From the Field

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is currently hosting an exhibition of student artwork created at the Flint Institute of Arts Art School (FIA). The exhibit, titled Flint Arts on the Road, was a unique collaboration between the institutions of the Flint Cultural Center, including the FIA, and is part of the DOE's Student Art Exhibit program. Flint Arts on the Road includes art and live performances by Flint Cultural Center students from across artistic disciplines.

Twenty-six visual and performing art students whose work was included Flint Arts on the Road had the exciting opportunity to travel from Flint to Washington, DC to attend, and perform at, the April 22 exhibition opening. Approximately 160 guests attended the opening and reception, including Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan’s Fifth District, FIA director John Henry, and representatives from AAMD, the National Endowment for the Arts, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Education Association, League of American Orchestras, Arts Education Partnership, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

In addition to seeing their artwork publicly honored and exhibited in Washington, the students also experienced the cultural riches of our nation’s capital. The students visited the National Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Kennedy Center, the U.S. Capitol, and many other sites on their two and a half day trip.

Flint Arts on the Road will be on view at the U.S. Department of Education in the Lyndon Baines Johnson Education Building, 400 Maryland Ave. S.W., Washington, DC through May 31, 2013. More on the exhibition is available at the Department of Education website. More information on the FIA Art School is available at the FIA’s website.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Student Art Exhibit Program, now in its 10th year under the direction of the Office of Communications and Outreach and the Office of Innovation and Improvement, features visual art created by students in U.S. and international schools. The program provides students and teachers an opportunity to display creative work from the classroom in a highly public place that honors their work as an effective path to learning and knowledge for all.

Image: Flint Arts on the Road artists with FIA Director John Henry, Congressman Dan Kildee, and others at the exhibition's April 22 opening. Photographer: Joshua Hoover, U.S. Department of Education.