ART AT YOUR FINGERTIPS (AAYF)

Now in its 44th year, Art At Your Fingertips is a Palos Verdes Art Center school-based outreach program which brings affordable visual arts education to elementary school classrooms. AAYF’s paramount objective is to help every child feel comfortable using art as a means of expression.  AAYF seeks to:
* Enhance each child’s creative and mental growth through meaningful art experiences in a non-judgmental environment.
* Improve each child’s visual perception and awareness.
* Make community resources in the arts more available to children.
* Support the Palos Verdes Art Center and Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District’s arts education plan by providing visual arts experiences aligned with California State Visual and Performing Arts Standards.
* Provide training to its docents so these volunteers have the tools and knowledge to deliver a quality, grade-appropriate art experience.

At training workshops, the artist who developed each project (6 per year) teaches Docents who, in turn, teach the students in their individual classrooms. Training includes the methodology, motivation and inspiration, as well as letting the volunteers try their hands at creating the project. 

One Docent chosen per classroom.  A Docent is a volunteer who is interested in bringing Art At Your Fingertips projects to children in a classroom setting. A Docent must feel comfortable working with children and be motivated about sharing non-judgmental art experiences with them. A Docent does NOT need to be artistic, just enthusiastic about art and creativity!
General Docent Responsibilities:
* To commit to being in attendance at all workshops in order to gain full knowledge of the projects - Workshops are on Wednesday mornings 9:00am-11:00am.
* To be willing to share the task of gathering and organizing materials requested by the artist to complete projects.
* To schedule and organize the teaching of projects with your teacher, helping hands and school chair.
* To teach the projects in your child's classroom; this includes teaching the project and maintaining the integrity of the artist’s vision and present the lesson as written on the provided lesson plan and PowerPoint presentations as well as setup and cleanup.

HELPING HANDS: Several per classroom
A HELPING HAND is any volunteer who is interested in assisting the Docent in bringing Art At Your Fingertips projects to children in your classroom.  Their duties include:
* Arrive at least 1⁄2 hour before you are scheduled in class. This allows you to assist the Docent in set-up. 
* Assist docent with preparation and distribution of supplies in the classroom.
* Spend your time encouraging all of the children rather than talking with other adults.
* Stay after class to clean up or help set up for the next class.