Connecting Art and the Community

It is very important for us as art teachers to link our lessons, curriculum and classroom environments to the surrounding community. One of the simplest (read economical) reasons would be that it could help to bolster our art programs and make them harder for the school to cut from their budgets. By hosting events like art fairs or performances, having students create art for community contests or displays, or even making artworks for display somewhere in the community, it gets those outside of the schools interested in what you're doing in your art room. Art in general is flexible enough to connect with numerous other school activities (such as sporting events, band / choral concerts, school plays, etc.) that there should be no reason that you couldn't form many interdisciplinary connections and give your art program a higher profile, both in and out of the school building.
Art can also provide a good creative outlet for those students that would rather not be involved in other school programs,and by providing times for these students to create art projects and a safe space to do so will both help the students and let the adults in the community know that there are alternatives for students besides the common examples (sports, study or trouble-making).
Finally, by reaching out to the community, you may find a number of resources that you and your students would not otherwise have known about. This could be individuals with artistic talents that could benefit your program, a business that could provide materials for your class, or just a chance to look at familiar parts of your community in a different way. In addition, large cities may have independent art / community centers (such as the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Blackhawk Children's Theatre, Hearst Center, etc.) that could provide some extra support for your class. For example, if you aren't quite as adept at ceramics or photography, maybe there's an employee of such an institution that could come to your classroom and give a demonstration. Also, they may be willing to host a student art exhibition or child / parent art night. In any case, there are numerous examples of ways that you could connect your art program with the community and both sides could benefit from it.