More than 90 thousand county students participated in field trips and outreach activities with institutions located on the Flint Cultural Center campus during the academic year
FLINT, Mich. – The Flint Cultural Center (FCC) is bringing the arts, history and science to life for thousands of students across Genesee County this school year. Genesee County students, regardless of their zip code, age or background, can access rich learning opportunities and experiences beyond the classroom at the museums and institutions located on the Flint Cultural Center campus. These institutions provide educational opportunities you can’t find in books, on TV or the internet.
During the 2022-23 academic year, the Sloan Museum of Science and History and Longway Planetarium hosted 53,145 students from Genesee County and conducted outreach programs with another 9,645 Genesee County students, thus far.
“Field trips spark imagination, encourage discovery and enable students to have a unique hands-on experience of history and science,” said Todd Slisher, Sloan and Longway executive director.
The Flint Institute of Arts (FIA) also saw many Genesee County students this year in the museum, in their local community schools and in the art studios. Students can attend field trips to tour the art galleries of the FIA centered around core curriculum themes and are designed to support the development of critical thinking, creativity and visual literacy skills while engaging with world-class works of art.
During the current school year, the FIA provided 1,950 Genesee County students with free gallery visits and 22,914 Genesee County students with low-cost outreach encounters thus far. Additionally, the FIA provided 4,548 Genesee County students with art-making programs in the museum’s art studios.
“Students who visit the Flint Institute of Arts have unparalleled access to art, culture and history in mid-Michigan,” said Tracee Glab, FIA executive director. “As the second largest art museum in the state, FIA staff work closely with educators to provide rich academic experiences that inspire creativity and help prepare students for success.”
Flint Institute of Music (FIM) offers extensive free educational programming and provided live performances, classes, workshops and other experiences to 8,614 Genesee County students this year. In addition to in-person programs, virtual field trips have been added to increase access to a wide variety of world-class arts education presentations. To enhance the learning experience, study guides and materials are developed to connect what’s happening on the stage to learning new skills, whether they be social-emotional, academic or artistic.
“FIM brings learning to life and helps us fuse the educational community with the performing arts,” said Rodney Lontine, FIM president and CEO. “Students might read about something in a book or see it on a computer screen, but when they are able to sit in a theatre and experience it live, they are inspired.”
To learn more about group tours or field trips, visit the institutions’ websites:
- Sloan and Longway at https://sloanlongway.org/education
- FIA at https://flintarts.org/learn/schools
- FIM at https://thefim.org/
