Art in the basic curriculum

A museum-school collaboration with Memphis City Schools.

Art and the Basic Curriculum (ABC) is a museum-school collaboration focusing on the fourth-grade level, in its thirty-first consecutive year of operation at The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. The purpose of ABC is to integrate art into the standard, fourth-grade academic curriculum.

Since its inception in 1979, ABC has grown from a program that served 120 students and was conducted by volunteers, to 1,000 students participating during the 2007-2008 school term. One hundred percent of the schools enrolled this year are Title I. This Memphis City Schools / Brooks Museum partnership brings quality art education to students who do not formally receive learning opportunities in the visual arts. The fourth-grade teachers involved in the program play a key role in its success. Teacher packets and lesson ideas are provided so they may continue to use art to make curriculum connections in the classroom.

Lesson Plans

Lesson 4

Museum Visit 

Art and the Basic Curriculum is generously sponsored by ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, Robert and Martha Fogelman Foundation Fund, Dorothy and J.H. Shepherd Trust, , the J. Buckman Charitable Trust, and the Buckman ABC Partnership.