On Sunday May 15, Project ARTstART, the Claremont Lewis Museum of Art’s signature arts education program for youth, directed by Rich Deely, will wrap up its exhibit, “StART It Up!”

The exhibit celebrates Project ARTstART’s eleventh year and will display student artwork from grades four, five and six at Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore and Vista del Valle elementary schools. High school ARTstARTers will be on hand to tell visitors about the class projects.

Project ARTstART “trains high school students, working with college mentors, to provide exhibit-based art lessons for elementary school students,” the museum shared online.

“By bringing high-quality, art appreciation classes and activities to the Claremont schools, we hope to inspire students, promote understanding of the arts, and highlight Claremont’s rich artistic legacy.”

Launched in the fall of 2011, Project ARTstART recruits high school and college students as teachers and mentors. These “Art Starters” are trained as docents by college mentors to offer multi-visit arts appreciation lessons to elementary students in their classrooms and in local museum settings. Art Starters learn how to plan presentations that employ visual thinking strategies (VTS) and interact with art educators, artists, curators, and students from The Claremont Colleges.

ARTstART’s roster now totals over 70 Claremont High School students and eight college-age Lincoln Scholar interns who enable the program to serve all fourth to sixth grade classes at various Claremont Unified School District elementary schools with student-planned and presented arts appreciation activities and field trips.

In addition, Art Starters “serve approximately 125 students a month with our AfterARTS Series of art-making workshops for students enrolled in CUSD Aftercare. Hundreds more children are served through community festivals and the free Family Day Sunday monthly ARTStation drop-in workshop at the Museum’s Depot location.”

Project ARTstART is produced by the Claremont Lewis Museum of Art in partnership with the Claremont Unified School District CUSD and provides programming for students from nine participating schools: Chaparral, Condit, Mountain View, Oakmont, Sumner, Sycamore, and Vista del Valle elementary schools, along with El Roble Intermediate and Claremont High School.

The program is funded by generous donations from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture; Ruth & Joseph C. Reed Foundation for the Arts; the Kiwanis Club of Claremont; Scripps Fine Arts Foundation; Claremont Rotary, and CLMA board members and dedicated community donors.

CLMA is located at 200 W. First Street in the Claremont Depot. The museum is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday between noon and 4 p.m. For more information, visit https://clmoa.org, contact (909) 621-3200, or email info@clmoa.org.

Admission will be free for the exhibit but attendees are encouraged to donate to Project ARTstART.