Thank you for being a part of this community. It takes all of our different contributions to do this work. We are so grateful for your help.
VTS has trained tens of thousands of educators in over 35 states and more than 25 countries in evidence-based, inclusive practices. Museums all over the world sound with voices discussing what’s going on in their artworks. From pre-K to medical school, VTS is building proven skills in critical thinking, reasoning, observation, written and spoken language, engagement, empathy, cooperative learning, respectful disagreement and more. Grounded in research about learning, we empower educators, to support all their learners, especially the struggling ones. Our commitment to underserved communities and expanding accessible education means we have to ask for your help. We rely on you to bring work to us, to refer friends and colleagues to us, and to help us financially.
VTS would like to use your donation now in one of the following areas:
- This website: vtshome.org needs an upgrade. Our website is the image resource for over 8,000 educators using Visual Thinking Strategies in their classrooms and galleries. We want to provide more images, for a wider variety of groups, and easier access to other resource materials. In over 3 decades of use, the website has become over-full and outdated. We would like to share more research, serve more educators, and continue to add resources.
- VTS Trainer Fellowship: When VTS trainers represent the diverse and unique communities in which we work, the work is stronger. So we created a Fellowship, a paid on-the-job training for outstanding VTS facilitators, particularly from BIPOC, Queer, and underrepresented backgrounds in education. Fellows receive dedicated mentorship, as they work alongside senior trainers, and make our programs, and our field, better.
- BIPOC Space for Museum Educators: For 5 years VTS has partnered with the National Arts Education Association (Museum Education Division) to offer a dedicated meeting space for BIPOC Museum Educators. This monthly online affinity group, co-led by two VTS Trainers, has connected, supported and offered meaningful community for 250 BIPOC museum educators to date.
- Public School Teacher Professional Development: VTS is regularly asked for more teacher training than we can afford to give at cost. We particularly want to be able to offer evidence-based professional development to Public School teachers in the many under-resourced districts where we work. These teachers need all of our support.
- VTS Look Club Online: We partner with a Museum every third Wednesday to offer 2 image discussions for our community. These discussions began April 2020, with the pandemic, and since then we have hosted over 250 image discussions, for over 5,000 individuals across the globe. This Zoom event is for anyone to join, to meet and engage and discuss art, and for VTS-trained members and Fellows to practice their facilitation skills.
Have questions? Want more information?
Please call us at 415-868-0970 or email erin@commonweal.org
Checks can be sent to:
VTS c/o Commonweal
P.O. Box 316 Bolinas, CA 94924
Every donation, of any size, makes a difference. Thank You for making this work happen!