Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum connects students and the public with contemporary art through exhibitions and educational programs. For artist videos produced by the Plugged-In Virtual Connections program and Art Encounter project, refer to the Videos page.
Plugged-In Virtual Connections continues to serve students in the Long Beach and ABC Unified School Districts with digital art activities at no cost to schools or students. The expanded program presents arts-integrated lessons for elementary school, high school students, and life-long learners. Virtual programming, including our new artist video series, and Art Encounter content will be accessible on our new Videos page, YouTube, and on Instagram TV. A generous grant from the RuMBa Foundation funds the entirety of video production and allows growth of the program to serve teens and young adults.
Art making activities inspired by works and artist practices presented in artist videos are included in lesson plans and will also available to the public starting October 21, 2020. Activities and lessons use the Social and Emotional learning model (SEL) to connect students with their emotionality while getting in touch with their creative process.
Accessible digital programs help ensure that no student loses out on arts education due to school budget shortfalls or other unexpected hardship during these uncertain times. Lessons and videos offer multidisciplnary enrichment for educators and learners of all ages, especially families and students in need of creative activities.
Campus Collaboration and Curriculum Connections
We welcome students from all academic programs to connect with contemporary art with us. The museum encourages professors and campus communities to use our collections and exhibitions as an educational resource. The museum actively develops multidisciplinary programming with Cal State Long Beach faculty to link museum content to curriculum, positively impact our campus communities, and help students reach learning objectives. We regularly collaborate with the School of Art as a partner in the presentation of the annual student exhibition, Insights, and serve as a mentoring organization for the Museum and Curatorial Studies Graduate Program.
The Plugged-In Virtual Connections Program was developed to align with Common Core, State and National Standards in the areas of visual arts, social studies, language arts and mathematics. Every semester, this multi-phase program introduces students to contemporary artist practices, permanent collection works or current exhibitions, and visual elements and principles, while connecting to grade subject matter. Through guided lessons, students create related art projects that encourage critical thinking, collaborative process skills, and emotional awareness.
Educational programs are made possible by generous grants from the The Earl B. and Loraine H. Miller Foundation, Arts Council for Long Beach, Bess Hodges Foundation and RuMBa Foundation.