Fine Arts Night - Art Fundraiser

Hello everyone!

In the last several weeks, I have begun early preparations for my school’s Fine Arts Night! 

For this week’s post, I will be sharing with you about the Fine Arts Night, how my school puts on such an event, and how it raises art funds for my classroom! My hope is to inspire some potential in your own schools if you feel you could benefit from a similar fundraising event!

My school’s Fine Arts Night is a night to celebrate the Fine Arts in our school. Every single student in the school has a total of two works of art (sometimes more, depending if I have an extra art project I would like to showcase) on display around the school. We also have music performances in our school's gymnasium, where 5th grade Strings students put on a performance with their instruments, and our 3rd-5th grade choir students perform as well. 

In addition to the many works of art on display in the halls, it also acts as a fundraiser! At least one of every student’s works of art are made to size so that a frame can be purchased by the students' parents/guardians. Once the artwork (or artworks) are purchased, I have a nurse in the school who volunteers to place all of the sold artwork into the frames for me. Then, the artwork is delivered to students’ classrooms and sent home with the students within a week of the frames purchase!

Here are some tips and tricks on how I attempt to increase sales:

• Time of year - We schedule our Fine Arts Night in the first week of May every school year. This makes the timing come very close to Mother’s Day, which provides an incentive for the purchased frames, as many are used as Mother’s Day gifts!

• Appeal to a parents' love for their children - Every single year I have the students create a self-portrait, where I take a photograph of each individual student and the student either uses the photograph to trace their photo for their artwork, or it gets printed, cut out, and incorporated into the artwork!

• I create more than ONE work of art available for frame purchases - My first year in the district, I only created one work of art in the correct size to be purchased for the frames. In following years, I increased it, so that nearly all of the artwork on display for the Fine Arts Night was available for frame purchases.

• Mark what artwork is frameable - The works of art hanging in the hall all have signs which show whether or not they are purchasable for frames. If they do not have the label, parents know and understand that they will not fit inside the frame. On the flip side, if a parent really likes one of the students' works of art on display, and sees that it is available for framing, then they will be more likely to purchase.

• Keep prices decent for fundraising purposes, yet reasonable - While I was not in charge of the pricing for the frames due to joining many years after this fundraiser had been established in my school, it seems to be a somewhat reasonable price when looking at it in the perspective of a fundraising event. The frames are purchased by parents for around $15 each. I have seen other schools do this through online services that charge $30 a frame. Since my school purchases the frames ourselves through Amazon, and we are not charging a 2nd party to provide services, it provides extra room for more “affordable” prices. It is still a lot of money for a frame, but it also provides the opportunity to make a decent fundraiser for my art program off of our sales.

Fine Arts Night Art Project Example:

Here is an example of one of the art projects I complete with my students to appeal to parents! It is one of the most popular ones I do that students love to look at and are excited to do when they are in 5th grade.

5th grade - Acetate Paper Self-Portraits

1. Students discuss what abstract artwork is, then create an abstract background with tempera paint.

2.  A photo is taken of each student then printed out on 11x17 inch printer paper. I typically take photos of the students as they paint their backgrounds.

3. A piece of clear acetate paper is placed over their printed photograph and traced with a sharpie to create a line drawing of themselves. IMPORTANT TIP: Expo markers can be drawn over the top of sharpie lines and wiped away with a paper towel to erase mistakes!!

4. Acetate paper is removed from the photograph.

5. Paint on the back side of the acetate paper with ACRYLIC PAINT only! I have my students color in only their clothes, hair, eyebrows, and eyes with paint. This way their background design can still be seen through their faces.

6. Once dried, use clear Scotch tape to attach the acetate paper to the background paper on all sides.

Important Tips For This Project:

• Do not use too small of a paper. The frames we purchase hold 11x14 in papers. This is the size I make. I feel that a regular 9x12 in work of art would be too small for this project, as it would make the tracing of features incredibly difficult for students on a smaller scale

• Make sure everything is cut to the size of your frame, if attempting a frame fundraiser!

• Give students tips and tricks on how to trace certain parts of their face! I find that students are typically more successful with their eyes, nose, and mouth looking more accurate to their photo if I walk them through the steps.

• Before students remove their work of art from their photo, I have them write an “F” in the top right corner. So they know which side is the front. Then I have them remove it, flip it over and write an “B” on the right side of the back, so they know that if they see “F” facing the correct direction, they are looking at the front. But if they see a “B” facing the right direction, then they are working on the back. I have students do this to ensure they are painting only on the BACK side! This way the painted side is protected from the background paper and is not susceptible to scratches. 

• Use ACRYLIC PAINT ONLY on the Acetate paper!!! My first time making these I made the mistake of using tempera paint. Students' paint began to crack and fall right off of their acetate paper once it dried. Acrylic paint dries and is more malleable and not only adheres better to the acetate paper, but can withstand the flexing of the acetate paper.

Discussions with Students on Plagiarism:

I am always careful to speak with my students about art plagiarism once they hit about 3rd-5th grade. I explain how it is sometimes easy to overlook the wide array of images available on the internet. There are many resources out there that are even meant for the artwork to be copied or for the purpose of an artist to follow along with the steps to create the same work of art.

Since this is so common on the internet, I like to take the opportunity to discuss art plagiarism with my students. Many of them do not understand that there are instances where the act of copying a work of art could be considered plagiarism. I always discuss how artwork should never be copied or traced exactly as it is seen, unless the artist can be referenced and the work of art is referred to as an artist study, if the image is of free domain, or the artist has given you direct permission to do so.

Due to having these discussions with my students, I am often met with the question; “But Mrs. Trainor, I thought we weren’t supposed to trace to make our artwork! Isn’t this plagiarism?”

Therefore, I am able to give them a great example of an instance where tracing IS okay from their artmaking and WHY I am allowing it to be done in the art room!

I explain to my students that yes, we are tracing, but in this instance, you have permission from the artist: me! I am the photographer for every single one of the images taken, and as the photographer, I have given them all permission to use my images to create their works of art. Therefore, it is not plagiarism! The students all seem to understand once I have explained this to them, then get excited at the chance to trace an image without it being inappropriate!