Cranbrook Art Museum to Deliver 1,500 Take-Home Art Kits to Students in Pontiac and Detroit

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH., March 16, 2021 – Cranbrook Art Museum announced today that it has begun distribution of “Art-Reach Kits” to students in the Pontiac and Detroit School Districts. More than 1,500 kits will be delivered, including a kit to every third and fourth-grade student in the school district of the City of Pontiac. Kits will also be delivered to after-school programs in Pontiac and Detroit, as well as to select students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

The kits contain everything needed for children to create at home. Each kit is housed in a suitcase-style cardboard box with handle, and contains a written project guide, inspiration highlighting a work from Cranbrook Art Museum, and all the supplies a young artist needs to create their own work of art, including pencils, sharpeners and tape. Students do not need to connect to the internet for a lesson, everything they need is contained in the box.

Art-Reach stands for “art outreach” and is an idea conceived by Devan Edwards, a high school student at The Roeper School, and is supported through the generosity of the Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation, and the Edwards family. Devan’s father, Frank Edwards, serves as Board Chair of the Cranbrook Art Museum Committee.

“Devan reached out to me with his idea, and we discussed sample projects and materials to include,” said Kelly Lyons, Curator of Education for Cranbrook Art Museum. “The goal is to provide art-making materials to children with limited resources so they will have a wide range of supplies they can call their own. With students spending so much time in front of screens through online learning this year, we felt it was important to give these students the materials they would need, along with a full lesson and project guide, to create their own work independently. All students should have equal access to art.”

Kit distribution began last week and will continue in Pontiac and Detroit through March 24.

Press Opportunity: If you would like to visit a school to capture the distribution of the kits, please reach out to the contacts below and we will provide dates, times, and locations.

CONTACTS

Heidi Hedquist
Communications
Pontiac School District
Office phone: 248.535.7419
heidi.hedquist@pontiacschools.org
communications@pontiacschools.org

Julie Fracker
Director of Communications
Cranbrook Art Museum
248.645.332
jfracker@cranbrook.edu