April 08, 2016
SIU to host 30th annual Arts Education Festival
CARBONDALE, Ill. – There’s a lot to choose from at the annual Arts Education Festival at Southern Illinois University Carbondale – and all the choices are good.
There’s mask making and macramé, Fiddle Rick or the Dorians, piano or orchestra, interactive fun at the University Museum, glass, ceramics and blacksmith demos, marbling paper, dancing and that’s not even the whole list.
The Arts Education Festival brings more than 1,500 Southern Illinois grade school students to campus to see, hear, make and do. And learn. This year the festival is April 13-14, with activities non-stop from 9:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. both days at several sites on campus, including Altgeld Hall, University Museum, Pulliam Hall, the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall, Morris Library and the Student Center Craft Shop.
Media Advisory
The Arts Education Festival offers an opportunity for reporters, photographers and camera crews to cover a wide variety of art and music related events on campus at one time. Many area schools send students in first through fifth grades to this event, and, where allowed, gives reporters a chance to get a young perspective on the importance of the arts. If there is something specific you’d like to cover, contact Dona Bachman, director of the University Museum, at dbachman@siu.edu or 453-5388 or Addison de Lisle, Arts Education Festival coordinator, adelisle@siu.edu.
The festival, now in its 30th year, is one of several outreach programs the University Museum sponsors, but it’s the biggest in terms of students on campus at one time.
Dona Bachman, director of the University Museum, said this event is, for some students, the most significant exposure to the fine arts they have.
“When they come to the festival, the students see and hear from community and campus artists in hands-on activities and demonstrations,” she said. “For all too many of these young students, this is their only exposure to the arts.”
Students from these schools will attend the festival – the list is not necessarily complete:
Carterville Intermediate School
Christopher Elementary School
Dongola Unit School
Giant City School (Carbondale)
Jefferson Elementary School (Metropolis)
Longfellow Elementary School (Marion)
Parrish School (Carbondale)
Spring Garden Consolidated School District (Ina)
St. Andrew School (Murphysboro)
St. John’s Lutheran School (Chester)
St. Mary Help of Christians School (Chester)
Thomas School (Carbondale)
Unity Point School (Carbondale)
The University Museum has free admission. It is open this spring Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.