What ever happened to field trips to the children's museum? 57 British schools are participating in an art education experiment that loans their classrooms expensive paintings by artists like Monet so that the children can be exposed to and learn about them in a classroom setting instead of online. The project is called "Masterpieces in Schools" and is organized in part by the BBC. Teachers and coordinators have said that the reactions from the children makes the difficult logisitics of moving pieces worth millions of dollars back and forth worth it: "When the art handlers turned the painting around for the first group of kids, it was amazing, it was really moving, there was actually a gasp...It was a Christmas morning moment, just the presence of it here. It was such a crazy thing to do, but a good thing to do."
The program sounds like an amazing opportunity. Not all children are fortunate enough to live in a city like New York or Los Angeles where there are museums and galleries on every corner, so being able to bring them the real deal has to be the best feeling. It's hard to tell the long-term effects that the project will have on the children but that initial excitement is good enough for us.
[via NYTimes]
