayed during an open house. Plans are underway for summer 2015. If interested in participating or sponsoring this program, contact Kathrine Schlageck at klwalk@ksu.edu.