ART EDUCATION PROGRAMS - USA
The Guild School - New York
School Principal: Patricia Finocchiaro
CAF Liaison Officer: Tanapol Pachoei
CAF provides educational support to the Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn Guild School, housed on the Third Floor of the Jewish Guild for the Blind (www.jgb.org), located on 65th Street between Broadway and Central Park West in Manhattan.
The Guild School is a nonsectarian special education school that serves approximately fifty students, who travel to the school from all five boroughs of New York City and throughout the metropolitan area, aged five through 21, who are visually impaired and have additional disabilities. Students in the Guild School are grouped by skills levels and not by grade. The student/staff ratio is 3:1 and teachers are certified in special education.
Children Art Foundation’s activities at the Guild School include the following:
1) Visiting Artists’ Program – CAF recruits and provides professional established artists to volunteer their time spending two hours a week on site at the Guild School throughout the school year. CAF’s Visiting Artists serve as Teaching Assistants (T.A.’s), working collaboratively with the school’s Art Therapist (Ms. Sarah Valeri) to enhance art education services. CAF’s T.A.’s meet individually and with groups of students under the guidance of the Art Therapist, assisting the students to create art projects that ultimately help develop the children’s overall skills and abilities.
2) Financial Support – CAF provides financial support with unrestricted gifts to enhance art education given to the Guild School at the end of each semester. In addition, CAF provides the school with money to purchase art supplies.
3) Art Exhibitions – CAF is committed to organize and publicize “Gallery Shows” to showcase the children’s art projects. These will take place both on site and in established art galleries in NYC.