By the California State PTA Arts Education Committee
California State PTA Convention 2026 in Fresno was a huge success! We had amazing art workshops and a dedicated Arts Education Room with resources on how to become an Arts Docent, advocate for arts at school, and access Proposition 28 funds. We also offered hands-on arts activities ranging from making blooming pipe-cleaner daisies to Kandinsky emulation artworks to Petey A. Bear coloring sheets.
As part of the workshop Bringing the arts to every child – become an arts advocate!, attendees drew their school mascot/favorite animal during the icebreaker and guessed each other’s creation. We had such a talented group that each and every one of their sketches was guessed correctly! Stations represented each of the art disciplines recognized in the California Arts Standards. Participants created inventive musical instruments using recycled materials, followed by a skit where they tried to get new parents to become members of PTA. At the visual arts corner, they made hearts, learned about Kandinsky and made daisy chains from pipe cleaners! Finally, the audience went on a walking tour to the Arts Resource room that concluded the session with a group photograph.
In our Improv(e) Leadership and Communication workshop, participants tried out three improvisation games led by local drama teachers from Fresno’s Bullard Talent K-8 School. They learned how to have a “Yes, and” mindset and build on new suggestions instead of resisting them. Then they found what it feels like to switch status from powerful to powerless and vice versa in one scenario, and how to play “Fortunately, Unfortunately” to look for silver linings when the unexpected happens. We tied these experiences to the “soft skills” needed to build a PTA board into a team that works together toward the PTA’s goals.
Participants were able to take Arts Education Resources back to their communities from Fresno in the form of school arts night activities ideas and flyer templates, leadership skills, advocacy ideas, and artwork!