09 art is ed p&i end of year report 2014 2015

Alameda County Office of Education Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership Planning and Implementation Groups End of Year Report 2014-15 Name of Planning and Implementation Group: Art IS Education Date Submitted: May 6, 2015 Group Leads: Violet Juno and Ray Cagan Members of Group (Please include email addresses): NAME Violet Juno Ray Cagan Patrick Gannon Jason Arenas Susan Wolf Lena Wolff Position In Transition

ORGANIZATION and TITLE Alameda County Arts Commission Program Coordinator ACOE Arts Programs Manager ACOE Communications Department ACOE Parent Engagement Coordinator ACOE Social Media Professional Expert ACOE Galleries Coordinator Alameda County Library Teen Services Coordinator

EMAIL Violet.juno@acgov.org rcagan@acoe.org pgannon@acoe.org jarenas@acoe.org swolfprojects@gmail.com wolfflena@gmail.com

Mission: The mission of the Alameda County Office of Education’s Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership is to establish arts learning at the core of the highest quality public education, across the curriculum, for every child, in every school, every day.

Art IS Education, a program of the Alameda County Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, is an annual showcase of arts learning in Alameda County schools, libraries and community sites in March during national arts education month. Since 2000, Art IS Education has become a highly visible countywide event that creates a vehicle for students and community members to share with their community what they are learning in and through the arts.

Accomplishments in 2014-2015: See summary below. Full version of the Art IS Ed 2015 report is included at end of this document.

Art IS Education 2015 Report Summary • Promotion o Promotion was strong by all major partners and aided by interagency planning. o Poster featured Alameda USD school Maya Lin. First time AUSD has been featured on poster. o ACOE web traffic to Art IS Ed website doubled from 2014 to 5,500 visits. o ACOE strong social media campaign--one of best months for activity since those accounts began. Stats included in full report below on page 4. o ACOE added new advance promotion through parent engagement coordinator visits.

Art IS Education 2015 Report Summary • Promotion continued o 2nd year that AC Board of Supervisors put out a press advisory about the proclamation. o AC Library continued to provide strong promotion both web and print with 380,000 visitors to the AC Library homepage seeing the logo and 1,000 patron visits to the dedicated Art IS Ed page doubling from 2014. o Press increased this year to 12 articles, 1 radio piece and 10 listings in 9 news outlets • Events o California State Senate passed resolution unanimously with senators making statements about the value of arts education. o President of the Board Supervisor Haggerty gave thoughtful comments at the proclamation. o Tradition of County exhibits at ACOE and Arts Commission continued. o Also, major school and district events included Alameda, Berkeley, Hayward, Piedmont school districts. o 5th year of partnership with AC Library. All 12 locations plus Bookmobile, REACH and Write to Read at JJC participated. § 269 events up from 221 in 2014. These events included 258 interactive events serving 7,230 patrons (up from 201 with 5,223 in 2014.) § Touring workshops were very successful, over 170 families with 508 family members participated in the Make a Book workshop (up from 366 participants in 2014) and 200 tweens participated in the Sock Creature workshop (up from 163 in 2014).

• Advocacy o The advocacy Take Action steps this year included encouraging parents to: § Learn about and get involved with the LCAP process § Participate in online state arts education advocacy initiatives § Share feedback about arts education online o These action steps were shared via Art IS Ed website Take Action page, Eblasts linking, and 1,750 flyers distributed across the county at local parent engagement sites, school and district arts events, AC Library sites, and regional and state leadership events. o Preliminary Results § Providing this information was clearly needed: Only 2 parents from the 7 Library presentations reported having heard of LCAP process before. § Translation into Spanish, Hindi and Chinese would be very helpful. § Parents were interested in participating in the LCAP process. Nearly all parents took additional flyers to share with other parents. o It is not known how many parents participated in state advocacy initiatives. o There was one feedback survey that was filled out. It was an AHA teacher from Berkeley Unified.

Projections for 2015-2016 (including summer of 2015 if applicable): • THEME: Identify and promote participation through the 2016 Theme o Goal of theme is to provide multiple entry points for youth, families, schools and communities

Projections for 2015-2016 continued • PARTNERSHIPS: continue to build and strengthen county partnerships from 2014 o Goal of partnership work is to continue to build upon and deepen county partnerships to encourage and strengthen multi-level partnerships between county government, local arts organizations, school districts, and local teaching artists to advance a common understanding that the arts are an essential part of a complete education for every child, and a thriving Alameda County.

