About the STEMarts Model
STEMarts Lab is a non profit organization based in Taos New Mexico whose mission is to empower youth through art, science and technology to prepare them for the 21st century work place. Our interdisciplinary multi-artist team delivers innovative sci-art installations, STEAM programming, online curriculum tools, teacher training and professional development to schools, art/science organizations, museums and festivals. We design immersive and educational STEAM programs that develop artistic, scientific and humanistic literacy to empower youth to become informed and creative participants in their local/ global communities.
The STEMarts Model was created in 2009 by artist, Agnes Chavez through the STEMarts research project which later became, STEMarts Lab, a New Mexico non-profit 501c3. The goal is to combine art, science and technology to explore real world challenges through creative expression as a way to inspire and activate our youth leaders. The STEMarts Curriculum Tool was first developed in 2012 for the International Symposium of Electronic Arts: ISEA2012 Machine Wilderness. The heart of the STEMarts methodology is the way we build projects around new media artists and their unique way of communicating ideas through new technologies. STEMarts Lab continues as a research and development project by applying the latest science research and technological innovations to arts education through interdisciplinary and culturally-responsive collaborations.
The STEMarts Education Model is based on carefully designed media-rich workshops, online tools, hands-on demos or community sci-art interventions built on instruction with four design pillars that revolve around the core principle that all content must help students connect to self, society and the natural world as an interdependent ecosystem, to develop empathy and see themselves as planetary citizens. The diagram above provides a visual illustration of the key components that guide all the activities and intended outcomes.
STEMarts Lab CORE ETHOS
The future is here, it’s just unevenly distributed – William Gibson
- We build educational tools around the work of cutting edge artists and scientists to bring their work into classrooms that normally would not have access to these exciting new ideas.
- We provide participating artists with a new contextual framework for their work where teachers and students can delve deeply into their artistic vision, process and research.
- We prioritize intercultural exchange and collaboration and design culturally responsive programming.
- We are guided by ‘21st century thinking’ with a focus on inner well-being, ethics and social practice toward a peaceful and sustainable future.
- We investigate the latest science research and technologies to inform our design practice and curricula for our future leaders.
- We are committed to closing the gap between the “knowledge rich” and “knowledge poor” which can lead to economic disparity.
- We focus on community outreach to make STEAM programming accessible to underrepresented minorities and girls. Workshop participants are representative of the socio-economic and cultural diversity of their community.
- We are engaged in the transition from being passive consumers of technology to problem solvers and critical thinkers, investigating the social, environmental and global impact of the tools we are using.
