NASHVILLE, TN.- The Frist Center broadens its offerings for children, parents and educators with the launch of
fristkids.org, a fun new online destination with art activities designed for children of all ages and a wealth of educational resources that complement school curricula and make learning an exciting activity.
Inspired by the award-winning interactive Martin ArtQuest® Gallery and created by members of the Frist Center’s education department, the website offers the following features:
• "ArtQuest Art Is All Around You” Videos: More than forty Emmy® award-winning one-minute videos that explore fundamental art concepts such color, shape, architecture, photography and printmaking
• At-Home Activities: Creative and fun DIY art projects following the videos that children can complete at home with readily available and safe materials
• Educator Resources: In-depth teacher guides and lesson plans to be used in the classroom and by homeschool educators; lists of web resources for each topic
• My Gallery: A private digital portfolio space for children to upload their own artwork and share with friends and family. Young artists have the option to submit their work for public viewing on the site’s rotating feature showcase gallery.
• Fun at the Frist: A calendar of kid-friendly programs and exhibitions at the Frist Center
• Martin ArtQuest: Learn about the Frist Center’s popular, interactive art-making gallery.
Included in USA Today’s top 10 list of great family-friendly museums, the Frist Center is widely recognized for excellence and innovation in melding the fun of art making with cross-disciplinary educational principles. In addition to popular and free Family Festival Days that often draw more than one thousand parents and children, the Frist Center offers family programs each month that connect to exhibitions on view in Frist Center galleries.
The Frist Center’s education staff envisioned fristkids.org as a centralized, stand-alone website for the Center’s youth-focused programs and content. “The site allows the Frist Center to reach a global audience,” says Anne Henderson, Director of Education and Outreach. “The Martin ArtQuest Gallery in our building is a treasured interactive space for Middle Tennessee families. We want fristkids.org to be a digital extension of that physical space and the programs we offer.”
One of the site’s features is an archive for ArtQuest: Art Is All Around You, a series of short broadcast segments focusing on developing children’s creativity and fostering a love for the visual arts through an interdisciplinary approach.
As the brainchild of Frist Center Chairman Emeritus Dr. Thomas F. Frist, Jr., the Emmy® Award–winning series is a direct product of the institution’s vision “to inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways.” The series is geared toward viewers ages 7–9 and originally aired on Nashville Public Television (NPT), Nashville’s PBS station, around popular afternoon children’s programs. It is shown across the country on participating public television stations. The series was produced by Linda Wei and edited by Matt Emigh of NPT, and the educational curriculum was developed by the Frist Center’s assistant director for experiential learning, Samantha Andrews.
“We received enthusiastic feedback about the series from children and parents,” says Ms. Andrews. “Giving the series a permanent home on a well-designed, kid friendly website is the Frist Center’s contribution to the growing network of art educational sites online. We hope it will become a valuable resource for children, parents, and teachers everywhere.”
Fristkids.org was developed by Paramore Digital. “A top priority of ours was to build a responsive site that would be as good, if not better, on smaller mobile and tablet screens that children prefer,” says Frist Center Marketing Director Kathy Demonbreun. “The videos and activities can be accessed with ease on the go or in the classroom.”
