School Partnerships

Our School Partnership Program sends instructors to teach woodworking and visual arts in schools throughout Greater Boston, both after school and during the school day. In the 2011–12 school year, we will teach over 1,100 children in Boston Public Schools and and related programs, in Kindergarten through 8th grade.

Student Art Exhibition

Students in our Roslindale Arts Initiative exhibited their work at Roslindale Open Studios November 5 & 6, 2011. Find out more. Expect another excellent exhibition in Spring 2012.

Flexible, Excellent, Affordable

We are known for our ability to respond to each school's needs, the excellence of our teachers and our affordability. Our teachers work with school staff to create courses that complement daytime curriculum. We can merge art, woodworking, sewing and other crafts with hidden math, literacy, social studies, science, community service and other interests. Classes can be as short as one session or as long as a year. We are happy to negotiate a budget that works for each school.

Contact us to explore woodworking, art and other options for your school.

boy woodworking in Eliot School class

art workshop class for schoolchildren in Bostonart workshop class for schoolchildren in Boston

Examples

  • Our skill-building art class helped students in grades 6–8 prepare to apply to high schools that focus on the arts. (Murphy School)
  • Our Woodworking curriculum supported state math standards for grades 3–5. (Agassiz School)
  • Sixth graders made comic strips featuring their own superheroes. (Boston Teachers' Union School)
  • Children in grades K-2 created illustrated books “All About Me” and “About My Neighborhood.” (Winthrop School)
  • Students created new clothes by tying and sewing recycled fabric. (Fifield School)
  • Kindergarteners designed, built and painted a community from wood. (Philbrick School)
  • Children built birdhouses, then went to Boston Nature Center for a unit on birds. A second group built planters, then filled them and learned about seeds at Allandale Farm. (Science Club for Girls)
  • Fourth graders built miniature colonial houses and corn-husk dolls, then assembled a village and enacted scenes from colonial life. (Young Achievers School)
  • Our Dyeing and Weaving teachers enriched a 3rd grade unit on the Navajo. (Young Achievers School)
  • Middle school students helped design and build benches as part of a Community Links Initiative, with elementary school students painting tiles to decorate them. (Irving, Bates and Sumner Schools)

woodworking class for school children in Bostonwoodworking class for school children in Bostonbench by woodworking class students in Boston

Teachers

Visual Arts

Shana Alexander, Ellen BerrahmounSanMartin Figueroa, Pablo FriedmannJulie Martini, Bridget Matros, Ellen Shattuck Pierce, Kara Rainey, Robin Radin, Elizabeth Rocha

Woodworking

Michael Molinari, Julio Fuentes, Mario Rubio-Ospina, Julia Torres

Sewing & Yarn

Angela Columbo, Diane Ivey, Carol Price

Classroom Aides

Sign up to volunteer as a Classroom Aide this school year. Contact Diane Ivey for more information.

Our Aides add enormous value to our program. They often use their experience with us to become teachers; some draw upon teaching experience they have gained over a lifetime. This year’s aides include:

Janelle Carson, Ferron Dooley-Fairchild, Samantha Drake, Teo Drake, Itziar Garcia, Ethan Gatson, Abby Hutt, Matt Jeffs, Cara Lovell, Clove Medeiros, Thatagata Mukherjee, Lindsey Peterson, Marina Pithis, Erin Poindexter, Kara Rainey, Caitlin Sundby, Eric Van Dreason, Lindsay Wagner, Garett Yahn

Staff

Nicole Murray, Director
Diane Ivey
, Special Projects Coordinator

girl sewing at Eliot Schoolteaching art for the Eliot Schoolteaching woodworking for the Eliot School

Current School Partners

Boston Public Schools

  • Boston Teachers Union School
  • Conley Elementary School
  • Henderson Elementary School
  • Holmes Elementary School
  • Hurley K-8 School
  • Irving Middle School
  • Lee Elementary School
  • Mozart Elementary School
  • Murphy K-8 School
  • Neighborhood House Charter School
  • Philbrick Elementary School
  • Sumner Elementary School
  • UP Academy Charter School
  • Winthrop Elementary School
  • Young Achievers K-8 School

Pre-Schools, Independent Schools & Special Programs

  • Big Sister Association
  • Boys & Girls Club at Sumner Elementary School, "In Sight" Community Art Program
  • COMPASS School
  • Sociedad Latina

Past Partners

  • Agassiz Elementary School (closed)
  • Fifield Elementary School (closed)
  • Hernandez K-8 School
  • Manning Elementary School
  • Tobin K-8 School
  • Trotter Elementary School

and:

  • British School
  • Kids-a-Lot Country Day School Summer Camp
  • Russell J. Call Pre-School at Northeastern University
  • Science Club for Girls – see their birdhouse project photos and blog
  • Solomon Schechter Day School