Art Provides Teacher’s Ticket to Africa
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Teachers are usually the ones doling out knowledge.
But this summer, one Clinton County teacher will have the roles reversed on a
grand scale when she travels to Africa to study art.
Anita Snyder, art teacher at Clinton Central Elementary, received a $7,500
Teacher Creativity Fellowship from Lilly Endowment, Inc., to fund the trip.
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Friday, March 12, 2004
By Martha Fulkerson marthaf*ftimes.com
“The endowment is for teachers who follow a passion, a dream,” she said.
“When I was in college, I was first introduced to the art of Africa, but I
only could see it behind displays and in books.”
Snyder plans to use the grant to study African art forms in Ghana.
“(Teachers) are invited to plan a summer or part of summer to follow a program
of professional or personal renewal,” said Gretchen Wolfram, communications
director with the Lilly Endowment. “Most of the time these teachers have
interests that they just haven’t had a chance to pursue. We like to give them
a chance to do that.”
Snyder will travel to Kumasi, Ghana for three weeks, from July 11-Aug. 2. While
there, she will study textiles, pottery, bronze casting, wood carving and other
art in the villages surrounding the city.
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“She’ll have the opportunity to experience another culture,” said Ken
Cushman, Clinton Central Elementary principal. “I see her being able to bring
back the culture and see different ways other people view the arts.”
While she will be in the city as a student, Snyder will have the opportunity to
explore Kumasi as a visitor. The city is located in the nation’s rain forest
region, settled in the heart of what used to be the Ashanti Empire.
She hopes to take a tree top canopy tour and to see the Ashanti Palace located
outside of town.
Snyder became interested in the trip after seeing a promotional e-mail, stirring
the interest that had been there since she was a student at Purdue University.
After seeing the e-mail for the trip caught her attention, Snyder searched for
ways to fund the trip, which will run around $7,000.
She found the solution from the Lilly Endowment.
“When I came across an e-mail for the trip, I thought I’d want to do
that,” she said. “But I looked at the price and thought, “How am I going
to pay for this? When I saw the endowment, I thought I’d put together a
proposal for it.”
Snyder worked on her proposal in September and had a finished product by
December.
She found out she had been chosen in February, in a fairly roundabout way.
“I found out probably the same day you did,” she said. “The superintendent
(Dr. Gary Gilbert) got the press release and came down to tell me. I was very
excited to find out.”
Coming back to Clinton County, Snyder hopes to bring back examples of African
culture and knowledge of its art to her students.
“Part of the grant was that I’d do at least a nine-week unit on African
art,” she said. “I’m really waiting for the experience to get a better
idea.”
She also hopes to inspire her kids to expand their horizons.
“I think just me going in the first place, trying to pursue knowledge, is a
good example for the kids,” she said. “ I’m really trying to bring to them
that there’s more out there outside of Clinton County. I’m showing them to
go for it, to learn more.”
Cushman added, “Being a small rural community, we don’t have those
first-hand experiences.”
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