• ACTION STEP FEEDBACK: Provide feedback on proposed action steps that link to the theme o Goal of the action steps is provide the basis for public engagement at Art IS Education 2016 events. o Clarify role, timeline, goals for action step Full Version of Art IS Education 2015 Report OVERVIEW Founded in 2000, Art IS Education is a program of the Alameda County Alliance for Arts Learning Leadership, a project of the Alameda County Office of Education in partnership with the Alameda County Arts Commission. Art IS Education is an annual showcase of arts learning in Alameda County schools, libraries and community sites in March during national arts education month.

Over the last 15 years, Art IS Education has become a highly visible countywide event that creates a vehicle for students and community members to share with their community what they are learning in and through the arts.

This year’s theme - “Inspiring Creative Communities” – encourages youth, families and communities tell their story about their lives, community and what is important to them while exploring how the arts help us make positive change for ourselves, our communities and our world.

Events include arts engagement activities and presentations of visual and performing arts with a public gathering at schools and community sites. Art IS Education 2015 marked the fifth year the Alameda County Arts Commission partnered with Alameda County Library to expand the reach of Art IS Education to young library patrons and their families. The goal of all Art IS Education events and partnerships across the County is to advance a common understanding that the arts are an essential part of a meaningful education and a thriving Alameda County.

PROMOTION • California State Promotion o California Department of Education listed March as Arts Education Month In California/Youth Art Month on state calendar at http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fb/cdecalendar.asp • Alameda County Office of Education Promotion o There were 5,500 visits to the Art IS Education website during March 2015, which is up from 2,144 in 2014.

• Alameda County Office of Education Promotion o There were 2173 unique visitors, up from 1684 unique visitors in 2014. o 141 events were posted to the Creative Impact Calendar, which is down from 173 events in March 2013. However, the booklet of 250 Library events was also posted on the site.

PROMOTION continued • Alameda County Office of Education Promotion o Facebook likes increased to 1,524 likes in March 2015 up from 1,162 total likes in 2014. 25 Posts generated 50 shares and 175 likes. 554 people engaged with the Art IS Education page. o Twitter followers increased to 6,396 (with 241 new followers in March 2015 alone) up from 4713 in March 2014. 45 tweets generated 79 retweets, 75 favorites, 138 link clicks and 2,100 impressions. o The Facebook and Twitter social media campaign involved sharing and posting advocacy items, promotion of school, library, community arts and professional development events as well as press coverage. It was the one the best months for activity since the accounts began. o Pinterest followers grew to 358 followers up from 272 in March 2014. o YouTube has 20 subscribers and 4,375 total views. o Instagram has 166 followers. o Print promotion included 1,000 full color posters were printed and distributed though the County. The poster featured 9 collage portraits of school community members created by youth from Maya Lin Elementary School, Alameda Unified School District, Alameda, CA. o Three Art IS Education eblasts were sent to the Alliance of Arts Learning Leadership email list of 4,500 contacts. o Additionally, ACOE Parent Engagement Coordinator distributed 400 flyers and promotion of AC Library events to 10 community sites including Fremont Family Resource Center, Eden Family Youth Center, La Familia, Attitudinal Healing Connection, San Leandro Boys & Girls Club, Davis Street Family Resource Center, Youth Uprising, YMCA, Boys & Girls Club High St, Tiburcio Vasquez Promotora Academy.

• County of Alameda Promotion o A press release about the Alameda County Board of Supervisors proclamation in support of Art IS Education was issued by the office of Scott Haggerty, President of the Board of Supervisors, and it was posted on the County of Alameda website. o The County of Alameda Courier March newsletter sent to all 9,000 government employees included a piece on Art IS Education with a picture of Wells Middle School Students from Dublin Unified School District performing for the Board of Supervisors and a link to 250 arts events at AC Library. o Arts Commission sent three eblasts about Art IS Education and events to 1,500 contacts. o Arts Commission shared 10 Facebook posts about AC Library Art IS Education events. o Print promotion included 200 flyers each for major regional events including Integrated Learning Summer Institute (August 2014), Creative Impact (Sept 2014), Bay Area Leadership Forum (Jan 2015) • Alameda County Library Promotion o The Art IS Education logo banner was prominently displayed on the Alameda County Library web site home page at www.aclibrary.org. 382,496 visitors saw the banner from 2/15/15 – 4/3/15 which is up from 288,633 for 2/20/14-4/4/14. o The logo banner linked to the Art IS Education Library Guide at http://guides.aclibrary.org/ArtIsEducation received 1,308 visits up from 580 visits in 2014.

