Arts in Schools™

Arts in Schools (AIS) brings our community’s wealth of arts resources into the classroom. Through AIS, students are introduced to different art forms, helping foster an appreciation and excitement about the arts. First introduced in 1980 as a pilot program, this program has been enthusiastically welcomed by all schools in Gainesville/Hall County and is expanding into other Northeast Georgia counties.

How Arts in Schools Works

The AIS program is available to all schools in the Gainesville, Hall County and Northeast Georgia school systems as well as area private schools. To participate, each school identifies someone to serve as its AIS coordinator. This coordinator works with teachers, parents, administrators, and volunteers to plan exciting and educational arts programs, in keeping with academic curriculums. These programs are presented with a lesson plan that reinforces academic curriculum requirements, which provides students a creative twist to traditional learning. In addition to budget planning, the AIS coordinator contacts the artists to schedule performances or presentations and provides necessary assistance to the artists.

The Arts Council’s Role

The Arts Council subsidizes Arts in Schools with resources and volunteers. We create an AIS Resource Guide containing a host of arts program ideas and a directory of artists available for school programming. The AIS Resource Guide includes painters, poets, dancers, musicians, actors, mimes, quilters, writers, puppeteers, potters, storytellers, and many more. To assist with each schools AIS planning efforts, The Arts Council plans and leads workshops and meetings with AIS coordinators throughout the year. Arts in Schools is made possible by the financial support of The Arts Council’s members and community as well as school PTAs/PTOs.  To learn more, call 770.534.2787. The Council also provides major programs for students bussed to venues in the community including Arts Council facilities, Brenau University and more