The Everhart Museum, Scranton, will offer new remote educational programs for kids starting next month.
The programs — one designed for kindergarten through fourth grade and another for fifth through eighth grades — will run from Saturday, Oct. 10, through Saturday, Nov. 21.
The museum has reopened to visitors but is continuing to offer its educational programs remotely rather than in person because of various restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, so the kids programs will involve “hybrid take-home kits and virtual platforms, all inspired by the museum’s collection,” the Everhart noted in an announcement.
“Each program will run for seven weeks and consist of seven live open studio sessions and a take-home kit with all of the art supplies necessary to complete the program,” according to the museum.
The younger students will participate in Everhart Minis: “Still Life Selt & Scene,” while the pre-teens and teens and pre-teens will learn different art techniques in addition to cultural and historical context of artwork in “Impressionism: Place & Home.”
“The programs offered this fall have great potential to enrich arts learning at home,” said Stefanie Colarusso, the museum’s director of programs, said in a statement. “The minis and juniors classes will provide students with the technical skills needed to create a work of art, and the expression lab is a safe space for all learners to express themselves through active arts learning.”
The Everhart will offer a few other programs this fall as well. The Creative Expression Lab, for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade, is a joint program between the museum and Marywood University art therapy department that will involve encouraging the students “to express creativity and imagination and explore social and emotional growth,” the Everhart explained. Dr. Ashley Hartman — an assistant professor of art therapy at Marywood, a board-credentialed art therapist and a licensed professional counselor — will host the program, and art therapists and Marywood art therapy students will help develop and facilitate studio sessions.
“Weekly themes will integrate social and emotional concepts such as empathy, respect, understanding of one’s emotions and developing positive social interactions,” the museum explained.
Additionally, virtual 90-minute Creative Expression Studio Sessions will take place on Saturdays from 1 to 2:30 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through grade three and from 2:30 to 4 p.m. kids in grades four to six from Oct. 10 to Nov. 21.
For patrons of all ages, the Everhart is offering CultureConnect, which lets the public learn more about the museum’s collections, exhibitions and educational programs through guided audio tours, images, interactive mobile guide and interactive website. The Everhart Museum Culture Connect Mobile Guide app is available to download at the App Store and through GooglePlay.
For more information or to register, visit everhart-museum.org.
Caitlin Heaney West is the content editor for Access NEPA and oversees the Early Access blog in addition to working as a copy editor and staff writer for The Times-Tribune. An award-winning journalist, she is a summa cum laude graduate of Shippensburg University and also earned a master’s degree from Marywood University. Caitlin joined the Times-Shamrock family in 2009 and lives in Scranton. Contact: cwest@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5107; or @cheaneywest