PROMOTION continued • Alameda County Library Promotion o The homepage website rotator included 8 flyers about Art IS Education events from all public Library locations. o Over 40 blog posts, Facebook photo albums about Art IS Education events were posted by Alameda County Library locations. A list of links is at the end of this report. o Print promotion included 1,000 Art IS Education event booklets, 4,600 touring workshop flyers in English, Spanish and Chinese, and 500 Art IS Education booklists. o The Art IS Education magnetic sign for the Bookmobile features the Art IS Education banner and the Alameda County Library, Arts Commission and ACOE logos. It is estimated that 24,924 viewers saw the sign from March 1 – March 31 as the Bookmobile traveled throughout the county to 93 stops in Castro Valley, Dublin, Fremont, Hayward, Newark, San Lorenzo, and Union City. o This year the mini-bookmobile was updated with the 2015 Art IS Education theme.

500 mini-bookmobiles were printed and distributed to Bookmobile patrons to color them in with the theme “Inspiring Creative Communities” and cut it out and tape it together to create a three-dimensional paper model of the Bookmobile.

• Local Press Coverage included 12 articles, 1 radio piece, 10 event listings. The breakdown is as follows: o Inside Bay Area: § Featured an article and photos about Alameda Unified School District Art IS Education events. http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_27738883/alameda:-ausd-schoolsshow-rich-diversity-of-arts-programs § Included an article and photos about Alameda Unified School District Art IS Education events. http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_27738883/alameda:-ausd-schoolsshow-rich-diversity-of-arts-programs § Featured a piece about Piedmont Unified School District Art IS Education events on March 11, 2015. The print version of the article was an expanded version. http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_27738135/piedmont:-groupsartists-combine-for-childrens-festival § Included a piece about Hayward Unified School District Art IS Education events on March 26, 2015. http://www.insidebayarea.com/breakingnews/ci_27793845/homeroom-student-from-haywards-moreau-catholic-highwins o KQED: § Presented an online article and radio piece titled “How California Schools Are Using Art to Boost Achievement” that featured Peralta Elementary from Oakland Unified. http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/03/15/schools-turn-to-artsto-improve-achievement • Local Press Coverage § Printed a photo and piece about the Board of Supervisors Proclamation. http://www.independentnews.com/community/art-education-red-crossrecognized/article_8c7a07ae-c2cc-11e4-9d3c-1be2ced9c93b.html § Covered the Dublin City Council Art IS Education Proclamation. http://www.independentnews.com/news/proclamation-given-by-dublin-citycouncil/article_4d0708fe-d34a-11e4-a238-13af1e54945d.html

PROMOTION continued • Local Press Coverage o Piedmonter: § Printed an article about Piedmont Unified School District Art IS Education events on March 6, 2015. § Featured large photos about Piedmont Unified School District Art IS Education events on March 20, 2015. o Tri-Valley Voice: § Printed an article twice about concert by acclaimed Afghani singer Ustad Farida Mahwash on March 3 and 10. http://www.tricityvoice.com/articlefiledisplay.php?issue=2015-0310&file=UstadFaridaMawash+761TSP+++TCV.txt § Printed an article and photos on March 24 about the Hayward Unified Exhibit at Hayward City Hall. o Berkeleyside, Castro Valley Forum, Times Herald, Tri-Valley Voice promoted Art IS Education events including 4 listings for Albany Library events, 2 listings for Castro Valley events, and 4 listings about Fremont Library events.

