SCHOOLS

Allied Arts has been providing quality arts education in Whatcom county schools for over twenty years! Read more about our teaching artists here. Allied Arts Education Project offers four different opportunities for schools:

  1. Three Hour Sessions
  2. All School Projects
  3. Children’s Art Walk

Email aaep@alliedarts.org to sign up for art lessons in your classroom today!

Art Lesson Request for ANY Whatcom County School 3-Hour Session

Classroom Teacher Evaluation

 

Save the Date: The 26th Annual Children’s Art Walk will be held on Friday, May 7th, 2026

Interactive Google Map and PDF Version of participating businesses will be available the Thursday evening before the event

 

Art is an important aspect of children’s education. Through the creative activities we have to offer, children not only learn how to think outside of the box, they are also better able to learn skills in other areas. According to a 2004 study by the Dana Arts and Cognition Consortium, interest in arts can help children with motivation and attention which in turn improve cognitive abilities.

Allied Arts works hard to provide quality standard based programming. Many of our teaching artists are educators as well.  Most have many years of experience teaching all age groups. We have a rigorous selection process for our teaching artists that includes an application, interviews and a criminal history report. This way, schools can receive the best teaching artists that Allied Arts has to offer. We also have a variety of opportunities to assist with class funding and supply donations.

Click here to read more about our teaching artists. Read a brief description of who they are and what they do. Each artist has specific lesson plans in mind.

  • Silk Painting
  • Junk has Soul: Sculpting with found objects
  • Theatre Without Walls: Site specific roving performance
  • The Art of Puppetry
  • Printmaking with scratch-foam board
  • Cartooning

Art Session Process:

  1. Teachers/ Schools look over Lesson Plan/ Teacher Roster on Allied Art website
  2. Teachers submit lesson request application to Allied Arts
  3. Allied Arts determines budget and funding needs and connected available teaching artist with teacher
  4. Select teaching artist and solidify budget
  5. Schedule and refine lessons with teaching artists
  6. Amazing things are created!
  7. Photos/ video and evaluations are much appreciated

Each project varies, but many projects can be easily completed in three hours with a starting budget of $3/child for supplies and $60.00/hour for teaching artist and administration fee. Total budget for a class of 25 would be $255.00. Allied Arts has a variety of opportunities to assist with class funding and supply donations. Please inquire!

Program Costs

Program costs include artist fees and materials and will vary depending on the program. Some offerings are subsidized by a Washington State Arts Commission Arts in Education grant. These offerings are purchased and coordinated through school districts. Other offerings may be funded by PTO’s or local sponsors and donors.

 

School Funding

If your school decides to use school funds for arts education, please contact us to discuss program options, service fees, funding support, and payment processes.

 

Grant Funding

A portion of our offerings are subsidized through a Washington State Arts Commission grant for arts in education. These offerings are developed through collaboration with participating school district curriculum directors. Invitations to participate in grant-supported offerings are generally made through school district communications channels.

 

Local Donor and Corporate Sponsorships

We are interested in assisting schools develop relationships with local sponsors and donors to support arts education in schools. If you are interested in cooperating to develop local sponsorship for your school or have a specific arts-based project you would like to see funded, we will be happy to work with you to find sponsorships.

 

For additional funding opportunities, see the ArtsEd Washington site.

Learning through the arts reinforces critical academic skills in reading, language arts, and math and provides students with the skills to creatively solve problems.

– Michelle Obama