In-School Programming
Breck Create partners with Summit County schools on both recurring and one-time, in-school programs, offering teachers and schools throughout Summit County the opportunity to engage students and meet its curricular and social emotional learning objectives through art. Breck Create’s school-based educational programs are 100% underwritten by generous contributions from individuals, philanthropic corporations and private foundations.
Please email drea@breckcreate.org if you are interested in learning more.
Current + Ongoing Programs
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE @ sNOWY PEAKS HIGHSCHOOL
Breck Create’s artist-in-residence program offers regional, national and international artists of all disciplines an opportunity to focus on creative process while leading new arts-based curriculum in Summit School District schools and engaging with the local community in a meaningful way.
While in Breckenridge, Banowetz will work with the public Snowy Peaks Junior and Senior High School to enrich the arts education curriculum, which will include exploring the environmental stories surrounding Breckenridge with the students. Nicole will address conservation issues and the human impact on nature, while finding inspiration from strange and exciting plants, animals and microscopic life to guide the creative curriculum.
After School Art @ Upper Blue Elementary
Breck Create offers after school art activities at Upper Blue Elementary. Led by Breck Create instructor, Emily Jones, students have the opportunity to explore different visual mediums and build artistic skills through project-based activities.
Interested in lending your expertise to facilitate After School Programming and foster student creativity?
Email drea@breckcreate.org.
Hispanic Heritage Programs
Papel Picado Workshop by Mexican Cultural Center
@ summit middle
Breck Create offers after-school art activities at Summit Middle School, featuring a special Papel Picado workshop led by the Mexican Cultural Center. This program provides students the opportunity to explore traditional Mexican art forms while building artistic skills through hands-on, project-based activities.
Retablos Workshop with Vicente Telles
@ summit high school
Breck Create offers after-school art activities at Summit High School, including a special Retablos workshop led by artist Vicente Telles. This program allows students to explore the traditional art of retablo painting taking students through the process of making these very ornate wood carvings with paintings and the tradition and history involved.
Mariachi Las Dahlias Assembly
@ summit county Elementary Schools
Breck Create presents a special assembly featuring Las Dahlias, an all-female Mariachi group from Colorado, touring local elementary schools. This program introduces students to the vibrant traditions of mariachi music while promoting female representation and celebrating Mexican heritage through live performances.
In addition to their school performances, Las Dahlias will offer a free show for early education groups at the Riverwalk Center on Wednesday, October 16, at 10AM.
Past Examples
AirStage Ofrenda
Breck Create’s most far-reaching educational endeavor in 2022 was the AirStage Ofrenda (shown in the photo above), an immersive installation created by artist Adrian Marban and in partnership with the Mexican Cultural Center (MCC). This mobile altar inside Breck Create’s AirStage - a 1975 Airstream trailer that the organization retrofitted into a mobile stage in 2021 - reinvented the traditional Día de Muertos altar in an unlikely space, inviting viewers to step into a world honoring the dead, featuring characters and symbols from Mexican folklore. After making its debut on the Arts District Campus for Breck Create’s Día de Muertos festival, the installation traveled to Frisco Elementary, Summit Cove Elementary, immigrant-rights organization Mountain Dreamers, Silverthorne Elementary and Dillon Valley Elementary. Students were invited to honor a deceased loved one by coloring paper cut-outs of butterflies and attaching them to a fabric panel.
MLK Day Service Project
As part of a service project for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, students at the Peak School spent four months collecting clean and label free #1, #2, #5 & #6 plastics for incoming Artist in Residence and BIFA Trail Mix Artist, Calder Kamin. Calder spoke virtually with the students about her process of turning trash into art. Calder used their collected plastic to create the BIFA Trail Mix Installation “Once Upon a Time in the Future” and invited the students to her free community workshops to create mushrooms that accompanied the Pegasus sculpture. The unused collected plastics were donated to our Precious Plastic initiative.
Learn more about:
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE @ SUMMIT HIGH SCHOOL
Artists selected for Breck Create’s Artist-in-Residence program engage with the community in a variety of ways, including teaching in-school workshops at local schools.
The winter of 2023, Artist-in-Residence Leela Srinivasan worked with Summit High School students to create works for a public exhibition that w displayed at the Breckenridge Rec Center. Leela has worked as a teacher, tutor, and facilitator for topics including spoken word poetry, personal essays, and therapeutic journaling, which she will incorporate into her teachings at the high school.
MARKER COLLECTION
Breck Create hosted a drive to collect spent ballpoint pens, markers (washable, permanent and dry erase), and highlighters for the Precious Plastic Initiative. Of the five participating schools, the one that collected the most by weight won a free AirStage concert for the last day of school, which was the Summit High School.
Precious Plastic’s mission is to keep plastic trash out of the landfill by transforming it into art. Using specially designed machines, plastic is shredded, melted, and used for art projects and classes on our Arts District Campus. Interested in getting involved? You can learn more about the Precious Plastic initiative here.
“I AM AN ARTIST” ART CLUB
Students at Summit Middle School had the opportunity to join Breck Create for a six-week Art Club. A variety of “starter” projects were offered, and students could choose which art skills and projects they wanted to focus on. Breck Create instructor, Emily Jones provided guidance and inspiration to assist participants in their creative and artistic practice.
Exploring Connection – Self Portrait in Breckenridge Landscape
In fall 2022 Los Angeles-based artist Stephanie Mercado, taught a block-printing workshop at Snowy Peaks Junior and Senior High School entitled “Exploring Connection – Self Portrait in Breckenridge Landscape.” In this block printing workshop, participants carved a self-portrait that is representative of self as human, animal, plant, or object. Each carving was printed on paper and collaged to create an artwork that represents one’s connection to their surrounding environment.
DJ CLUB
Students at Summit Middle School had the opportunity to join Breck Create for a six-week DJ Club. Led by local DJ, Alex Whalen, students learned the basics of DJing on the equipment used by the pros while exploring song selection, beat matching, transitions, and the history of electronic music.
Generously Underwritten By:
