POAC needs help to inspire creativity in area schools

The children are back in school, and the Pend Oreille Arts Council is gearing up to serve students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District. And they need your help. You don’t need to be an artist, but a passion for education and the ability to follow a well-planned curriculum is all that’s required for you to volunteer to teach POAC’s Kaleidoscope program.

If you aren’t familiar with it, Kaleidoscope is hands-on art classes offered to children in grades three to six in every elementary school without a designated art teacher. In partnership with in-classroom teachers and POAC’s volunteer coordinators, you will be hand-held throughout the course of working with this impressionable age group.

“We’re excited to bring the arts back into our schools again this year,” POAC Executive Director Tone Stolz said. “This is a wonderful opportunity to make a positive impact on young minds. We provide all the materials and the training; you bring a desire to stimulate creativity and imagination in our school-age children.”

Stolz said that besides Kaleidoscope, POAC provides other programs to the district. “Our Ovations Program offers performance workshops and master classes in conjunction with our Performing Arts Series, while Expressions provides specialized art programming for middle and high school-aged youth. Together, our educational outreach programs benefit over 5,000 students annually from public, private, and home schools.”

If you are interested in becoming a Kaleidoscope volunteer, please email Janelle Campasino at jcampasino@comcast.net, or contact the POAC office at poactivities@gmail.com. 

Additionally, if you don’t have spare time but would like to support these programs financially, you can make a contribution online at ArtInSandpoint.org/giving, by phone at 208-263-6139, or by visiting our gallery,  313 N. Second Ave., downtown Sandpoint.