Founding:
Step Into Art, Inc. was founded in January, 2005 by Abby Rischin, Ph.D.
Mission:
The Step Into Art mission is to provide dynamic, content-rich art education programs that actively engage kids with great works of art from Boston-area museums. Each of our programs takes place in partnership with a local school, after-school program, or community organization in coordination with a particular museum.
History:
The concept for Step Into Art emerged from a two-part program (including a classroom “pre-visit” workshop and a subsequent museum visit) that Abby Rischin helped pilot at the John Ward Elementary School in Newton in 2003 and 2004. We launched our first public programs in partnership with the Newton Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs in February, 2005.
With this modest beginning, Step Into Art programming in Newton soon took hold. Our February vacation program with the Newton Mayor’s Office has become an annual event, featuring the MFA Boston in 2005, Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum in 2006, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 2007. We have added fall programming to the Newton City calendar as well: Step Into Art Saturdays and Sundays.
We have also succeeded in attracting an array of other program partners and participants in Newton and in neighboring communities as we continue to design new programs and build new relationships year by year. Among these new partners are the Harvard Business School Alumni Association and the Epiphany Middle School in Dorchester (a privately-funded, tuition free school whose student body is composed of 80 economically disadvantaged Boston kids).
Step Into Art programs currently reach children in grades 1-8.
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