Art.com Inspires Creativity in the Classroom with Elementary School Art Donations
Voting is Now Live for Nationwide 'Art Sparks Learning' Program
EMERYVILLE, CALIF. (Sept. 19, 2013)—Celebrating the start of a new school year, Art.com, the world's leading online destination dedicated to experiencing and buying art, today announced the six finalist schools for its fall Art Sparks Learning™ campaign. The program supports art education through a donation of 20 works of art to each school to stimulate creativity, inspire imagination and spread a passion for art. Each school—selected from nominations submitted nationwide—received their favorite 20 art prints framed from Art.com, which the schools selected using Art.com’s MyGalleries tool. From now until Oct. 11, 2013, family, friends, community members and visitors to Art.com are invited to vote for their favorite school on www.art.com/artsparks. The school with the most votes will receive a grand prize—a $1,000 gift certificate to BLICK Art Materials to purchase art supplies and help nurture the artists of tomorrow.
“We’ve been delighted to see the positive effect that our Art Sparks Learning program has had on art education and its students throughout the country after our first two rounds of the campaign,” said Ivy Ross, CMO of Art.com. “Having heard many inspiring stories of how art has helped these children’s self-expression and desire to learn, we’re proud to expand the program to six new deserving schools that shared with us how they use art as an educational tool to enhance their students’ characters and curriculum.”
Earlier this summer, the public was invited to nominate a school in their community to be part of the third Art Sparks Learning campaign. The six finalists include:
- H. Allen Hight Elementary School; Sacramento, CA: With 23 percent of students counting English as their second language, the new artwork from Art.com will help implement a school-wide art study program focused on cultural diversity, where students can thrive academically, socially and personally.
- Heritage Exploratory Academy; Stockbridge, MI: Located in greater Detroit, this project-based school increases student proficiency in math, science, technology and reading through engaging hands-on projects involving music and art. The curated collection from Art.com will inspire students to see these projects in new ways.
- Hope Charter School; Raleigh, NC: This public charter school will use the new works of art to enrich classroom learning, inspire students to strive to become strong and creative leaders and do anything they set their hearts and minds to—from even the earliest stages of development.
- Milanesi Elementary School; Buena, NJ: Art plays an integral role in the studies at this rural New Jersey school, where art classes are an outlet for students to create with their hands what they see in their minds. The school will further enhance student appreciation of art by prominently hanging the framed artwork.
- PS 5, The Ellen Lurie School; New York, NY: Manhattan’s Public School 5: Here, the new pieces of artwork donated by Art.com will help nourish students’ creative skills in order to encourage them to use their imaginations in problem solving and reap the benefits of an enriched curriculum.
- Woodlands School; Milwaukee, WI: Art.com’s donations will provide visual prompts to engage, intrigue, captivate and inspire students as a part of a larger program to help students discover the artist within and encourage them to develop self-esteem, self-discipline and self-motivation.
In addition to one grand prize, a second and third prize of $500 and $250 in art supplies, respectively, will be awarded to two runners-up. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2013.
Art.com’s Art Sparks Learning program began in Nov. 2012. In the first two campaigns, four schools in the U.S. and two schools in the U.K. received donations of artworks. This third campaign expands the program to six schools in the U.S. and three in a separate U.K. event. The expanded program will give even more students the chance to learn about and be inspired by art.
Visit www.art.com/artsparks to vote for the school of your choice and learn more about Art Sparks Learning. For ongoing updates on the Art Sparks Learning campaign follow #ArtSparks on Twitter.
About Art.com
With more than 12 million customers in 120 countries worldwide, Art.com Inc. is the world's largest online specialty retailer of high-quality wall art. The company was founded in 1998 with one goal—to help people find the art they love so they can love their spaces more. Art.com Inc. runs four sites in the USA—Art.com, AllPosters.com, ArtistRising.com and Zenfolio.com—and has a strong international presence with 25 local sites in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and South America. The company offers custom framing and specialty printing, interactive visualization tools to help people find the perfect piece of art for their space and an app for iPad called artCircles, that lets users explore art from a hand-picked selection of curated collections. Art.com Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Emeryville, CA, with other facilities in Ohio, North Carolina and the Netherlands. “Art.com” and “Art Sparks Learning” are trademarks of Art.com Inc.