Welcome Mary Carbullido

It is with great pleasure that we welcome Mary Carbullido as the Executive Director of Art in Action. Mary is no stranger to AiA, in fact, she has had many different roles within the organization although never as an employee until now.

“This is truly like coming home for me to be back at Art in Action. I am looking forward to working with the very talented staff, dedicated board of directors and volunteers. Art and arts education for all is near and dear to my heart. I can’t wait to jump in and contribute to the amazing work we are doing. This is going to be a wonderful journey!”

Thanks, You Made a Difference

As the school year ends, we are pleased to report that your support has helped us reach over 85,000 K-8 students in 620 schools, 69 of them new to AiA, in 32 states. Nearly 24,000 lessons were taught by 5,000 teachers, parents, and volunteers. With the help of our many committed volunteers, we shipped out 14 TONS of art materials and orders are still coming in. We could not have been so successful without all of you - board members, donors, parents, teachers, principals, and art lovers. We are grateful for your commitment to the Art in Action program and the kids we serve.

New Curriculum is On Its Way

Over the last year, we’ve been focused on developing new, relevant, and culturally responsive curriculum to meet our schools' needs. Here’s a glimpse of the new types of lessons we will have available in the near future - Earth’s Spheres part of our STEAM curriculum and Go Figure part of both our social justice and cultural awareness curriculum.

Social Good through Corporate Team Building

We had an amazing time partnering with Genentech during their Genentech Gives Back week on June 19th. Four-thousand Genentech employees volunteered with different organizations throughout the week, making a huge impact on their community! Our team led four sessions of volunteers in packing lessons for 1st-, 3rd-, and 4th-grade classrooms that will be distributed to 390 schools and used in 2,150 classrooms by 50,000 students. The opportunity to engage with Genentech and show them our lessons, which range from weaving on looms to creating Native American shields, was truly inspiring.
We would love to partner with your team on any upcoming volunteering or team-building events you have planned. Our Development Manager, Nithya Krishnan, will work with you to customize a day that fits your team's interests. Please reach out to her at [email protected] to start planning your next event!

Spotlight School: Our Lady of Angels

Our spotlight school this month is Our Lady of Angels (OLA) in Burlingame, CA. They have been teaching our program, school-wide K-8, since 2011. Kudos to their art teacher and teaching artist Sue Friedland and her team that has made the program a huge success and left a lasting impact on their students.

OLA 7th-graders shared their thoughts about the program and their art experiences:

“Art is calming and relaxing.” -Bradley
“ I’m in my own zone of happiness.” -Shannon
“My imagination turns on.” -Abi
“ Art is an outlet for me to help me not worry about other things like school. It takes my mind off problems.” -Natalie
“I’m at peace when I am drawing.” -Rory
“Art in Action is a great way to teach about different artists, techniques, and history.” -Mrs. Ruane