Celebrating 20 Years of Impact: Reflections on Cocktails for KID smART's Success and Community Support
As we approach the 20th anniversary of Cocktails for KID smART, it's a fitting time to reflect on the incredible impact of this event over the past two decades. Thanks to the unwavering support of our guests and sponsors, this fundraiser has enabled KID smART to expand its programming and make a lasting impact on the lives of students and educators—73,324 of them, to be exact!
For 20 years, Cocktails for KID smART has been a shining example of what can be achieved when individuals come together to support a common cause. We're proud to look back on the successful fundraisers of the past and the countless individuals who have contributed to KID smART's mission to engage children and educators in dynamic, creative, and relevant learning through the arts!
20 Years of Artistic Impact
Year One
Artist: Allison Stewart
Event Chairs: Barbara Sands, Anne Saporito and Kay Eagan
Hosted by: Jim Mounger
The AIC program grows to serve 4 public schools, and KID smART continues to partner with neighborhood organizations in Central City, including summer programming. The programs now reach over 800 students.
Year Two
Artist: Doug Bourgeois
Event Chairs: Joanie Quinlan & Barbara Sands
Hosted by: Cathy & Morris Bart
Nine sites receive AIC, after-school, and community-based programs, raising the number of students served with high-quality, intensive performing and visual arts programming to 1700. KID smART also enters a formal evaluation process.
Year Three
Artist: John Scott
Event Chairs: Krista Dumas & Barbara Sands
Hosted by: Vincent Saia & Glynn Stephens
CFK event canceled due to Hurricane Katrina
KID smART rebounds after Hurricane Katrina, sending artists to Houston to work with displaced students, presenting public art healing projects, beginning work in eight New Orleans schools, and planning for a new teacher training initiative.
Year Four
Artist: Terrance Osborne
Event Chairs: Barbara Sands & LaVerne Saulny
Hosted by: Jill Dupré & Josh Mayer
More than 3,400 students are served with over 4,000 hours of contact time. AIC, after-school, and community-based programs take place in 15 sites, 11 of which are public schools where artists work for a minimum of eight weeks. KID smART pilots Arts eXperiences In Schools (AXIS), a monthly professional development program for teachers in collaboration with cultural partners, including the Contemporary Arts Center, the Ogden Museum of Art, and the New Orleans Ballet Association. Training begins for artists in using the arts as a healing tool.
Year Five
Artist: Victoria Ryan
Event Chairs: Jill Dupré & Barbara Sands
Hosted by: Heidi & Tripp Friedler
AIC and AXIS programs are linked, with both components now under the umbrella of the KID smART School partnerships. Teachers now participate in both AIC residencies and AXIS professional development workshops, allowing for deeper arts-integrated training and greater community building within the program. 12 schools and 4 community sites are served.
Year Six
Artist: Luis Cruz Azaceta
Event Chairs: Evelyne Clinton & Jill Dupré
Host: Arthur Roger
KID smART Schools are required to make a financial investment and must commit to changing their pedagogy through the arts. 48 teachers graduate from AXIS, and 7 of 11 schools have full-year AIC residencies. KID smART coordinates an arts curriculum review for the Louisiana Department of Education and presents a summer institute on arts integration for teachers in Jefferson Parish.
Year Seven
Artists: Allison Stewart & Campbell Hutchinson
Event Chairs: Evelyne Clinton & Winnie Brown
Hosted by: Jim Mounger
KID smART continues to build capacity for classroom teachers and Teaching Artists through AIC. Programming expands to fourteen Teaching Artists working with 350 teachers in 20 sites, engaging 3,528 students and providing 3,595 hours of instruction. Beyond New Orleans, KID smART works with two Jefferson Parish schools and conducts a statewide survey on arts education for the Louisiana Division of the Arts, providing New Orleans’ parents information about arts activities in the Parent’s Guide. KID smART designed and coordinated a statewide Institute on Imagination, Creativity and Innovation (ICI) for 70 teachers. The Americans for the Arts awarded KID smART the 2010 Arts Education Award. KID smART staff expands to include two Arts Coaches to support excellence in programming.
