About Us

"Allen Art to Go" is a national award winning art enrichment program sponsored by the Allen Arts Alliance with support from the City of Allen.

Our Goal

The goal of the program is to expose individuals to exemplary art and encourage appreciation for the visual arts. The primary audience for "Allen Art to Go" is elementary school children in Kindergarten through 6^th grade. Through the program children are exposed to artworks that they may not have otherwise seen. The children are encouraged to explore the artwork and discover what they think and feel about the art.

"Art to Go" started with two pilot test schools in 2004. The 2009/2010 Program Year includes 11 public schools Anderson, Bolin, Boyd, Chandler, Evans, Kerr, Marion, Norton, Olson, Reed, and Rountree elementary in addition to one private school Southwest Academy. We offer monthly presentations to area home school students at the Allen Arts Alliance office free of charge to the parents. The program also serves a secondary audience including the Teen Program at the Allen Public Library.

How the Program Works

The "Allen Art to Go" Program is operated through the collaboration of numerous community volunteers who develop the original Program materials and/or implement the program. Each school is led by a School Coordinator who recruits the volunteers and schedules presentations at that school Over 200 people serve as Classroom Volunteers. Classroom volunteers generously contribute their time, talent, energy and enthusiasm by preparing for and leading monthly discussions at elementary schools within the Allen ISD. Over 5000 elementary students in these schools are visited each month from October through April by their classroom volunteers. Each classroom volunteer, like a much anticipated guest, brings a set of fine art reproductions chosen around a particular theme to initiate the exploration of the art. The volunteer asks thought provoking questions to seek out viewers' opinions and offers his or her own informative tidbits to share in a fun atmosphere in celebration of the visual arts.