EVENTS • Proclamations o California State Senate Resolution for Arts Education Month was passed unanimously on March 2. Link to resolution: http://sd26.senate.ca.gov/news/201503-02-senators-fuller-allen-present-scr-14-arts-education-month Link to video of senate meeting remarks supporting arts education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHhCEk5OTRU&feature=youtu.be o Alameda County Board of Supervisors proclaimed March as Art IS Education month on March 11th with an estimated audience of 80 community members. Live webcast is available online. § “I am deeply pleased to recognize this program that highlights the many aspects of art and its benefits to students and families during the month of March,” said Board President Scott Haggerty. § The presentation included a performance of Nutcracker Suite piece by a flute quartet from Dublin Unified’s Wells Middle School Music Program. Amy Miller, president of the Dublin Unified School District and Erik Bertleson, director of the Wells Middle School Music Program also attended and expressed support and involvement in arts education throughout the school district. o Alameda County Board of Education proclaimed March as Art IS Education month on March 10. § Superintendent Karen Monroe introduced Art IS Education to the large crowd in attendance. Board Trustee Yvonne Cerrato shared her experience taking all of the ILSP (Integrated Learning Specialist Program) classes and the value of this integrated training for teachers and teaching artists. o Dublin City Council proclaimed March as Art IS Education month on March 17th. § Arts Commissioner Anita Carr received the proclamation and made a brief speech on the benefits of arts education for youth.

EVENTS continued • Alameda County Art IS Education Exhibits o Alameda County Office of Education is presenting an Art IS Education exhibit from March through May with an expected 4,875 viewers. The exhibit includes: § New artwork from Arts and Humanities Academy (AHA) at Berkeley High School and first presented as an Art IS Education exhibit February-March 2015 at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.

• This exhibit features large-scale collaborative work as well as individual paintings, works on paper and photographs by 9-12th grade students from Arts and Humanities Academy at Berkeley High School.

One of the larger projects comes from an annual interdisciplinary project about immigration, showcasing large silhouette portraits embellished with text and drawing that examines. personal, historical, social, economic and political factors that play a role in patterns of migration.

• “I feel really lucky to have the opportunity for our art to be shown and available to the public. KALA is a great place and I think our exhibitions there are really amazing.” Bella DeVito-Brown, AHA Senior § Rad American Women A-Z exhibit of artwork by Julia Beers’ 2nd Grade Students at Malcolm X Elementary School.

• Taking inspiration from the new children’s book Rad American Women A-Z, written by Oakland School for the Arts teacher Kate Schatz and illustrated by Berkeley High School teacher Miriam Klein Stahl, a 2nd grade class at Malcolm X Elementary School celebrated historic and unsung heroines from American history using writing and art. Students learned how to take notes as they read and pull their information together into a biography of their own. In addition, each child created a beautiful corresponding black and white drawing of their rad woman, in the style of the book’s illustrations. o Arts Commission’s Art IS Education “Celebrating Our Creative Community!” exhibit at County Administration Building received an estimated 6,500 viewers. The exhibit included: § A series of painted mural banners, photographic self-portraits on wood panels, and painted self-portraits and collaborative paintings and mural banners of youth leaders. § These artworks created a dynamic representation of the REACH community and were created by youth participating in the Arts & Creativity program coordinated by the Alameda County Arts Commission at the REACH Ashland Youth Center, San Leandro, CA. • Alameda County Art IS Education Exhibits continued o Arts Commission’s Art IS Education Exhibit § County Quotes by participating youth: • “It’s fun working with others. I usually like to work by myself but working together, we made something beautiful.”

• “I felt more confident after working on the mural. I feel confident that I can be myself and have fun.”

• “REACH is the place where people come to express themselves.

REACH is a place where people belong and can be themselves. It’s a great place in the community.”

EVENTS continued • Major School and District Partnership Events o The Arts & Humanities Academy of Berkeley High School held its annual Art IS Education student exhibit at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. § 400 community members, parents and students attended the event. It featured artwork by 230 AHA students in grades 9-12, who demonstrated their interdisciplinary learning. § “Beautiful, professionally hung art. Art is fundamental for students in public education. It allows them creativity in their thinking and learning.” AHA Teacher • Major School and District Partnership Events o Hayward Unified School District held an Art Is Education exhibition of student learning at the Hayward City Hall on March 27th. The exhibit drew over 600 people and featured the work of students from all three Hayward High Schools. o Alameda Unified School District’s Art IS Education events included Alameda High's musical, "Guys and Dolls," Encinal High's musical, "In the Heights" which features a rapping central character, a Latin-flavored score, and hip-hop moves, Wood Middle School’s fourth Annual Celebration of the Arts evening featuring collaborative mural painting, improvisational music, and dancing. o Piedmont Unified School District Art IS Education Festival Celebration § Piedmont community organizations CHIME, PAINTS, Piedmont Makers as well as district art teachers came together to help provide an interactive, fun afternoon for children at an Art IS Education festival on March 14. § Interactive projects for children and families included a wide range of art mediums including banner painting and mixed-media fabric painting.

