Student & Educator Events
Arts Conference
Join us for a day of learning and collaboration at the annual Arts Conference Day, where art, music, and theatre educators unite. Engage in content-specific sessions, share best practices, and build lasting connections to enrich our teaching communities.
Arts Showcase
Enjoy a student art exhibit alongside captivating performances. Experience the talent and passion of our young artists and performers in an evening celebration of the arts.
Clay Throw Down
The Clay Throw Down is open to teams of high school ceramic students. Teams must include one teacher and ten students. Teams will work together to compete in a series of ceramics challenges as outlined on the Details pages. Challenges will include a Cylinder Stack, Mug Production, No Hands Throw, Blindfolded Throw, Pot Put, and Coil Building. Each team will be assigned a judge who will monitor and score the group. The team with the most points will win!
Educator Hour
The Erie 1 BOCES Arts in Education Educator Hours are free regional sessions that promote the exploration and engagement of local cultural centers in the Western New York region. All Educator Hours are designed to provide educators with new tools and materials to connect back to their school, classroom, and curriculum in any content area.
All Educator Hours are offered after school hours to remove the need for substitutes and sub plans. CTLE credit is awarded for each session.
Portfolio Review Day
This Portfolio Review Day offers high school artists a unique opportunity to engage directly with community artists, arts professionals, and college or university representatives in a supportive, feedback-rich environment. Designed for AP Art students, those participating in the Individual Arts Assessment Pathway (IAAP), and students enrolled in high school portfolio art courses, this event focuses on refining and elevating student work. Throughout the day, participants will meet with at least two arts professionals for individualized portfolio reviews, engage in structured peer-to-peer critique sessions, and have dedicated time to revise and create new artwork based on feedback received.
Professional Development
All arts consortiums are designed to promote the continual growth of professional learning communities for the arts. Each consortium will focus on sharing best practices in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The facilitator will set the initial agenda, but all subsequent agendas will be based on the needs and interests of the group.
Student Art Challenge
Students are presented with a prompt and have two hours to utilize a medium of their choice to create a finished piece of art. Students do not know what the prompt is prior to the event!
A team of judges representing art institutions and education programs from around Western New York evaluate their works. The judging criteria for the student work consists of categories for creativity, skill, composition, and message. The event concludes with a presentation of awards for the top three pieces in three age divisions.
Theatre Jam
Is theatre your jam? Join us for a one-day event that brings high school students together to explore all aspects of theatre through engaging workshops in dance, vocals, improv, design, and more. Students will collaborate, build new skills, and connect with peers who share their passion for the performing arts. It's a fun, high-energy day designed to inspire creativity both onstage and behind the scenes.
Young Minds
The Young Minds Showcase is an opportunity for students in grades K-12 to publicly share their ideas in a public forum. Students may share their ideas in a modality of their choosing or as guided by their teacher (see list below). Participating teachers will have the ability to submit up to 10 students works that meet the criteria of the provided rubrics. All work will be reviewed to be considered to be displayed or presented at the Young Minds Showcase at the Buffalo Museum of Science.