The programs offered by Do Your P’Art Foundation are intended to enhance students’ engagement of a subject already in their curriculum. Even when there is an overall theme for the project, partner teachers are able to establish the exact focus of the students’ work. It has always been a goal of the organization to offer teacher-friendly programs, which add depth to existing material in students’ curriculum from both partner schools, rather than introducing entirely new materials. In this way program participants have a common foundation on which to begin their collaboration. The benefit of this structure also allows students’ to focus on the social and artistic components of the program, which offer students the valuable experience of working with peers from outside of their community, and provide them with artistic instruction and opportunities for expression.

As the organization has grown, projects have become more cohesive in theme and medium. The 2004-2005 project with Gee’s Bend was the first time that all students participated in the same medium (quilts) and the first year all of the students from multiple grade levels met as a large group to work and celebrate together. The decision to develop larger scale projects was made in a way to teach students that the work they do can and does have significance on a broader spectrum.

Projects