Arrangements can be made for a guided tour of the exhibit, designed for a specific grade level or focus. 

TEACHER ORIENTATION

The Sandusky Cultural Center exhibits the work of local and national artists, working in a variety of media, as well as showcasing art collections.  It presents a unique opportunity for those in a small community to experience the expressions of contemporary artists.  It also mounts a "world culture" show each season, encouraging visitors to discover the diversity of other countries, cultures and geographies.

For over thirty-five years, the Center has been an arena in which to present challenging new ideas, as well as new looks at favorite themes.  In the past few years, we have mounted a rich mix of exhibits including contemporary painting, wood, glass, an exploration of the relationship between words and their figural representation.  We have also hosted a group of Buddhist monks who created a sand mandala in the gallery over a week's time; showed local collections of artifacts from New Guinea in an exhibit about that culture; and "traveled" to the Andes region of South America with work from a number of indigenous artists, including retablo maker Nicario Jimenez, who created an original work during the exhibit.

The Center occasionally teams with our local Lang Trust Foundation to enlarge the scope of our exhibits, as with a musical performance by the Drepung Loseling monks during the Tibetan exhibit.

Every child, every year at the Center

We have a unique partnership with local schools, providing an opportunity for classes to visit a museum within the community. 

We encourage students as young as first grade to visit.  For the 2002-2003 season, "MINGEI, The Arts of the People" took visitors to Japan.  Classes wore special badges for their visit to the Center; made origami under the tutelage of our director, Charles Mayer, who often hosts class tours; and extended their experience to the classroom.  Before visiting, classes learned about Japanese culture while making fish kites.  When they flew their kites, they learned about wind and weather.  They tasted sushi, compared American and Japanese lunch boxes, learned Japanese greetings.  The possibilities are endless, and, because the learning is integrated, it is lasting.

The value of arts education goes beyond stimulating the interest of budding artists or even of cultivating the next generation of arts patrons, although these are worthwhile goals.  "Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development" (2002), funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts, review 62 studies of benefits of the arts in elementary and secondary education.  It identifies more than a dozen categories of academic advantage conveyed by exposure to the arts. Carefully controlled studies quantified benefits across developmental (from delayed to gifted) and socio-economic (from disadvantaged to privileged) spectra.  The report states that study of the visual arts improves content and organization in writing, and promotes sophisticated reading skills and interpretation of text, reasoning about scientific images and reading readiness. 

Finally, Off Center, our student gallery adjacent to the main gallery, spotlights work of area students.  This work is often related in theme or technique to the exhibit in the main gallery.  To date, we have exhibited student 2-D and 3-D artwork, as well as poetry, essays and fiction. 

We welcome you to visit our unique gallery often, with and without your classes.  The Sandusky Cultural Center is open to the public during scheduled exhibitions free of charge.  Local organizations and school groups may schedule guided tours, workshops or the use of a meeting space.  Arrangements can be made by calling during regular gallery hours.