Bringing Art To Schools in South Lake Tahoe

In keeping with its mission to bring more arts to more people, El Dorado Arts Council is thrilled to announce its new partnership with BATS, Bringing Art to Schools, an art appreciation and art history program for South Lake Tahoe students in kindergarten through fifth grade. BATS students both learn about classic works of art—their meanings, styles, and the movements that informed them—and create their own art based upon a selected theme.

Founded in 2001, BATS was first introduced to the South Tahoe community as the Elementary Arts Program, initially serving the student populations of Bijou and Al Tahoe elementary Schools.The program took off and within three years grew to serve 1800 schoolchildren in both South Lake Tahoe and Meyers.

From 2003 through 2014, the program continued to evolve, expanding its reach to include visits from local artists and field trips to Lake Tahoe Community College’s Haldan Art Gallery.

Sustained by a corps of 100 volunteers, teachers, and retired community members, BATS is currently active in four South Lake Tahoe elementary schools: Bijou Community, Sierra House, Tahoe Valley, and Lake Tahoe Environmental Science Magnet School.Volunteers ensure that arts education and activities unfold five times a year, in every classroom, culminating in a capstone end-of-the-year student art exhibition at each elementary school. During the school year, BATS student art is also displayed the South Lake Tahoe Branch of the El Dorado County Library.

“BATS is an amazing group of volunteers and a welcome addition to the EDAC family,” said Deb Jensen, executive director of the El Dorado Arts Council. “Their support for kids and the arts has been unwavering. They’ve been a real and vital force for the South Lake Tahoe arts community for a long time now.”

BATS’enduring presence in South Lake Tahoe schools is also made possible through the generous contributions of several local service organizations, including The Rotary Club of South Lake Tahoe, Environmental Incentives, Soroptimist International of Tahoe Sierra, and the 2014 American Century Championship, an annual celebrity golf event that raises funds and awareness for national and local charities.

For more information about BATSand the El Dorado Arts Council, visit www.batsart.org or contact Moira Magneson at 530.295.3496 or edac@eldoradoartscouncil.org.