Salina Art Center

At the heart of the Salina Art Center’s educational programming are opportunities designed to enhance understanding and relate the issues and ideas represented in contemporary art to everyday life.

Teachers’ Night Out
This special thank-you event, held at the beginning of the school year, was initiated in 2006 as a way to celebrate the many ways that teachers support the Art Center’s mission and contribute to the quality of life—and thought—in our community. Teachers from USD 305 surrounding districts come to the Art Center after school for food, fellowship, prizes, and a relaxing break from their hectic schedules. The SAC partners with the Smoky Hill Museum and the Rolling Hills Wildlife Museum in providing take-home packets describing educational resources and activities they can provide to supplement and enliven classroom learning.

Tours and Talks (available 8 am – 5 pm Tuesday through Friday)
Free gallery tours of SAC exhibitions may be scheduled by groups of five or more. Trained docent educators* lead discussions that nurture insightful observation, spirited inquiry, and conceptual understanding among participants. Interactive tours are accompanied by guided hands-on arts activities based on works or techniques seen in the exhibitions.

Tours for school groups also include resource materials for teachers who wish to build upon the gallery experience to enrich learning in traditional classroom subjects. Preliminary resource information can be emailed upon request, allowing teachers to introduce students to topics that will be discussed during the tour. To encourage deeper thinking about the relevance of concepts presented in the exhibition, teachers who bring their students for a tour receive a list of 6-trait writing exercises that can be integrated with learning in other subjects after the tour. These resources are developed by SAC education staff in accordance with Kansas State Curricular Standards and are designed to help students achieve the following goals:

• active participation/engagement in discussion of ideas and objects presented in the exhibition
• visual communication of personal ideas through the post-tour artmaking activity
• connecting exhibition subjects, themes, and concepts to relevant aspects of their own lives

For tour information, please contact:
Ann Marie Kriss, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
or call 785 827 1431