Helena Public Schools board chair Jennifer McKee says the district has had a tough few years. She says they’ve gutted more than $6 million from the budget to climb out of a deficit. That pain fueled an idea.
“We got to thinking, ‘What can we do that’s not just cutting? This is kids’ real lives, and what do we have around us that’s not money that could grow what happens inside our schools?’” McKee told MTPR.
District officials say they don’t even know the last time they offered art classes to all elementary students.
But from that idea, Helena Art Forms was born. It’s a collaboration between the district and a local nonprofit, the Omerta Arts Syndicate. Organizers say the nonprofit will pay Helena artists to teach art classes to fifth graders in schools this fall. That’s provided the organization meets their fundraising goal of just more than $100,000.
Omerta Arts youth director Patrick Lindecker says a test run of the program in a handful of classrooms was a big hit.
“We had fourth grade teachers immediately like, ‘Wait, how are you getting four hours, or eight hours of art?’” Lindecker said. “And that was just the pilot.”
Lindecker says fifth graders are at a crucial and often difficult time in their young lives, navigating their relationships with their family, friends and the world around them. Art, he says, can help them better understand each other – and themselves.
The nonprofit says it’s a fifth of the way to its fundraising goal. It intends to start teaching in Helena classrooms this fall, even if that means scaling down if that goal isn’t met.
