It's pretty exciting when people give you money for stuff. Especially in the arts.
As part of the grant process, I attended an all-day workshop at Troy Community Gardens today, where more than a dozen representatives from schools all around Madison and Dane County who also received Art in the Garden grants met to share ideas and learn about resources for our projects.
It was inspiring to spend a day with people who share the same enthusiasm for the arts and outdoor learning. We're all doing this because we believe kids need to be outdoors and need space for creative expression, two things sadly lacking in the national conversation about our educational system.
We started off with a group art activity on the lawn. Each group was assigned to a frame of large branches outlined on the grass and a bucket full of plant matter. We were given about 5 minutes to construct a piece of art in silence (no talking!!) and then afterwards took a mini-gallery tour to see and discuss what everyone came up with.
This post is already a little long, so I'll post again with more about what we actually talked about at the workshop! To be continued...