This coming weekend, eight Art II and Advanced Art students of the Encampment School will have a weekend of culture, from staying at an historic hotel in Denver, to visiting the Denver Art Museum, gallery districts, attend a ballet, and a Broadway performance. The students will see “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Phantom of the Opera.” They will also have the opportunity to eat at a Moroccan restaurant, see a belly dance performance, and eat at a Thai restaurant. Students going on the trip include Abbey Davidson, Theresa Wagnon-Sosa, Danial Barkhurst, Lauren Jenio, Chelsie Knottwell, Elizabeth Keyser, Bradley Russell, and Payton Jackson.
The students sold their own artwork plus paid $100 each to help pay for the costs of the weekend, while the school paid for transportation and a meal. The hotel and performing art centers provided reduced rates for the students, while the grants covered the balance of the trip, which was a significant amount, according to Kraft. She believes the project is important for her students because it will “promote a deeper understanding of what the fine, performing, and culinary arts encompass, potentially expanding students’ involvement as audience or as career or recreation participants in their lives beyond school.”
The students will leave Encampment early Friday morning, and return Sunday afternoon. The students will stop and tour the University of Wyoming Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit in Laramie, Sunday, after lunch, before returning to Encampment. The students’ experience will not end after the weekend is over, they will have homework for their art class. They will be required to express in a visual art form, their most memorable experience of the trip. The students will use the higher level thinking skills to propose and create the work of art.
Additional funding for the project comes from the Wyoming Arts Council and Wyoming Humanities Council.
