Philbrook Museum Announces Four Part Program Designed for Students Hands-On Study

Friday, January 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Education has always been central to Philbrook's mission. The museum school offers classes for children and adults year round. Now the museum and area schools hope to expand that mission to strengthen arts education in public schools. Philbrook announced a four-part program Friday designed to bring more students into the museum for hands on study.

School officials say it will help fill a void in fine arts education in many schools.
"They very seldom have time to work with an artist,â€ said Tulsa Public Schools Fine Arts coordinator Gary Goree. â€œA lot of the programs will be for an extended period of time, so they will be much more in depth."

Visual Voyage is a four-week program for 3rd through 7th graders. Students will study particular cultures or historical periods using the Philbrook collection. Urban Fine Arts Outreach or U-F-O, is an after school program emphasizing multicultural studies. Philbrook and area teachers will also collaborate on lesson plans using the museumâ€™s collections, library and other resources. The goal is to teach as many students as possible that art is everywhere and for everyone. "A lot of students who come here may not be motivated to be here otherwise,â€ said Philbrookâ€™s Dana Kletchka. â€œSo we are really showing them that Philbrook is a place for families, it's a place for all students, and Philbrook is for everybody."

Tulsa Public Schools plans to measure how programs affect test scores for state requirements in arts education. But Goree says there's another important result.
"Just letting students have time to express themselves and to grow as human beings and enrich their lives,â€ he said.

Philbrook has its own dreams for the program. â€œWe would love just be swarmed with families and children and the community at large,â€ said, Philbrook director Marcia Manhart. â€œThey would be so curious that families with children couldn't keep away from the front doors of the museum."