Share Your Art with Local Students

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
Local artists looking to share their skills with students in Kodiak schools will soon have an opportunity to do just that, or at least become qualified to do it. Katie Oliver, director of the Kodiak Arts Council, says training for teaching art starts next week.

— (Teaching Art 1 :24 “The School District and the Arts … name is Ryan Conarro.”)

Marilyn Davidson is the assistant superintendent for the school district and said Kodiak has participated in artist in residency programs for many years, but only recently did it begin to seek out local artists.

— (Teaching Art 2 :42 “This is the fourth year …Copper River and Bering Straits.”)

Davidson the state and local school district have decided to focus on developing local pools of teaching artists that can meet the artistic needs of each district on an ongoing basis. Part of this is ensuring there are enough artists that are qualified to teach their craft, which means offering regular trainings. Oliver said the next training will be on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (January 21-23) and participants should expect to commit the entire day to each of those dates.

— (Teaching Art 3 :35 “We’ll have a full day of theory on … their own lesson plans.”)

Davidson said the arts council and Laura Blackwood, the local representative to the Kennedy Center Partners in Education program, are sponsors for next week’s training. She said the school district has also received funding from the state for putting more art opportunities in the schools

— (Teaching Art 4 :36 “We have two grants …of the local teaching artists.”)

The training is free and open to anyone wishing to share their well-developed craft. Any local writers, visual artists or theater enthusiasts interested in applying for the training can contact Oliver at the arts council for more information and to request an application.