Since 1997 the Creative Classrooms Visual Arts Program (CCVAP) has promoted art and literacy in inner-city Catholic elementary schools. Administered by The Parnership for Inner-City Education which brings educational enrichment opportunities to selected schools, CCVAP fosters learning and creativity. It introduces students to the arts and engages them in creating, reflecting, discussing and writing about art. The program is not a mere “add-on” to classroom subjects. It is a powerful learning tool that provides students with visual, tactile, and aesthetic experiences that encourage hands-on learning and critical thinking. Consisting of five components, CCVAP includes everything from art instruction to teacher training to museum visits.

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WHO WE SERVE

CCVAP serves over 10,000 inner-city students attending Catholic elementary schools in the Bronx and Manhattan and at select charter schools. Generally, CCVAP schools are 35% non-Catholic and 94% minority, with more than half of the students coming from single parent households. Sixty-four percent of our students are from families living at or below the federally defined poverty level. One hundred percent of Catholic elementary school students go on to high school, 99% of those who attend Catholic high school graduate and 96% of those go on to higher education. Tuition at approximately $3,200 per child is the main source of revenue for these inner-city Archdiocesan elementary schools. Robust art and music programs are unaffordable without outside support.

MESSAGE FROM THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

I am pleased to tell you that Creative Classrooms continues to grow and adapt to the changing needs of our inner-city schools and students. We are fine tuning our program and training our teachers to use museum and gallery visits to simultaneously teach students about art and develop their critical thinking skills. Through art, students learn to question and interpret the visual images they see daily. As their critical thinking skills improve their writing and interpretive skills do as well.

We are looking forward to creating new community partnerships and welcoming additional friends to the program this coming year. Please call us to arrange a visit to a school to see us in action. We are proud of what we do at CCVAP and want you to experience our success.

Sincerely,