Waterford High School’s art teachers give students opportunities to put their art pieces in museums and art shows all around our town, but one unusual place where students can show their art is on a bus.
I took the opportunity to explore this possibility to be a student artist for the Call for Art, which was an opportunity for any student artists in Connecticut to participate before June 2025.
Once the pieces were chosen, all students needed to drop off their art piece in June of 2025 so they could be honored and secured on the cARTie art museum bus. This was an opportunity for their art pieces to visit all of Connecticut with their name next to it, as well as a statement that connects to the art piece in a writing sample, video, or song. The students who got selected, including myself, will not get their art pieces back until July 2026.
Mother and career early childhood educator, Tish Murray, and her daughter, Clare Murray, who is the executive director of cARTie, co-founded this Connecticut nonprofit art museum bus for youth in 2019, while also volunteering at a children’s museum near them.
Clare explained that, “cARTie is on a mission to ensure that young people with limited access to the arts develop critical, collaborative, and creative thinking skills through our art museum-based learning approach…we bring this to life with our mobile museum using research-backed strategies to engage children’s perspectives, leverage student artists’ contributions, nurture emotional intelligence, and partner with local communities.”
Both Clare and Tish talked with Connecticut educators, students, and administrators about points and interests regarding art and museum-based learning opportunities. Clare says, “We learned that emerging student artists needed a space to showcase their art and build skills to launch themselves in the art world. [But] also learned that early childhood educators needed tailored art museum programming that could be embedded in their school day and work with their school-specific needs.”
The cARTie art museum bus got the name “cARTie” by a social innovation centering ART and starts with a C for Connecticut.
Developing cARTie was not a simple or linear process. Clare and Tish brought in key founding team members: Holly Hawthorn and Adrianne Carter-Brown, who are both board members, and Cal Inguanti. Clare said, “We poured our heARTs and souls into outreach and connecting with philanthropists similarly passionate about the power of early art museum-based learning opportunities. It has been because of generous individuals and foundations that cARTie has been able to grow.”
As of now, cARTie is focused on Connecticut and prioritizes schools and communities without access to the arts and with limited resources. Annually, cARTie welcomes Connecticut’s middle and high school student artist submissions between March and May. The pieces students submit to the annual Calls for Art show are selected by the jurying committee for their value in early childhood contexts and connection to the year’s theme. All students who submit their art are spotlighted on the cARTie website after being reviewed by the Student Advisory Board, and those whose art gets selected by the jury can see their art traveling around Connecticut daily.
“We intend to reach more than 1,900 pre-kindergartens through second-grade students. Currently, we reach about 9,000 children and community members per year. Over the next five years, expansion is going to be key. In the long-term future, we hope to scale this model and see to it that it can adapt to other contexts, as needed. In 10 years, we expect to be studying the longitudinal impact of our positive and prolonged early experiences with art museum-based learning on Connecticut children. We’ll be keeping an eye especially on their capacity to collaborate, tap into their emotional intelligence, and use critical thinking and creativity.”
Visit www.cARTie.org to learn more about cARTie’s work and explore opportunities to get involved, support, and make a difference. Every $10 helps cARTie reach another child who does not have access to art. Student artists should stay connected on social media at @CTcARTie for announcements about the upcoming Call for Art selection.
