Southeastern Delaware Artists Studio Tour (SEDAST) members provided local art teachers a significant boost on April 11, with a check presentation at the Indian River High School.
Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY:
Southeastern Delaware Artists Studio Tour (SEDAST) members Amy Kaufman and Justin Cavagnaro, outside, present checks to Indian River School District art teachers: center left to right, Indian River High’s Suzanne Morrow, Selbyville Middle School’s Ruth Ru
Every year for the past eight, each SEDAST participant has donated a piece of artwork to the “Art in the Hat” raffle. Those raffle tickets are really starting to add up.
According to SEDAST’s Justin Cavagnaro, they’ve raised nearly $24,000 over the years to benefit local art programs.
This year’s recipients were:
• Michelle Labbe, Frankford and Phillip C. Showell elementary schools, $800 for each school;
• Ruth Ruggiero, Selbyville Middle School, $920; and
• Suzanne Morrow, Indian River High School, $1,200.
As SEDAST’s Amy Kaufman pointed out, the money went directly to the teachers. And they can use it.
Phillip C. Showell Principal Ivan Neal called Labbe “the world’s greatest art teacher,” but he admitted they couldn’t provide her with much of a budget. Neal said Labbe receives about $500, total, for art supplies, for an entire school year.
Granted, at about 325 students, Phillip C. Showell is a small school (Labbe said she had 250 of those students in her classes every week), but still — $500 doesn’t go very far.
And Frankford Elementary Principal Duncan Smith said the situation was much the same at his school. “The budget is tight,” he said. “A lot of what we get to help us pay for art, whether it’s visual or performing art — a lot of that comes from donations.”
“Art teachers depend on the generosity of community-based groups,” Neal added. Both he and Smith credited Labbe for her success in attracting some of that extra funding. (Neal said the Parent-Teachers Organization helped out as well, at times.)
At the high school, Morrow said her $3,000-a-year budget was enough to cover her basic supplies, or nearly. She said her 15-percent commission from bottled juice/water sales from a vending machine in the art room (roughly $70 a week) helped bridge the gap.
“Without that (commission), we wouldn’t be able to buy some of our basic supplies,” she emphasized. And Morrow said she relies on outside contributions for anything above the minimum.
Ruggiero agreed. “I always want more art books, but I get down to the bottom line and I’m like, ‘Well, forget the books,’” she said.
Morrow said she was thrilled to receive the infusion from SEDAST — especially because all of the district’s art teachers were expecting budget cuts in the coming year, with energy prices set to skyrocket.
SEDAST awards the Art in the Hat grants based on letters from art teachers describing what they intend to spend it on, and keeps all of the money within the Indian River School District.
The studio tour is an annual event, always held the first Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. For more information, visit www.artstudiotour.com on the Internet.