Focus In: The Picasso Project

Since 2002, the Picasso Project (an initiative of Children First) has brought high-quality multidisciplinary arts instruction to more than 60,000 K–12 students in Philadelphia. Children First launched the project when the city suffered severe budget cuts that left one in four public schools without an art and/or music teacher. By pairing artists and classroom teachers in months-long programs, the Picasso Project connects underserved youth with meaningful art experiences.

Transforming Classrooms and Lives
In spring 2022, the Picasso Project implemented arts programming in ten classrooms, introducing students to music, theater, visual art, creative writing, and more. At Thomas Holme Elementary in Northeast Philadelphia, third-grade students wrote and performed their own alternative versions of classic fairy tales with theater artist Carlo Campbell. By the end of the project, a student with autism who previously hadn’t spoken in class shone in the role of Papa Bear in their production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Reflecting on the project’s impact in her classroom, teacher Sandra Young teared up as she described how shy students became participators.

At West Philadelphia’s Overbrook Educational Center (OEC), fifth- and sixth-grade students made instruments, music, and videos with musician/songwriter Gretchen Elise. In a classroom of visually impaired students, enthusiastic competitors created slideshows and songs celebrating U.S. states, and they adapted the music they created for their geography studies into their studies of human anatomy.

Fourth- and fifth-grade students at Charles W. Henry School studied poetry, spoken word, printmaking, and more with visual and performance artist Jihan Thomas. They explored themes of pride and change alongside their reading of Amanda Gorman’s work, and they experimented with creating a memoir to “find the best way to tell my story [so that] people know who I am and not just who they think I am.” Teacher Maureen Mullin marveled at students’ responses to the sessions, noting that everyone participated on the days that Thomas visited and adding that students appreciated the freedom to try out multiple artistic media.

Reflecting Back to Move Forward
The success of this spring’s projects, despite the ongoing disruptions of COVID-19, speaks to the fact that the Picasso Project is like no other. As OEC teacher Sharita Barber-Jerkins attested, “Most outside partners show up for the day or drop a check and leave. The classroom teachers aren’t involved. [The Picasso Project] is different. I’m there with the artist over many weeks, and I use the art to reframe what we’re working on. It’s a mental health break in our day.”

From the beginning, the project’s success has been a product of its model, vision, and volunteer engagement. Among its founders and advisory committee members are numerous current and former educators. School–community connections are forged by engaging artists with ties to local arts institutions. Each classroom is supported by a volunteer Reflective Observer who offers support and helps keep projects moving forward.

The project originally awarded mini-grants for ten-week arts projects, but recently piloted a new model grounded in longer-term collaboration between artists and teachers and substantive professional development. Under this enhanced vision, the project aims to help teachers reinvent their practice by infusing their approach to pedagogy with art-driven strategies and the artistic process.

Picasso’s Radical Intent
The Picasso Project emerged from a call to expand access to the arts at under-resourced Philadelphia schools, and in just twenty years, it has delivered much more. Among the positive outcomes educators and administrators attribute to the project are: improved school climate; greater student interest in the arts, higher rates of attendance and participation, and heightened understanding among students of their place in the community and the world at large. With the enthusiastic response of students, teachers, and artists to the spring 2022 pilot, the project is energized to move forward in actualizing its radical intent: to transform classroom practice and to make teaching and learning more inspiring, engaging, and effective for students. Visit our website at childrenfirstpa.org/issues/education/picasso-project to learn more about how you can get involved.