At PS 255, Principal Linda Singer supports the arts because she knows that nothing motivates, stimulates, and reflects culture the way the arts do. Most of their 713 students at the school, 1866 East 17th Street, are English language learners, but they catch on quickly when immersed in the universal language of music and art, as evidenced by their improving NYSESLAT scores.
Studio in a School, NYC’s most prestigious art organization, chose PS 255 to be part of its Collaborative Community. Their mission is to be a laboratory where unit plans based on the Blueprint for the Visual Arts are created, tested, and shared. Studio in a School’s teaching artists, Yasmin Spiro and Susan Greenstein, work with PS 255’s art teacher Miriam Rankin to give every student in the school weekly art experiences and the school’s many display spaces burst with lively colors and form.
The year-end Art Gallery 255 consisted of three major events: a gala art exhibit featuring more than 1,400 pieces of sculpture, collage, drawings, paintings, and prints; a visit from Studio in a School board members and administration, and DOE administrators who were treated to the musical talents of students; and a visit from more than 200 art teachers from around the city who came to see and learn about the visual art program.
