Illinois Art Education Association Names St. Charles Arts Council Award Winner
The Illinois Art Education Association has named St. Charles Arts Council the Distinguished Service to Art Education from Outside the Profession award winner. This award recognizes the exemplary contributions, service and achievements of one outstanding organization annually. The award will be presented at the Illinois Art Education Association conference at the Hilton in Lisle, IL on October 26, 2013.
St. Charles Arts Council was selected on the basis of their outstanding commitment to visual art education at their community as well as their wider contributions in the Northeastern Illinois region.
The mission of the St. Charles Arts Council is “to create an organization that serves and promotes the arts and cultural activities in St. Charles, to the mutual benefit of the arts and the community.”
To carry out this mission, The St. Charles Arts Council created a vision that involved working with partner organizations. The St. Charles Arts Council became the “go to source” for information and resources related to the arts in St. Charles. Members of the Council are volunteers who plan and execute a variety of events and programs during the year to showcase artists, arts groups, businesses, cultural groups and educational opportunities for the arts in the community.
An integral component of SCAC programing involves partnerships with the St. Charles Public Library, Park District and School District. These events include visual arts initiatives and activities that highlight student accomplishments and educational programs. Examples of these events are pop-up shows that are held during the year at various locations, internships with guest performers and service learning opportunities working with area artists through Council activities.
The IAEA is an association of the art educators of Illinois. The organization has been serving the children and art educators of Illinois for over 75 years by providing professional development for educators through workshops, conferences, grants, exhibition opportunities, facilitating communication, promoting conditions for the effective teaching of art, and working to influence educational change and reform.