Program Overview
AWE artists guide children through projects that engage the imagination, motivate learning, promote self-knowledge, cultivate creativity, develop new ways to see the world, and build community support and parent involvement.
TRUCK STUDIO – Fleet of Imagination
The AWE Truck Studio is a mobile art program consisting of four vans stocked with art supplies and staffed by professional teaching artists and art interns. The art studios on wheels travel to Milwaukee parks and playgrounds during the summer months with free art activities for children. See the summer schedule here. They are also available for-hire to provide imaginative art experiences for youth programs, community festivals and other events. While fun and engaging, the program also introduces youth to basic elements of art and principles of design, to a variety of art media, and connections to artists, art movements and cultural art forms throughout history.
SCHOOL STUDIO – Artist-in-Residence Program
The School Studio Artist-in-Residence program offers students the opportunity to collaborate with a professional teaching artist to create a significant permanent artwork for their school. AWE residencies emphasize process over product, beginning with envisioning a concept, exploring next steps, learning from mistakes and accidents, expressing meaning with visual art tools, and persevering through trial and error to complete the final work of art. The process also demonstrates the importance of collaboration, helps children gain confidence in their abilities, and confirms the power of art to unify their school community.
Through both the School Studio and Truck Studio programs, AWE provides arts learning experiences that help children become: