Mitchell Elementary School JAPANESE CULTURAL FINE ARTS DAY: A SCHOOL/MUSEUM COLLABORATION Mitchell Elementary School in Plano, Texas, presented a Japanese Cultural Fine Arts Day on December 16, 1996, that involved the entire student body, teachers, families, and museum educators. Developed collaboratively with the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), Mitchell's Fine Arts Day was planned to take advantage of Sun and Star 1996, a North Texas Japanese art and culture festival that lasted for 100 days in the fall of 1996. A primary goal of this concerted effort was that all students from all grade levels at the school visit the DMA's exhibition of Japan's Golden Age: Momoyama. This exhibit of artworks created during Japan's Momoyama period (1568-1618) included ceramics, lacquerware, painted screen and scrolls, masks, and weaponry. The DMA was the only venue in the world for this monumental exhibition that included many Japanese National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties. Mitchell Elementary's school/museum effort was designed to include three different stages: teacher and student pre-visit preparation, museum field trips, and post-visit activities. Teacher and Student Preparation In the first stage, four teachers from the school attended teacher inservices offered by the DMA on the Momoyama exhibit. Through this seminar, each grade level in the school received teacher packets with slides, a video, and suggested teaching materials. In addition, a museum educator from the DMA came to the school to talk to all the Mitchell teachers to provide further background materials. Teachers and students also made use of a special full-color, activity-based Newspaper in Education (NIE) supplement provided for students by the Dallas Morning News. Museum Visits Over the next two months, all grade levels in the school visited the Momoyama exhibit at the DMA. During museum visits, the lower grade levels participated in a workshop tour which included a related art activity; the upper grade levels enjoyed interactive docent tours. Back at school, each grade level designed a tour brochure for their families based on the information learned at school and in the museum. Subsequently, each grade level held a specific parent night at the DMA in which the children acted as tour docents for their families. The family nights were held on Thursdays at the DMA, when the Momoyama exhibition was free. Teachers were encouraged to attend their grade level nights at the DMA as well. Mitchell's Japanese Cultural Fine Arts Day Elaborating upon the pre-visit research and museum experiences, students at Mitchell worked together to present a Japanese Cultural Fine Arts Day at the school for their families. Held on December 16, 1996, the all-day program provided immersion in a number of activities. Students and teachers were encouraged to wear kimonos, the school choir sang Japanese songs, and lunch was a Japanese meal. Parents and community volunteers taught origami, karate, haiku and tanku writing, kite-making, and the Japanese tea ceremony. Each grade level participated in a specific art activity: (K) fans, (1) carp kites, (2) flower printing, (3) fish printing using real fish, (4) flower printing and haiku, and (5) kites. Artworks created during the day were featured in a school art auction that evening. The students themselves then made the decision to donate the $700 raised to the DMA for education. The DMA plans to use the funds towards the production of a brochure that details their educational programs for schools. This collaboration between Mitchell and the DMA is the first of many, as a partnership has been formed through which the Museum will continue staff development and the students will continue in-depth explorations of exhibitions. According to Sandra Wysong, principal of Mitchell Elementary, she was most delighted to see that the children learned so much while developing a true appreciation of Japanese art and culture. This belief is apparently shared by the students' families, as the PTA has expressed interest in funding annual visits to the DMA for every child in the school. This model serves as an exemplar for the development of school/museum collaborations that involve the whole school population. The school is looking forward to possibilities of collaboration yet to be explored. by Nancy Walkup