M&G’s Arts Encounter program represents our best efforts to combat South Carolina’s academic challenges. Our certified education staff utilizes the power of arts-integrated curriculum to increase student interest and improve student academic performance. Arts-integration is the well-researched, rapidly-growing methodology of education that promotes student learning in both the arts and across all core subjects, including STEM topics, social studies, and literature.  By using the arts in every lesson plan for all classroom subjects, M&G’s educational team is able to visualize for students the difficult concepts they need to succeed in school and in life.

The four distinct elements of the Arts Encounter program are:

The response to the Arts Encounter outreach has been tremendous, with parents, educators, and administrators alike praising the effective, innovative methods the programs collectively employs.

Here are what a few of Arts Encounter’s satisfied patrons are saying: 

• “The program you have developed is truly amazing, and clearly the Museum and Gallery is an underutilized resource for our schools.”– the Assistant Superintendent for Principal Supervision and School Accountability for the Greenville County Schools
• “Excellent speaker! Your instructor used examples the students could identify with. I loved her hand motions. The children had a firm grasp of the use of propaganda by the time she left. And, I must admit, she cleared up a few misunderstandings I had. I will use what she taught us in future lectures.” – 7th-grade teacher
• “Your educator is engaging as well as creative. My children enjoy the classes and find them very interesting. I have to say I find them interesting and learn new things too. The teacher is very good at keeping the interest of variable ages, and using different teaching techniques to reach all the children.”–Local home school mom, after her children attended a Homeschool Days.
• “I loved learning how to read pictures. I never knew they were actually telling me something. Now I can look at a picture and understand what’s going on in it.”–Riverside High School English student, on learning how to read symbolism in a painting.
• “Thank you for a wonderful and helpful presentation. My students often struggle to make real life connections, and I feel more able to connect math to art in meaningful ways… Thank you for such a compelling educational odyssey and for the chance to explore a fabulous art gallery that had been unknown to me.”—Middle School Math Teacher
• “I have scheduled another Ancient Rome lesson for second semester. I will schedule the first lesson on Ancient Greece again next year. This is an excellent program that greatly enhanced our Ancient Greek studies. I appreciate the professionalism and organization of the instructor.”—3rd grade teacher
• “It was a wonderful experience! My students were so excited about this project and thoroughly enjoyed it! M&G representatives were very professional and available to answer any questions throughout the planning of the lesson.”—5^th grade teacher

Support Arts Encounter:

• School’s $60 price per lesson: M&G’s $60 average classroom fee is primarily a registration fee to hold the appointment and help with gas/travel expenses, and is well below the actual value of the arts-integrated programming the museum delivers.
• M&G’s $400 cost per lesson: The real cost of M&G’s arts-integrated program delivery, 85% of which is carried by M&G’s budget, (made by gifts from you, foundations, and sponsorships). As a result of these efforts by M&G to carry the majority of AE’s cost, in the past academic years, nearly 99% of educators reported M&G’s AE outreach was either the “right price” or “underpriced.”
• Would you support us? Every year, M&G’s Arts Encounter outreach touches the lives, minds, and hearts of thousands of underserved Upstate youth, educators, and families.