EVA: Bringing Arts into Park City Elementary Schools

The Park City Education Foundation (PCEF) supports education from just about every angle one might imagine, and fortunately for Park City students, one of their target priorities is the arts. Thanks to their many donors, PCEF will provide $150,000 in funding for various arts programs this year alone, $100,000 of which will go to fund Elementary Visual Art (EVA).

Abby McNulty, the Executive Director of Park City Education Foundation since 2007, knows the importance of the arts in education, “PCEF worked with Kimball Art Center to bring visual arts back into the elementary schools through a program called Elementary Visual Art or EVA. Prior to EVA, Park City's elementary schools did not have dedicated art teachers. Can you imagine an elementary school without art?”

Elementary Art had been eliminated from the public education budget many years ago. Jeremy Ranch Elementary had developed its own parent-run program, but parents, elementary school leadership, the Kimball, and the PCEF became deeply motivated to create a school art program for the other elementary schools as well. EVA began during the 2013-14 school year.

EVA provides elementary visual arts instructors at Parley's Park, McPolin, and Trailside Elementary Schools so 1,500 students now have art lessons as part of their school curriculum. Once a month, they explore the principles of art such as symbolism and collage, and learn about artists ranging from Claude Monet to Peter Max and Salvador Dali to Dr. Seuss. More than learning about artists, they learn that art is way to express themselves and their creativity.

EVA lessons, provided by Kimball Art Center, focus on teaching visual arts with ties to Utah’s Elementary Visual Arts Core Curriculum. Art Specialists and supplies are entirely funded by the PCEF. With EVA, students enjoy professionally taught art classes within the school day. Students and teachers are welcome to participate in the Kimball Art Center’s A.R.T.S. School Field Trip Program with an exhibition tour and project at the Center.

Art is a critical piece to developing the whole child, and we can thank PCEF, Kimball Art Center, Zion's Bank and many donors for supporting well-rounded development of all of our children.