Sowing Creativity

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  • Nine young children in school uniforms walk in single file with hands in their pockets across an art gallery. The children look at their surroundings and view the art on display including a sculpture of a large rowboat suspended mid-air.
     
  • Four young children in school uniform sit at their desks while looking in awe and wonder at the front of the classroom. A seated adult  is wearing a hat, a camera across their chest, and holds photos while delivering a presentation with a projector.
     
  • An aerial perspective of a young child seated at a wooden table. The child holds a paintbrush in their right hand and looks at a scallop seashell and a pencil drawing of the seashell on the table. A palette of watercolors lays open on the table.
     
  • An aerial perspective of a wooden table with art supplies. A child's hand reaches across the table to obtain an oil pastel stick from a plastic container organized by color. On the table are drawings on black construction paper of outer space imagery.
     
  • Two young children collaborate on an art project in a classroom. One holds construction paper while the other adheres an object to it. They are creating a cityscape with buildings, houses, and grass by using tape, scissors, and construction paper.
     
  • Five young children lay on a carpeted surface in a classroom drawing with pencils on a large piece of paper. The children work together and appear concentrated on their drawing as they lay in a circular formation around the edges of the paper.
     

Sowing Creativity is a cross-curricular art program that infuses STEAM content and extends our visual arts education into California Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Through stimulating multi-week art-making experiences in the classroom, professional artists lead students in challenging and engaging hands-on art activities.  

Lessons emphasize artistic exploration, skill-building exercises with drawing, painting, and sculpture, while encouraging participation in active discussions about visual art, math, science, language arts, and more. Each lesson plan integrates cross-curricular methodology while encouraging design thinking and creative problem solving.

Now available online or in-person!

Grades K–12 program structure: four-, six-, or eight-week residency: each class experiences one 60- minute session per week; all art materials are included in the fee. Additionally, a tour of the Museum is included (virtual or in-person available). 

Sowing Creativity Program Includes: cross-curricular art lessons, art supplies, and Museum tour.

Program Fee/Classroom: $480 4-week, $720 6-week, and $960 8-week.

Classroom Program Request Form

ArtsEdConnect grant application open Thursday, September 7 through Thursday, October 5, 2023!

ArtsEdConnect mini grant program application for teachers in Santa Clara County schools provides funding that may be used for SJMA tours and in-classroom programs.

ArtsEdConnect Grant Application

Educational Frameworks and Content Standards

Our award-winning Sowing Creativity program originated as a hands-on STEAM- based series of lessons and is rooted in several educational frameworks. Following Common Core Standards, the curriculum aligns itself with the Next Generation Science Standards and the California Arts Standards for Public Schools. The program has also adopted the Studio Habits of Mind framework for teaching and learning in the visual arts as developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero.

Thank you to our sponsors

Sowing Creativity is supported by generous funding from SVCreates. 

The education fund at SJMA is supported in part by a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José, and generous funding from Lucia Cha, Priscilla Chou, the Leo M. Shortino Family Foundation, the Koret Foundation, the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Swenson Foundation, Farrington Historical Foundation, KPMG LLP, the Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation, Stuart and Daphne Wells, and SVCreates, in partnership with the County of Santa Clara. 

Sponsors