Inspiring Creativity and Imagination
OUR MISSION
The Education Fund inspires creativity and imagination by supporting dynamic art education programs at The Contemporary Austin, including K-12 tours, free family events, Art School scholarships, and outreach to the community.
By providing essential support for art education, the Education Fund addresses the pressing need for access to the visual arts in our community. Each year, The Contemporary Austin engages thousands of underserved community members in innovative art education programs to inspire learning in the museum environment and to foster connections across our city. Demand for quality art education always exceeds supply. With your help, the Education Fund ensures that the museum can reach more young artists, teens, and adults to stimulate and sustain their creative lives. Please help us fulfill the educational mission of The Contemporary Austin.
WHAT YOUR DONATION SUPPORTS
Scholarships at the Art School at Laguna Gloria
As one of the nation’s largest museum-affiliated art schools, The Contemporary Austin’s Art School remains a trusted resource for art education in our community, and demand for classes often exceeds capacity. The Art School serves more than 4,800 students annually through over 500 classes in a diverse array of mediums, including ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, and printmaking. The Education Fund ensures access to the Art School by supporting scholarships and free art supplies for underserved members of our community.
Docent-Led Tours
Each year, The Contemporary Austin serves more than 7,800 children through tours for K-12 students from Central Texas, including Austin, Manor, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Del Valle, Hays, Llano, Canyon Lake, and Leander independent school districts, among others. Led by The Contemporary Austin’s extraordinary education staff and docent corps, tours include inspiring conversations in the galleries and an imaginative art-making component based on the art on view. Donations to the Education Fund will support significant staffing costs for the tours, bus transportation, and art supplies in the Art Lab, allowing the museum to continue to offer these tours.
Seeing Special Things
A long-standing partnership with Austin ISD spanning more than thirty-six years, Seeing Special Things cultivates equal access to the arts through established connections between the museum and local public schools. For the duration of an entire school year, educators at The Contemporary Austin work closely with classroom teachers to provide in-depth arts learning to more than 500 students from Title I schools. Through multiple exhibition tours, pre-visit classroom exercises, art projects, and post-visit lesson plans, educators at The Contemporary Austin challenge and invigorate students with interdisciplinary activities that incorporate art, language, and science into an enriching cultural experience. In order to continue to offer Seeing Special Things at no cost to Austin ISD, the Education Fund supports expenses for buses, substitute teachers, art supplies, TEKS-aligned curriculum, and teacher workshops.
Free Family Events
With a vision to serve as Austin’s civic-minded museum, The Contemporary Austin is committed to strengthening free family programs that engage the community in fresh and exciting ways. Annually, more than 7,500 community members participated in free family events at The Contemporary Austin, including art-making workshops, performances and demonstrations by local artists, and special family days. To expand offerings for our community, donations to the Education Fund support costs to develop intergenerational activities and art-making projects based on exhibitions currently on view.
Teen Programs
A unique resource in the Central Texas region, The Contemporary Austin’s teen programs and events serve over 1,000 teens each year. These programs offer a range of tuition-free opportunities for high school students to engage with the cultural community and the artistic process, including a teen leadership council who are employed by the museum and receive career development opportunity and portfolio development, studio-based training and comprehensive art kit, access to local guest artists, and special events planned by and for teens. Donations to the Education Fund support stipends for art supplies, transportation, exhibition and event costs, and honorariums for local artists who mentor teens at the museum.