A Summer of Art, Literacy, and Nourishment

Sep 4, 2024

A parked truck with shiny, sparkly sequins sitting on a park lawn. A child run towards it.

The Grinnell College Museum of Art and Drake Community Library’s summer programs connected children and families to the museum’s collection and exhibitions, opportunities to engage in creative self-expression, literacy activities, free books, and food.

Two adults play with children on picnic blankets outdoors.

This summer, the Grinnell College Museum of Art (GCMoA) and the Drake Community Library (DCL) hosted a series of free community programs for 2,368 children and adults in June and July, distributing 320 activity bags and providing free, nutritious food to 499 children and caregivers. The programs connected participants with works from GCMoA’s exhibitions and collection while also providing opportunities for children and families to engage in creative self-expression and literacy activities.

Under the leadership of GCMoA’s Curator of Academic and Community Outreach Tilly Woodward and DCL’s Associate Director Mallory Snow, these programs were supported with the service of 3 AmeriCorps members, Faye Henn ’26, Nora Kohnhorst ’25, Evie Caperton ’25, and intern Sophia Torres Da Cruz ’27. GCMoA also collaborated with 26 community partners and received grant funding from Greater Poweshiek County Community Foundation/Poweshiek County Alliance.

The programs were a part of Grinnell Education Partnership’s (GEP) response to supporting the need for summer educational opportunities. As a result, they were designed to help local children maintain grade-level learning norms and prevent the “summer slide,” or learning loss that students can experience when out of school. Additionally, GCMoA’s programs helped address food insecurity among Grinnell families, which is prevalent during summer months when children lack access to school meals.

With the help of GEP, GCMoA and the Drake Library leveraged funding for AmeriCorps via the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach program, BAYER, and Grinnell Mutual. Their support particularly helped GCMoA and the Drake Library serve area children with educational activities and nutrition.

A child grabs food from an adult volunteer. The Sparkly Truck sits in the background.

Summer Fun with Learning

One of GCMoA’s most popular public programs is StoryTime Art in the Park, now entering its 16th year. The free program serves children twice a week in parks and locations throughout town, ensuring those without transportation can participate in high quality programs in their neighborhoods. GCMoA and DCL also provided a Sparkle Truck full of art activities and free books for children. This year, Woodward even packed along a potter’s wheel to teach children how to throw bowls.

For the third year, GCMoA was part of a network of community organizations that helped ensure children and caregivers had access to nutrition during the summer, providing meals, fresh produce, and baked goods. Over the summer, more than 1090 people attended the drop-in program, with children and caregivers able to learn about and access nutritious food from The Iowa Kitchen, Middleway Farm, Grinnell Farm to Table, Grinnell Food Coalition, and Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA).

In addition to StoryTime Art in the Park, GCMoA and DCL provided programs for specific groups at the museum and in the community. In particular, the Sparkle Truck traveled to low-income housing sites to provide art and literacy activities, free books, flyers for health and dental services, and food.

In June on Wednesdays, GCMoA and DCL supported Grinnell-Newburg Community Schools’ Summer Learning is Cool for Kids (SLICK) program at the local Davis Elementary School. The programs helped serve children by boosting skills in self-expression, literacy, and social emotional wellness. Activities included writing, reading, painting, throwing on the potter’s wheel, sculpture making, and collaging.

Students from the Grinnell Area Summer Camps and LINK Mentoring Group made weekly visits to the museum to observe, reflect, discuss, and journal about the museum’s exhibitions. At the end of July, the programs hosted a celebration of learning and exhibition of the art created during their visits. Their stories were also printed and displayed alongside the museum’s artworks that inspired them. Their stories were then compiled into five handbound books, which were distributed to the following groups: LINK, the Grinnell Area Summer Camp, Davis Elementary School Library, and the Drake Community Library.

For those that couldn’t attend the programs, GCMoA provided free weekly activity bags, available at the museum and the Drake Community Library. Each bag contained reproductions and coloring pages from GCMoA’s collection, related activity guides, writing prompts, art supplies, tiny blank books, recipes, and more.

Coloring pages and art supplies laid out on a table.

Woodward remarks, “I’m thankful to be able to work with so many different audiences and terrific partner organizations using art as a way of connecting. GCMoA’s summer programs began 16 years ago with Art in the Park twice a week, and each year the programs have grown to include more. Every year, the Sparkle Truck gets a little heavier as kids leverage a little more joy from it.”