Year Eight
Artist: George Dureau
Event Chairs: Winnie Brown, Laure Starring, Jennifer St. Paul
Hosted by: Vincent Saia & Glynn Stephens
KID smART implements new methodology for assessing student skills and restructures its evaluation process. Work continues with 18 Teaching Artists, 781 classroom teachers, and 3,686 students with 5,715 contact hours of instruction in 20 locations. In New Orleans, KID smART serves 10 KID smART Schools through AIC and AXIS. Beyond New Orleans, KID smART works with three schools in Jefferson Parish and six schools throughout the state with the ICI program.
Year Nine
Artist: Charlie Bohn
Event Chairs: Robin Crutcher & Judy Barnes-Cochran
Hosted by: Betsy & Gary Laborde
KID smART receives funding to begin the process of creating Model Schools where comprehensive arts integration is taking place. Teaching Artists complete training and begin implementation of a coaching initiative. Teaching Artists lead Small Learning Groups in AXIS and present professional development in non-KID smART Schools. New evaluation is piloted. Ten KID smART Schools and six ICI schools are served, with professional development for 649 classroom teachers.
Year Ten
Artist: Simon Gunning
Event Chair: Lisa Sinders
Hosted By: Jim Perrier & Jim Ashbee
Model Schools start with ARISE, Behrman and Langston Hughes Academy, with a new program coaching classroom teachers in schools. Evaluation continues to streamline, KID smART serves 4,317 students, 2,496 through residencies, 378 through after-school programs, and 1,443 with ICI. 887 teachers are trained, including professional development with Mississippi, Baton Rouge, and Alameda County teachers. 71 teachers participate in AXIS from 10 New Orleans schools.
Year Eleven
Artist: Adrian Deckbar
Event Chair: Joanie Quinlan
Hosted By: Susu & Andrew Stall
KID smART moves into its second year of Model Schools with a continued focus on data to communicate student success. Through ten KID smART Schools, 139 teachers are served through AIC, and 75 teachers participate in AXIS. 1,939 teachers participate in professional development throughout the state regionally and locally. 2,915 students participate in KID smART residencies locally, and 1,466 in residencies throughout LA. 917 students participate in six after school programs. kNOw What It Means Architecture Curriculum is created, and KID smART begins a strategic planning process.
Year Twelve
Artist: Raine Bedsole
Event Chairs: Stephanie Huger & Caroline Calhoun
Host: Stephanie & Jim Huger
KID smART enters its final year of Model Schools and creates Skill Sheets to document students’ creative learning in alignment with KID smART evaluation. Eleven schools participate with KID smART, serving 3,300 students and 201 New Orleans teachers. Regionally, KID smART serves 200 teachers and coaches 35 New Orleans educators. The With Feeling curriculum is developed and published for grades K–4, focusing on building social-emotional skills through visual arts.
Year Thirteen
Artist: George Dunbar
Event Chairs: Jill Pipes & Suzanne Dumez
Hosted By: Andre & Caroline Robert
Eleven schools work with KID smART, newly branded as Creative Schools, serving more than 3,000 students, 380 AIC teachers, 70 AXIS teachers, and intensive coaching of five classroom teachers. Regionally, KID smART works with another 209 students and 262 classroom teachers. With Feeling curriculum for grades 5–8 is created, kNOw What It Means Food and Carnival Curriculums are completed, and workshops are held for training in all curriculums. These resources are also posted on KID smART’s website, free to all users. Skill Sheets demonstrate that student’s creative skills double through KID smART instruction. KID smART pilots the THINK smART initiative to help build students’ thinking skills through arts integration and Making Thinking Visible.
Year Fourteen
Artist: Nicole Charbonnet
Event Chairs: Jill Pipes & Suzanne Dumez
Hosted By: Elly & Merritt Lane
KID smART serves 3,288 students and 74 classroom teachers in 12 Creative Schools in New Orleans. Through THINK smART, KID smART continues to work with two New Orleans schools to encourage whole school commitment to arts integration. Any Given Child hires its inaugural director, and starts to develop separate operations in anticipation of becoming a subsidiary organization of KID smART. KID smART launches two programs to increase capacity of arts education in New Orleans: the Homegrown Teaching Artist Institute, a two-day institute providing training in arts education for artists of color and artists native to New Orleans; and Artful Families, a series of workshops to help parents and guardians support positive child development through the arts.
