For thousands of students in Arizona’s Title One schools, arts experiences feel out of reach, but Act One continues to change that. This school year, more than 17,000 students will attend free arts related field trips across the state.
Act One is an Arizona nonprofit with the mission to create and provide access to quality arts experiences enhancing the lives of Arizona’s children and families. The program runs statewide, providing pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students from Title One schools with free arts culture passes and field trips throughout the year.
This month, Act One kicked off its in-person field trip season with a visit to the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, providing nearly 150 students with a unique and interactive experience.
Brenna Camping, who teaches creative writing and English Language Development at Palo Verde High Magnet School, was fortunate to have her students participate in the kick-off field trip.
“One of my big goals as a teacher is just to convince kids that art is important and that it exists in all facets of their life,“ Camping said. “It’s not just like, you see a painter doing their thing. It’s in your English class, it’s in your math class, it’s in your PE class, it’s all over the place – you have to think artistically.”
In person field trips are one of three Act One programs to expand access to the arts, including virtual field trips and the Culture Pass program. The trip to the Tucson Botanical Gardens is only one of more than 250 in person field trips that will be made this school year.
The 250 trips will be made with the organization’s 35 arts and cultural partners, including the Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Fox Tucson Theatre, the Rogue Theater, and the Live Theatre Workshop.
A 2020 study from the University of Arkansas, by Heidi H. Erickson, Angela R. Watson and Jay P. Greene, found that students who experience at least three arts-based field trips per year have fewer behavioral infractions, more frequent attendance, higher end-of-grade exam scores, and higher course grades than those students who do not.
The study also found that students with those experiences expressed a greater tolerance for people with different opinions and a desire to consume arts.
But it doesn’t end there. Act One’s Executive Director Beth Maloney emphasized how these experiences also stand to benefit youth socially, emotionally and developmentally.
“The past Surgeon General gave us a really stern and dire warning that our students are undergoing kind of a crisis in loneliness.
“They’re feeling really disconnected from the world and from each other. There’s a lot bombarding students at this time, and opportunities like going on arts and cultural field trips are those really unique chances to kind of break that barrier and really make that connection,” Maloney said.
And that is exactly what happened among Camping’s students during their visit to the Botanical Gardens. One of her students became emotional when she found a plant in the garden that she hadn’t seen since she lived in the Congo.
Another one of Camping’s students from a separate class also had a similar experience. She explained to her peers how they would have used different parts of the plant, and said it reminded her of home and made her feel more connected to Arizona.
Camping explained how field trips also foster a more meaningful relationship between educators and students.
“I think for a lot of these students, my class feels like a home base, honestly, for me and for them,” Camping said. “And having them feel comfortable going out and having an experience together is a great way to make the learning space more comfortable, and a more comfortable learning space is going to result in better learning.”
Title One schools are public schools that serve large populations of low-income families and receive federal funding to help meet the educational needs of students. These funds often go toward the basic needs of students, leaving little to no room for regular field trips.
“The kids — especially today, more than ever — just aren’t provided the arts access opportunities that we really feel like are a right, they’re not a privilege,” Maloney said. “…So that really is the meaning behind what we do is trying to fill in that gap. We know it exists, so we kind of exist and make the meaning out of that opportunity for students and families.”
Act One’s in person field trips are completely free for Title One schools, even covering transportation costs. To qualify for Act One’s free field trips, schools must be Title One with at least 40% of students on free or reduced-price lunch, serve grades PreK-12, and be within 60 miles of the field trip site.
Aside from lightening the cost burden for schools, the organization also lightens the organizational burden for teachers.
All teachers must do is visit the Act One website to request a field trip by going to the calendar and submitting a form. Once that choice is confirmed, Act One will work with the teacher to reserve transportation, get a school agreement on file, and provide educational materials to accommodate the trip.
Act One handles the rest, coordinating the field trip with the venue, covering admission cost and covering full transportation costs to and from the field trip. If a school does not have access to district busing, Act One will provide buses.
“This was my first field trip with them (Act One), but I am hopeful that it will not be my last,” Camping said. “… Everything was free. My bus was free, which I would normally have had to find funding for. The actual event was free, which I would have had to find funding for. It just made the whole process so much easier. And I think that that is great, because it makes field trips, which are such a great experience for these kids, so much more accessible.”
While in person field trips are the most visible part of the program, they’re only one of the three ways Act One makes a difference.
The organization’s virtual reality field trip program is especially valuable for schools that can’t travel to in person field trips. Act One sends virtual reality specialists into classrooms with headsets and equipment, leading an hour-long immersive lesson and discussion.
Students will participate in two virtual reality experiences that explore public art and cultural heritage. Experience one, Freedom in Expression, connects the history of public art to the Mexican Mural Movement. Experience two, Weaving Our Story, explores three local Indigenous Arizona artists’ work on the themes of weaving, storytelling, music, public art, and cultural heritage.
The virtual reality field trip program is mobile and serves rural schools statewide, accommodating up to 45 students per class. Title One schools can request the experience for free. Non-Title One schools and community organizations may book the experience for $350 per class or session.
Act One is also expanding access to the arts outside of the classroom with the Culture Pass program. Partnering with nearly 200 public and academic libraries statewide, library cardholders can check out free passes to arts and cultural events. Over 600,000 passes are offered annually, and a list of participating libraries can be found on the Act One website.
“Education is more than just kids coming in, sitting down at a desk, and learning what they need to learn,” Camping concluded. “Education is also about developing your personhood and developing your life experience. And you can’t really do that in a desk, you do that through experiences.”
Whether through in-person field trips, virtual experiences or free passes, Act One aims to make arts access a consistent part of education rather than an occasional privilege.