The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts has received a $25,000 grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation to expand it arts education program.
The grant will be used to offer additional courses in life drawing, printmaking, flameworking, illustration, fiber design, and small metals and jewelry. Additional coursework in Modern Design and Crafts will include furniture and applied design, computer applications in art, 3D modeling and technology, construction and mechanical engineering.
The Windgate Charitable Foundation supports arts education programs, K-12 school improvement programs, higher education initiatives as well as some social service programs. The foundation is based in Siloam Springs and was founded in 1993.
ASMSA will match the grant with institutional funds to help upgrade current classroom space and tools necessary to expand the program. The school will purchase additional dust collection units, machinery upgrades, table tools and a paint booth.
“We are overjoyed with this grant from the Windgate Foundation,” said Sara Brown, ASMSA’s director of institutional advancement. “This generous gift will further strengthen ASMSA’s strategic efforts of expanding our arts mission. We greatly appreciate the Windgate Foundation’s partnership and continued confidence in the important work we do for students across the state.”
The expansion of the coursework will be in place by the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, creating opportunities for ASMSA’s students to thrive in additional unique art course offerings and thus preparing students for both college and potential future careers. The additional resources during their high school experience will help ASMSA students transition to prestigious design, fine arts, and performing arts programs on the university level across the state.
Sara Henry, an art instructor who specializes in ceramics, said the grant funds will provide students more opportunities to participate in the school’s ceramics course.
“The Windgate grant will improve the ceramics course because it allowed us to purchase new equipment such as pottery wheels, a slab roller, and a clay mixer,” Henry said. “We will be offering two ceramics course sessions a semester, which will allow more students access to the classroom and equipment. Students will learn new ceramic techniques, work with new materials, and will create incredible artworks with the help of the grant.”
Brad Wreyford, an art instructor who also serves as the school’s fine arts coordinator, praised using the combination of grant and institutional funds to improve the hardware available in the school’s woodshop and other art spaces.
“The Windgate Foundation grant and matching pledge has allowed our woodshop to upgrade several pieces of equipment,” Wreyford said. “A new lathe, a panel saw, some Festool products, some nicer dust collection equipment, and other machines purchased would ordinarily be beyond our operational budget. Improving this facility by offering a safer work environment with greater functional capacity will enable us to grow this very unique program.”
The grant and institutional match continues the focused investment ASMSA has made in the arts program in recent years. The initial phase of the program’s development focused on core opportunities for existing ASMSA students. Later phases have included the hiring of arts-specific faculty members and the creation of a curricular track in humanities as well as outreach programs for students in middle and early high school.