Year Fifteen
Artist: Alex Beard
Event Chair: Kate Werner
Hosted By: Virginia & John Rowan
In Creative Schools, KID smART works with 2,239 students and 88 classroom teachers in nine sites. In the third and final year of the THINK smART initiative, KID smART engages outside evaluators from the Program Evaluation Research Group at Endicott College to complete a summative evaluation of the project and to streamline evaluation tools for future projects. Any Given Child is rebranded as the New Orleans Arts Education Alliance and established as a subsidiary of KID smART, creating an independent organization with its own governance board. Artful Families workshops are presented to 61 children and 33 adults, and Homegrown launches a fellowship program is launched for artists participating in the summer institute to continue developing their teaching practices.
Year Sixteen
Artist: Gretchen Weller Howard
Event Chairs: Janet & Scott Howard, and Adele & Graham Ralston
Hosted By: Walton and Jeff Goldring
KID smART celebrates its 20th anniversary of the organization by relaunching ART JAM, a free, family-friendly arts festival. Arts Literacy NOLA is piloted to build critical literacy skills in K-3 students at two Creative Schools. In total, KID smART works with 2,440 students and 60 classroom teachers in nine New Orleans public schools through its Creative Schools program. KID smART students from Esperanza Charter School collaborate with Gretchen Weller Howard, the NOLA Mural Project, and the Consulate General of France in New Orleans to design and paint a 90-foot public mural at the Hartwig Moss Insurance Agency. Student artwork is showcased at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Professional development was presented at three Los Angeles schools through a partnership with Turnaround Arts.
Year Seventeen
Artist: Marjorie Pearson
Event Chairs: Martine Chaisson Linares & Erin Romney-Cazes
Hosted By: Matt & Christa Schwartz
Partnering with three schools and the Kennedy Center, KID smART pilots Creative Schools for Special Populations, arts integration programming specific to students with special needs. KID smART enters its second year of Arts Literacy NOLA with FirstLine schools Arthur Ashe Charter School and Langston Hughes Academy. The second year of the Homegrown Teaching Artist Institute brings arts-integrated classroom training and professional development to 14 artists. Through Creative Schools and Creative Schools for Special Populations, 12 KID smART Teaching Artists worked within 11 New Orleans public schools.
Year Eighteen
Artist: Hunt Slonem
Emerging Artist: Jessica Strahan
Event Chairs: Jill and Minor Pipes
Hosted over Zoom
KID smART adapts to virtual learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. KID smART completes year three of Arts Literacy NOLA. AXIS is held virtually, and includes DEI workshops open to all staff, board, and community partners. Cocktails for KID smART and GiveNOLA Day gross their highest respective revenues to date, thanks to the incredible support from KID smART Board of Directors and corporate supporters. ART JAM is transformed into a drive-through event, distributing over 200 arts activity kits to NOLA families. KID smART partners with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management to complete a five-year strategic plan to establish KID smART as a national thought leader of arts integration and arts education.
Year Nineteen
Artist: Ron Bechet
Emerging Artist: Brent Houzenga
Event Chairs: Krystal Hardy Allen, Jeannette Weiland, Norman Barnum IV
Host: The Shop at the CAC
KID smART partners with a record number 14 school sites. Arts Literacy NOLA is expanded, embedding the Performance Cycle strategies into all Creative Schools residencies. Expanding on the With Feeling curriculum, KID smART pilots the With Feeling program, bringing musicians into classrooms for a mini-residency with Lyrica Baroque. Additionally, professional development workshops are offered both virtually and in person, both in New Orleans and across the country. Community Outreach Events are expanded to include a fall art night, and ART JAM is brought back to an in-person block party, seeing its highest attendance of over 400 people. Showcases of student work are held at ART JAM, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Year Twenty
Artist: Aimée Farnet Siegel
Emerging Artist: Ashley Teamer
Event Chairs: Krystal Hardy Allen, Jeannette Weiland, Martine Chaisson Linares
Host: Press Street Station
Creative Schools increase to a record of 15 school sites, rebranding AIC as Creative Artist Residencies (CAR). AXIS returns to a full year of monthly professional development in person, deepening community building with returning and new schools. KID smART launches the Creative Collective, network of monthly donors to increase sustained giving. Attendance at BEST FEST doubles this year, and Cocktails For KID smART celebrates the 20th anniversary of the fundraising event.
