In 1993, Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) took over the administration of the Visiting Artist Program, previously run through Cultural Affairs of the then NS Department of Education & Culture. It soon evolved to become PAINTS (Professional Artists in the Schools).
The program ran each school year until 2002. In that time, PAINTS supported more than one thousand of artist hours in the schools, creating permanent art works, inspiring students and teachers, forging connections between artists and school communities and broadening the appreciation of professional art and artists in the province. In 2002, due to a lack of staff and funding resources VANS had to put the PAINTS program on hiatus.
In the spring of 2006, the NS Department of Education committed funds to all of the provincial artists in the schools programs and asked VANS to consider revitalizing the PAINTS program. The NS Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage also offered their support to the program and the possibility of bringing back the PAINTS program became a reality. The following October a co-ordinator was hired and the program was re-introduced to NS schools.
So here we are.
Projects are happening from one end of the province to the other with students in all grade levels and artists form every imaginable descipline.
Maybe at your school next!