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Give the Gift of VTS

Dear Friends,

Happy Holidays!

It is hard to believe that we are approaching the end of the year. This is a reflective time of year, when we all tend to examine our achievements, our hopes and our values. Certainly at VTS, we're proud of what we've achieved during this very exciting year. VTS has deepened its roots in schools and museums through out the country. In fact, you can now experience VTS in 24 states, reaching hundreds of educators and an estimated 75,000 young people.

A few more really meaningful achievements this year:

• New VTSers. With the help of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, we are training hundreds of teachers as new VTS facilitators across the US.

• Diverse communities. VTS schools have sprouted in a wide range of places such as Lafayette, LA; Pontiac, MI, Brooklyn, NY; Napa, CA; Atlanta, GA; Portland, OR; Brookings, SD; Bellingham, WA; Oakland, CA; Boston, MA; Hartford, CT and many more. These are wildly diverse communities, yet all see how their students benefit from VTS.

• Innovative ways to use VTS. The Nellie Mae Foundation is supporting a new Middle School program in Boston; a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services is funding a VTS Pre-school program in Detroit; and together with the Queensborough Community College and a consortium of museums in New York we are exploring how VTS can help teach English as a Second Language for adults studying for the citizenship test. 

It is exciting to see that despite the economic climate, VTS continues to grow. We are obviously meeting a desperate need in American education. For too long education has gone off track. Young people in our schools don't have a chance to look at art. They don't develop the thinking skills they need to succeed in college and work. Students are taught to be passive and not engage in their own education. Students are trained to pass standardized tests -- in other words, the school's success outweighs the students'.

Parents and educators would love to have more thinking and engagement in their classroom. American businesses need creative partners to keep their edge. VTS has a track record of doing exactly what is missing. VTS makes education rich, deep and fun, It develops thinking skills, it strengthens communication and it brings art back to the core of our communal life.

But we can't do it without you. And the timing could not be more urgent. Grant funding only covers 30% of what it costs to bring VTS to so many children across the country. And so this is where I ask us all, at year's end, to think about our hopes and our values. The investment you make in the next generation through VTS is an investment in a smart, thinking citizenry and a richer culture than this moment in time, alas, considers necessary.

If there has ever been a time to help VTS, it is now. Consider giving a contribution to allow us to bring this powerful educational tool to hundreds of American educators.

Click here to make a donation.

Have a bright winter holiday,

Oren Slozberg,
Executive Director

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