Overwhelmed parents, teachers get practical help

When schools first shut down in March, it was a wake up call about how non-normal things were going to be. But the shock wore off quickly and the implications started to mount. What will happen to the school year and student grades? How am I supposed to get anything done (like work or make sure my family gets through this pandemic) if my child is unsupervised? How are kids going to be learning from home? How am I supposed to teach my children?

As part of PCCY’s COVID Toolkit, we made sure to include great education resources for parents, as well as important health insurance information and as many resources as we could find to help support parents and children. While the Internet is awash of many links and guides, we noticed that, while the intention of posting full lesson plans was good, most parents just didn’t have the time, let alone the training, to make use of them.

At the same time, the vast majority of school districts scrambling to provide online instruction were missing a critical element of student success: Arts Education. 

That’s why Picasso Project’s Director Tim Gibbon produced an online Arts Education guide that takes a measured, practical approach to help parents and educators support creative learning while schools remain closed during the COVID shutdown. It’s called #ArtsEdAtHome, made possible through the generous support of Wells Fargo Foundation.

“I was so relieved when I saw #ArtsEdAtHome,” said Elizabeth Aimee, an artist, mom, and a Picasso Project Volunteer. “As a parent working from home, it’s really helpful to have a guide that makes it easy to keep kids engaged in art at home.”

#ArtsEdAtHome, a curated selection of free arts education resources is organized by artistic discipline: general art/virtual field trips, visual arts, music, dance/movement, and theater/poetry, is available for download now and some eager parents and teachers are already starting to post works from their young artists. 

PCCY started hearing from teachers, suddenly needing to engage with their students virtually, who told us the focus on so-called core subjects left them in many cases without guidance. Gibbon, an artist, educator, and father, himself, could easily relate.

“Access to arts education is critical, especially in this time of social distancing and disruption of normalcy,” says Tim. “Through the arts, kids can stay connected, use their imaginations to access a more positive reality, and process any stress and anxiety that they may be experiencing.”

Since 2002, PCCY’s Picasso Project has provided nearly 50,000 Philadelphia children access to innovative arts projects through strategic grants to their schools. 

The #ArtsEdAtHome guide can be found on PCCY’s COVID TOOLKIT FOR PARENTS: childrenfirstpa.org/COVID.