THE YOUNG ARTIST'S CLUB

Families and schools connected through art

About Us

The Young Artist's Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving Hillsboro, Oregon. We run art programs at Mooberry Elementary, including art lessons during the school day, after school art clubs, and more! We believe that art is an essential part of a child's education, helping students with fine motor skills, emotional regulation, creative expression, flexible thinking, and community building.

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The Problem

Elementary schools in our area lack access to and resources for art education. High poverty schools like Moooberry are disproportionately affected by this loss. Not only do they not receive art instruction and exposure at school, they lack access to art materials at home and access to art classes in the greater community. We are here to stand in that gap.

Our Mission

We connect staff and families at Mooberry Elementary School and help them build a mutually beneficial art program that supports art at school and access to art materials at home.

Our Values

Intentionality

Whatever we do, we do it on purpose, fighting the tyranny of the urgent in order to make sure that what we do honors everyone involved and the quality of the program itself.

Humanity

We value the humanity & limits of individuals at every level of our organization: students and their families, staff, our donors and board of directors.

Mutuality

Asking and expecting that our relationship with the Mooberry community is two sided. We are included in their community and they are included in ours.

Community

A group of people who feel they belong to each other, and in this case, to this neighborhood and school. A sense of "we're in this together."

Our Programs

After School Art Club

This is the program that started it all! We run two days of after school art clubs for grades 1st-6th, serving about 100 students every year. Students learn about professional artists, gain exposure to a wide variety of art materials, develop their art skills, and have fun making art!

Art in the Classroom

Did you know there are NO elementary art teachers in the Hillsboro School district? A team of our volunteers visit and teach art lessons to each grade, pre-k-6th, one or two times a month for the whole school year. Students practice valuable fine motor skills, learn about artists and art techniques, and experience a wide variety of art mediums.

Family Art Night

Every year during Youth Arts Month, we celebrate by holding Family Art Night. It is more than just a celebration of art, it is a celebration of our students and all of the art they've made throughout the year. We display artwork from all of our programs, set up a student made glow room, and have art projects for families to sit down and make together. We often display school-wide collaborative art projects and installations made by students, you never know what amazing art you might see when you step inside!

Take Home Art Kits

We offer free art kits and supplies twice a year to our families so they can create at home. Families are given an order form so they can choose what they do and don't want in their homes (families know best what they need!). Our kits reach well over half of the families at our school.

Maker's Fair

We hold a Maker's Fair every November in preparation for the coming holidays. Families are encouraged to come and make gifts for the people they love. We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to give and we love resourcing our families to do it!

Teacher Support

We believe when we support teachers, we support our students as well. We host teacher paint night as a way to relax and unwind, as well as quarterly treat days (food provided by our volunteers). In addition to this, we run a robust art check out system where teachers can borrow any and all of our art supplies, stock art supplies in their workroom, provide volunteer support for projects, and buy art supplies at their request.

Art Supply Reuse Program

We love to get donations of gently used supplies that we repurpose into kits that make sense. Have some beads sitting around? We'll add beading string and a bead sorter box and give it away! We test and sort markers, colored pencils, etc, add a sketchbook and stickers! Donations are so fun for us, its like choose your own adventure art kit making!