In collaboration with JMU Art Education faculty, students from Thomas Harrison MIddle and Skyline Middle School visited campus December 7-9 to experience Exuberance: Dialogues in African American Painting at Duke Hall Gallery of Fine Art.

Over 350 students engaged in three different educational experiences with JMU students from the School of Art, Design, and Art History learning about the history of African American abstract artists, exploring the gallery and art pieces curated for the exhibition, and even created their own abstract art in both collaborative and individual settings.  Any Given Child Shenandoah Valley as delighted to partner with Professor Bill Wightman, his colleagues, and their students to bring a unique and important learning experience to our students.  You can read more about the experience at the published article at jmu.edu.

Barefoot Puppet Theater from Richmond, Virginia performed their original show Galapagos George 6 times for over 1500 K-5 students at Keister, Bluestone, and Spotswood elementary schools November 3-5, 2021.

Based on the true story of "Lonesome George," this show tells the tale of a truly one-on-a-kind tortoise from the Galapagos Islands who grows up among sea turtles, lizards, hungry goats, sea lions, and dancing birds with blue feet. Students and teachers raved about the creativity, artistry, and originality of the show while connecting to relevant classroom content featuring animals, habitat, history, and the environment. 

Any Given Child Shenandoah Valley is proud to have partial support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts to ensure equitable access of the arts for the students of Harrisonburg City Schools.  

Barefoot Puppet Theater from Richmond, Virginia performed their original show Galapagos George 6 times for over 1500 K-5 students at Stone Spring, Smithland, and Waterman elementary schools October 6-8, 2011. 

Based on the true story of "Lonesome George," this show tells the tale of a truly one-on-a-kind tortoise from the Galapagos Islands who grows up among sea turtles, lizards, hungry goats, sea lions, and dancing birds with blue feet. Students and teachers raved about the creativity, artistry, and originality of the show while connecting to relevant classroom content featuring animals, habitat, history, and the environment. 

Any Given Child Shenandoah Valley is proud to have partial support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts to ensure equitable access of the arts for the students of Harrisonburg City Schools.  

Author, artist, and comic book queen Laura Lee Gulledge was in residence with our Thomas Harrison Middle School 6th Grade team.  During her five day residency, students learned about story, writing, character, drawing, graphic novels, careers in her field, wrote collaborative stories, developed their own mini comic books, and collaboratively created their own comic mural outside of the library!!  A full library of pictures can be found HERE!!

Third Grade Students from across Harrisonburg City Public Schools had the opportunity to create murals for their schools in partnership with The Shenandoah Valley Art Mobile.  Students learned about mural creation, designed the murals, chose colors, and then completed the project for their schools!!  

Inside Out Playback Theater came to TWELVE Rockingham County Elementary Schools to work with 5th graders. Students offered personal stories that were then transformed and created through improvisational music, movement, and dialogue.  

Students at Great Oak Academy worked with the Shenandoah Valley Art Mobile to design, create, and paint a HUGE mural representing their stories and belonging to the Great Oak Community. 

Students learned about the history of large-scale artwork and the process of creating big paintings on walls. The middle schoolers were shown how to take a sketch, create a grid, and enlarge the design onto the wall. Then the students helped design and paint a mural of their very own!

​Each student was then given an individual circle in which to create a personal work of creative expression. The circle artwork was created on separate paper, so that at the end of the year students can take their work home and next year the new students will have the chance to create art to display in their hallway.

Any Given Child Harrisonburg, in partnership with Harrisonburg City Public Schools Fine Arts, Harrisonburg Education Foundation, Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg City Council, The City of Harrisonburg, and Stonewall Jackson Inn Bed and Breakfast welcomed Charlotte Based Artist Edwin Gil to present his Faces of Diversity Project from April  17-21, 2017.  

Beryl Solla, mosaic artist and chairman of the art department at Piedmont Virginia Community College, came to Harrisonburg FIVE TIMES to work with EVERY 4th Grade student in Harrisonburg City Public Schools.  In a combined partnership with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, each 4th grade class was challenged to create a design for a tile mosaic, cut/place/clean/grout tile and then finish their project in each of these one day design challenges.  Any Given Child looks forward to partnering with Beryl in the future so EVERY YEAR, EVERY 4th GRADE STUDENT has the opportunity to work with Beryl!!