• Alameda County Library Partnership Events o All 13 Alameda County Library locations participated including Albany Library, Bookmobile, Castro Valley Library, Centerville Library, Dublin Library, Fremont Library, Irvington Library, Newark Library, Niles Library, REACH Ashland Youth Center, San Lorenzo Library, Union City Library, Write To Read Library at the Juvenile Justice Center o In 2015, there were a total of 269 Library arts events, up from 221 events in 2014. § Of these events, there were 258 interactive events with participation by 7,230 patrons.

• This is up from 202 interactive events with 5,223 patrons in 2014.

• There were a wide range of offerings: storytimes, poetry and story nights, concerts, music and dance demonstrations, workshops on origami, jewelry, painting, ceramics, puppetry, knitting, digital photography and others.

• Two workshops coordinated by the Arts Commission toured 12 Library locations. bringing out enthusiastic and capacity audiences. Over 500 participants of all ages participated in the family art “Make a Book” (up from 366 in 2014) and 200 tweens and teens participated in the Makerspace-inspired “Sock Creatures” workshops (up from 163 in 2014).

• Storytime events were supported through the purchase five picture books about art and creativity (4 titles each in English, and 1 title each Spanish and Chinese) for all locations for a total of 120 books.

EVENTS continued • Alameda County Library Partnership Events • As in previous years, suggested Art IS Education Storytime art activity information was provided to staff. 2015 marked the second year art supplies were provided to each location specifically for Storytime art projects.

• In 2015, there were 11 library art ehxibitons down from 18 exhibitions in 2014.

• These exhibits included 6 exhibits of youth art work, 3 exhibits by local artists, and two art book displays.

ADVOCACY • The advocacy Take Action steps this year included encouraging parents to: o Learn about and get involved with the LCAP process o Participate in online state arts education advocacy initiatives o Share feedback about arts education online • These action steps were shared via: o Art IS Education website Take Action page o Eblasts linking to the Take Action page o 1,750 flyers about these steps and a full-page roadmap of the LCAP process with parent entry points. o These flyers were distributed across the county at local parent engagement sites, school and district arts events, AC Library sites, and regional and state leadership events. § ACOE Arts Programs Manager distributed flyers at 10 events to 300 local parents and community members, regional leads for visual and performing art, and teachers and administrators from around the state.

• Events included AC Board of Education Art IS Education Proclamation, CA Bilingual Educators Conference, AHA Student Art Exhibit at KALA, Hayward Student Arts Exhibit, Creativity at the Core Convening, Arts Learning Leadership Group, Region 4 VAPA Leads meeting, Wood Middle School Arts Learning Event. § Arts Commission distributed 950 Take Action flyers to parents at 12 locations of the AC Library and also to Arts Commissioners to share with their communities across the County.

• Take Action presentations were made to parents at 7 locations including Albany Library, Bookmobile/Warm Springs Community Center, Castro Valley Library, Centerville Library, Fremont Main Library, Newark Library, and San Lorenzo Library.

• Preliminary Results o 1,750 flyers about the action steps and the LCAP process were distributed to hundreds of parents and other local, regional and state community members and stake holders. o Information gathered from parents: § Only two parents from the 7 AC Library presentations reported having heard of LCAP process before. Providing this information was clearly needed and the road map seemed helpful. § At several AC Library presentations, English was the second language of the vast majority of parents. A flyer translated into Hindi and Chinese would be very helpful to reach these parents.

ADVOCACY continued • Preliminary Results § Overall, parents were interested in participating in the LCAP process. They shared that they would like to find out how it was being implemented in their district before choosing an entry point. § Nearly all parents took additional flyers to share with other neighborhood parents. o It is not known how many parents participated in state advocacy initiatives. o There was one feedback survey from an AHA teacher from Berkeley Unified.

