Project ARTstART, the Claremont Museum of Arts signature arts education program, directed by Rich Deely, trains high school students, working with college mentors, to provide exhibit-based art lessons for elementary school students. By bringing high-quality, art appreciation classes and activities to the Claremont schools, we hope to inspire students, promote understanding of the arts, and highlight Claremont’s rich artistic legacy.
Launched in the fall of 2011, Project ARTstART recruits high school and college students as teachers and mentors. These “ARTstARTers” are trained as docents by college mentors to offer multi-visit arts appreciation lessons to elementary students in their classrooms and in local museum settings. ARTstARTers learn how to plan presentations that employ Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) and interact with art educators, artists, curators, and students from The Claremont Colleges.
ARTstART’s roster now totals over seventy Claremont High School students and eight college-age Lincoln Scholar interns that enable ARTstART to serve all 4-6th grade classes at Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore and Vista del Valle elementary schools with student-planned and presented arts appreciation activities and field trips. In addition, ARTstARTers serve approximately 125 students a month with our AfterARTS Series of art-making workshops for students enrolled in CUSD Aftercare. Hundreds more children are served through community festivals and the free Family Day Sunday monthly ARTStation drop-in workshop at the Museum’s Depot location.
Richard Deely
An independent museum consultant with over twenty years’ work in the museum field, Rich Deely has worked as an educator in art, history, and science museums in New York, North Carolina, and California. Originally from New York City, Rich has BA degrees in both history and communications from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master’s degree in Museum Education from Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan.
Project ARTstART is produced solely by the Claremont Museum of Art in partnership with the Claremont Unified School District (CUSD) and provides programming for students from eight participating schools: Chaparral, Condit, Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore, and Vista del Valle elementary schools, along with Claremont High School.
The program is funded by generous donations and by gifts-in-kind from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; Claremont Lincoln University; the City of Claremont Community-Based Organization grant (CBO); the Spearman Charitable Foundation; the Claremont Community Foundation; the Claremont Education Foundation Community Partnership Grants (CEF); Kiwanis Club of Claremont Foundation; Scripps College Fine Arts Foundation; the Rotary Club of Claremont; American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA); Pomona College Museum of Art, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College; The Sam and Alfreda Maloof Foundation for Arts and Crafts, as well as CMA Board members and many dedicated community donors.
Watch a video about the ARTstART program.
ArtStART Photos
2016-17 Photo Gallery | 2015-16 Photo Gallery | 2014-15 Photo Gallery | 2013-14 Photo Gallery
Related Links
- August 2018 – Growing with the Program: ARTstART Veterans Take a Bow
- May 10, 2016 – StART It Up with ART in the Park
- May 12, 2015 – StART It Up with Art in the Park
- March 3, 2014 – Oakmont students experience the sculpture of Betty Davenport Ford with Project ARTstART
- May 29, 2012 – Student Exhibition highlights achievements of Project ARTstART