ALLEGANY, N.Y. — State Senator Catharine Young (R-Olean) announced earlier this month the award of a major grant to The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University.
The $50,000 grant will help the Quick Center roll out a traveling ArtMobile, a mobile arts education bus, which will target K-12 schoolchildren in rural areas whose districts often do not have the resources to send them to the museum. The funding will go toward contract services, equipment and supplies for the reconfigured passenger bus.
The surprise announcement took place during the annual reception of The Guild for the Quick Center on Sept. 7, which launched the opening of the center’s exhibition and performance seasons.
More than 50 school districts comprise the center’s six-county service area, including 43 in New York state alone. The impetus for the ArtMobile came as the Quick Center staff watched the closing and consolidation of several area schools in the past several years. School districts also have less — if any — money for field trip. The museum staff proposed to Senator Young the idea of bringing the museum to kids.
“This funding will help reap educational rewards in a number of ways,” Senator Young said. “Given the rural geography of the Southern Tier, having a ‘traveling museum’ allows students access to the creative arts without the inconveniences of long-distance travel.”
“We are so grateful to Senator Young for her generosity,” said Joseph A. LoSchiavo, executive director of the Quick Center. “Her immediate understanding of the impact this initiative will have on this area demonstrates her commitment to providing quality arts education. We are also thankful for the opportunity to share the resources of the university through this innovative project.”
An additional grant of $12,000 from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) will also go toward the center’s arts education programs.
In attendance at The Guild reception were St. Bonaventure University President Sister Margaret Carney, OSF, , Erick J. Laine and his wife, Marianne, who is the chair of The Guild for The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts; Al Frink, assistant secretary for manufacturing and services, U.S. Department of Commerce; artists Ellen Steinfeld and Steve Cagan, and collector C. W. Lattin, whose exhibitions recently opened at the center.
Information about the Quick Center’s hours and exhibits is available on SBU’s web site.