Each spring semester since 1989, Artists in the Schools has sent working artists to elementary school classrooms around the county to share their expertise in everything from tai chi and dance, to bookbinding and watercolor. Elementary school teachers decide whether to opt-in to the 10-week program. Last year 750 students from every elementary school in the county participated.
Today funding for Plumas Arts’ signature program is under threat. The grant money it has relied on in the past, provided by the California Arts Council, was eliminated this year due to budgetary cuts at the state level.
Art is an important part of early education, said Plumas Arts Executive Director Christopher Rouse Islas Hernandez. It’s associated with health and wellbeing; it teaches problem solving, collaboration, self expression and critical thinking. That’s especially true for children with limited resources, and those coping with the trauma of wildfire, said Rouse Islas Hernandez.
Participating classes are exposed to artistic traditions and skillsets they might not otherwise experience, said Scott Cory, principal of Chester Elementary School. While many teachers incorporate arts and crafts into the curriculum, “the people who come in to be guest artists have expertise that we just don’t have,” he said. Whether a student is artistically inclined or not, “they get to experience a side of themselves that maybe they haven’t before,” said Cory. He added that teachers love giving their kids that experience: “Engagement is always really high.”
The program also contributes to Plumas County’s vital artistic community. Professional artists are paid for their time and travel, which helps to fuel their other work.
Meet the artists
Artists in the Schools is really the “crown jewel of what Plumas Arts does for the community,” Rouse Islas Hernandez said. Plumas Arts partners with the Plumas County Office of Education and Plumas Unified School District to organize the program and provide supplies.
About a dozen artists will teach classes this year, said Rouse Islas Hernandez. One of them is Ramona Eaglesmith, of Rhythm and Grace dance studio. She has taught with Artists in the Schools for 24 or 25 years, she said. Students “learn many fundamentals in dance that can transfer to school work and sports,” she said. Dance helps to develop motor skills, athleticism, musicality, counting, focus, attention to detail and following instructions. Most of all, children get to experience the joy of dance.
“I hear more often than not ‘wow, I didn’t think I could do that.’”
Ramona Eaglesmith, Artists in the Schools dance teacher
It’s rewarding for her to see the excitement on the children’s faces, and witness their confidence and sense of accomplishment as their skills develop: “I hear more often than not ‘wow, I didn’t think I could do that.’” Eaglesmith observed. “But many times they can.”
Painter Victoria Vajgrt-Guthrey will be teaching for the second time this spring. In her own work Vajgrt-Guthrey uses oils, watercolor and acrylic as well as upcycled items. She has developed a watercolor curriculum for kindergarteners and second graders: Each week the students explore a different country through their art. Inspired by one of her own early teachers, Vajgrt-Guthrey dresses up in the national costume of the country the class is focusing on for each lesson. She’s found that the kids really respond to that.
Her first year with the program brought many lessons. Vajgrt-Guthrey noticed that the best projects are the ones that leave things a little open-ended, giving the children a chance to apply their own creativity. The students also work at different paces, Some can focus on a single art project for the whole lesson. Others need more variety, so she’s taken to bringing smaller projects and books that match the theme of the class, giving them needed flexibility.
It’s rewarding, said Vajgrt-Guthrey, to see the student’s eagerness to share, their self expression and growing confidence. That fires her own creativity in turn.
Slashed grant funding
This year, though, the program has been forced to scale back, continuing to serve schools administered by PUSD but dropping the charter schools. A reliable source of funding for 35 years, the California Arts Council grants were eliminated this year due to state budget cuts.
To help compensate for the shortfall, Plumas Arts has committed $10,000 in funds raised through the Mountain Harvest Festival and other fundraisers. The program has also received $10,000 in private donations and $10,000 from PUSD, plus $5 for materials for each participating student. That brings the total budget for Artists in the Schools to $30,000 for 2025, about 83% of the typical allocation.
Meanwhile, Plumas Arts has been approved for a two-year State Local Partnership grant to help support its operations. It is one of only a few local arts commissions to qualify this year, but it’s unclear when or whether the funds will ultimately arrive. The state arts council receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, which it then distributes on the local level. Plumas Arts has been notified by the CAC that its local partnership grant dollars could be impacted by the federal funding freeze. Even though that freeze has been lifted, “there is a little confusion right now,” said Rouse Islas Hernandez.
Regardless, his goal remains the same: to move forward sustainably, possibly without state support. He hopes the organization will be able to raise enough through its direct fundraising efforts to keep Artists in the Schools going strong, and in the future to return to serving every school in the region, including charter schools. Community members can donate to the program directly through Plumas Arts by entering “Artists in the Schools” in the memo space in the online donation form, or by specifying how they want their donation to be applied when donating in person or over the phone, Rouse Islas Hernandez said.
Plumas Arts plans to hold a show displaying the children’s work in March or April.
