Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center Launches Virtual Field Trips

Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center invites Maui County preschools and public elementary schools to participate in the center’s FREE virtual art field trip program during April and May 2021.

Hui No‘eau is currently collecting pre-orders for the program. Schools will be served on a first-come, first-served basis until supplies and funding run out.

Hui No‘eau’s new virtual field trip program aims to replicate the traditional youth field trip experience in an online setting. Participating teachers receive a hands-on art lesson that can be taught in a classroom or at home through distance learning.

Each virtual field trip package includes a follow-along video art lesson guided by a Hui Teaching Artist as well as the art supplies needed to complete the project. Hui No‘eau also includes supplemental videos that connect the art project to life science or Hawaiian history and culture. Participating youth may also view a kid-friendly tour of Hui No‘eau’s art gallery and grounds.  

“Maui keiki look forward to their Hui field trips all year long, so when the pandemic put a stop to these important outreach programs, we knew we had to come up with another way to continue to share these fun arts learning experiences with children,” said Hui No‘eau Deputy Director Lana Coryell.  “We tested the program in the fall and the positive response was overwhelming. School teachers told us it was so much fun to give their students a hands-on arts learning experience just like it was pre-COVID.”

Hui No‘eau reached more than 700 children through pilot virtual field trips and plans to reach even more children in the coming months.

Virtual field trips vary based on grade level and include projects like “Hawaiian Night He’e (Octopus), “Hawaiian Yellow Faced Bee or Damselfly Collage” and “Kāheka (Tidepool) Collage.”

Hui No‘eau collaborated with marine biologist and teacher Elyssa Farmer, photographer Zach Pezzillo, and East Maui Watershed Partnership to add more science learning to the projects. As arts integrated experiences, all projects align with one or more grade level benchmarks in math, science, and language arts.

“Our Teaching Artist Julie Matheis did an incredible job of creating lessons that also gave us the opportunity to collaborate with experts in our community and teach children about Hawaiian habitats and species” said Coryell. “When we bring visual arts into the learning environment, children get really excited about science, conservation, math and other integrated subjects.” 

To participate in upcoming virtual field trip programs, interested schools and teachers should complete the online pre-order form on Hui’s website: huinoeau.com. Preschools and public elementary schools may participate in the program at no cost. The current program focuses on preschool through grade 5 with hopes to expand to middle school grades later this year.

Hui No‘eau Virtual Field Trips are made possible with support from the Samuel N. & Mary Castle Foundation and the Maui County Office of Economic Development.