Arlington Education Foundation fund-raiser at Involution Studios / Photo by Amy Speare
Plaintive strings pitched Brahms’ Violin Concerto from the balcony out over the former ballroom-dance floor at 661 Mass. Ave. — a gentle invitation to those below, circulating around large Macs displaying works by Arlington High School artists.
An estimated 40 people had come to Involution Studios on a cold night Jan. 29, when the Arlington Education Foundation began raising $50,000 for a digital-arts studio at the high school.
The evening’s dream was Moore’s — an art teacher at AHS since 2000 who has taught digital arts there since 2007, a class that has grown from 12 students to 65.
‘Just hang out’
“Many are not in the class [officially],” he said. “They just come to hang out.”
Ardito, the interim K-12 arts administrator, told why raising $50,000 for digital arts is important.
“I wish you could see the students clustered around and sharing …. [It] wrenches at your heart.”
Moving around the table at Involution were interested adults, marveling at films created by Jasper Hamilton, an Arlington High senior who has his own crew and appears destined to succeed.
Beyond Hamilton, Ardito said, “This [digital-arts studio] will attract many students who do not see themselves as visual artist.”
Habits of mind
Underlying the youthful enthusiasm is an arts curriculum, Ardito says, based on “habits of mind.” Some of them are:
— Not merely seeing, but observing; and
— Learning to imagine the next steps of any project.
“Our big idea,” he said. “We use technology to deliver an ‘imaginative lab,’ which integrates art into STEM, to make it STEAM.”
Translation: The first acronym stands for science, technology, engineering and math. Add art, and you get the second acronym. (There was no debate about this Jan. 29, but an Education Week article outlines some of the issues involved.)
If funded, the digital-arts studio at the high school would support student work in animation, documentary filmmaking, corporate branding and digital design, aming many others.
Silicon Valley jobs
Why is that good to know? The man with the significant scarf, Juhan Sonin, director of Involution Studios, explained: “Silicon Valley has 3,000 open design jobs.”
A sense of play surrounds Sonin’s seriousness, leading a software-design company that is a partner with the town in creating its visual budget in 2013. With respect to the proposed digital studio, he says simply, “Technology/engineering requires an artist’s eye.”
Near the evening’s end came the pitch. Annie LaCourt, the former selectman who is the foundation’s treasurer, delivered hard and fast.
With $20,000 raised so far of an overall goal of $130,000, the nearer target for the studio is $50,000.
She said she contributing $1,000 of her own. “It’s my birthday,” she said, smiling broadly, welcoming “presents” to the foundation.
Among those attending were Laura Chesson, the assistant superintendent and staunch supporter of technology; high school Principal Matthew Janger; Selectman Joseph Curro and School Committee members Jud Pierce and Bill Hayner.
Leaning back, Hayner, a retired teacher, said the evening “makes me wish I was in school again.”
What donations help pay for
Here is some of what the fund-raising would buy:
20 27-inch iMacs, costing $2,693 a unit
4 27-inch iMacs with a 5K retinal screen for filmmaking at $3,183 a unit
10 Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions, at $360 each per year
4 NEC PA272w monitors at $1,200 (bring your own devices)
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This story was published Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015.