ANECDOTAL INFORMATION 100 Families “Make a Book!” Workshop Series Reflections (Coordinated by Alameda County Arts Commission at the AC Library locations) • “It was fun! We got to use a lot of different materials. My favorite was the fabric! We got to work together. I was the designer and she glued it down.” Daughter, age 9 • “I thought it was fun to see them in action and see how their brains work. How they see things differently with their own perspectives.” Family friend taking care of sisters, ages 8 and 9 • “This was fun to have so many different families. It’s a big impact for kids to see how other kids make art. That there is not just one answer. Art at school is so short that they can’t focus and enjoy it. This length of two hours was a good length and good timing.” Mother of daughter, age 7 • “I don’t know how to encourage him to do new things. This helped me do that. Boys like to draw monsters. Through this project we talked about family and community, and he figured out how to show what that is. He drew things I’ve never seen him draw before.” Mother of son, • age 6 • “I thought it was awesome! It gave us time to work as a team and have conversations. She’s been looking forward to this all week. She made sure we came today. I’m a principal, and this was so great that I think we should do this kind of family workshop at our school.” Mother of daughter, age 7 • “Even though I work days and nights, I want her to know I’m there for her. I want to support her learning, and this project had everything—shapes, spelling, writing, drawing. We can only provide for her at home what is necessary like a pencil. This project has so many beautiful materials and she can choose.” Mother of daughter, age 4 • “We liked this project a lot, it was our first photo book together. They were very creative and talented, I did not know!? We will definitely come back next year.” Father four children, ages 3-7 • “Everyone here is in their creative mode. It is like psychological therapy. It is rejuvenating.

People are making a memory. You can look back in a few months and recreate that quality time together.” Mother of two sons, age 8 and 9 • “I am happy we are here. We need this kind of thing in our lives. I am definitely inspired to do more of this at home.” Mother of two daughters, ages 13 and 15 • “I like spending time with her in a creative way. The project made us appreciate our family and community. It reminded me we are lucky that we live here and that they have this at the Library.” Mother of daughter, age 7 • “My daughter’s creativity explodes when she is in an environment like this! At her school, they don’t have any art. So we love this!” Mother of two children, ages 8 and 12 • “It was fantastic to see so many of our regular patrons being creative along with their children.

The family workshops are always such a delight to see the multiple generations working together to create something special.” AC Library Staff

“Sock Creatures!” Workshop Series Reflections (Coordinated by Alameda County Arts Commission at the AC Library locations) • “I made a monster. I learned that I can design what I want.” Girl, age 16 • “I made a cat named Rosie. She is my favorite character in the Cat Warrior book series. A tree fell on her back legs so she can only use her front legs.” Girl, age 11 • “I liked everything about this class. At home I could make toys for my brothers, like a car with buttons for wheels." Girl, age 10 • "I really liked this class. [My daughter] learned to sew and make more things. I love classes that help children with creativity. I am a working mom with three kids, and it is hard to come up with activities to teach them on my own." Parent • "This class gives [my daughter] more ideas for creating thee-dimensionally." Parent • “I made an owl with a hat. I liked that they look hard to make but are actually pretty easy to sew. I’d like to make a penguin.” Boy, age 11 • “I made a penguin. I could make these for a science fair to illustrate evolution or something.”

Girl, age 14 • “I learned that I can do this! I didn’t know how to make sock creatures before. I’m going to make more round characters.” Boy, age 16 • “I’m making an elephant named Appu. I liked learning how to sew a button because that’s going to be really handy. I could make a monkey next, or I could make a whole collection of animals.” Girl, age 11 • “I learned how to sew today! “I made a human with a sword and helmet. I could make a bee next or other animals and insects.” Boy, age 9 • “I learned how to sew finally! I made a three-legged dog. Next I’d like to make glove creatures.”

Boy, age 12 • “I learned to make sock monsters so that when I lose a sock I can make an animal with the other one. I made a very spooky monster. It can kill you with its cuteness. Next I might make a creature out of gloves” Girl, age 13 • “I made a flying pig. I’m going to stuff the wings. I liked learning how to sew felt onto the sock.

That was a new technique for me.” Boy, age 12 • “The highlight for this year's events was the Sock Creatures workshop. We had a few returning patrons from last year's Art IS Education programs as well as some brand new patrons. We had three teens come to the library for their first program.” AC Library Staff • “The workshop was fantastic. Very creative designs. Takeaway patterns were a hit.

• “It was really nice to see two boys in the Sock Creatures program. Along with many of the girls, this was the first time they had ever held a needle and thread!” AC Library Staff • “Parents were very happy that their children were having fun and learning a new skill. Many kids were eager to take their sewing kit home and create new creatures on their own. We had several kids and parents asking when the next program would be.” AC Library Staff • “The teens were having a blast, they were happy that they could keep the sewing kit to take home.” AC Library Staff