Park West Gallery CARES Continues Partnership with Douglas High
Park West Gallery donates additional works to support the school’s arts in education programming
WINSTON, OR – Like most of America, Winston, Oregon has been hit hard by the downturns in the economy. However, unlike many other schools, Winston’s Douglas High School has been able to maintain a thriving arts program for its students. Impressed with the school’s dedication to arts in education even in bad economic times, Park West Gallery donated five works of art by Thomas Kinkade through its philanthropic Park West Gallery CARES initiative to the high school with hopes of furthering and supporting the school’s art programming.
Douglas High School art teacher Debbie Cusack and her students pose with various Thomas Kinkade artworks donated to the school by Park West Gallery CARES.
This donation follows a previous donation of 20 works by various Park West artists and a lecture by artist Dominic Pangborn in November 2010. Douglas High School was able to auction works of art by Thomas Kinkade from the previous donation and use the proceeds to purchase art supplies and materials including: shelving, drying racks and containers for art storage and an opaque projector.
“Thank you for these gifts for our art program! I am in awe and speechless with Park West Gallery’s generosity. Just the idea of someone remembering our struggling little school is an amazing concept for the students and me. We are extremely thankful and appreciative of these donations. It feels so good to check—rather than cross—much needed supplies off my list, and we are only able to do so because of Park West Gallery,” declared Debbie Cusack, Douglas High School’s art teacher.
“We are committed to keeping the arts alive in our schools,” said Stoney Goldstein, executive vice president of Park West Gallery. “We realize that budgets are being crunched and funding for the arts is drying up, and we’re simply stepping up to the plate to do our part. Park West Gallery is very impressed and inspired by Winston and by Douglas High School’s dedication to keeping arts in education for their students. The arts allow our children to be creative, which in turn helps develop critical and forward thinking skills. Kids feel a sense of pride and ownership of the artwork they create and develop the ability to think outside of the box. We recognize that the arts provide a foundation for innovation.”
Launched in July 2010, Park West Gallery CARES initially limited its outreach to organizations in the Detroit, MI and Miami, FL areas where Park West Gallery has physical locations. However, due to its monumental success, Park West Gallery has decided to extend the initiative to communities throughout the United States. Douglas High School is one of many organizations that have received similar donations and artist talks provided by Park West Gallery CARES. Other recipients include the Lake Geneva Public Library in Lake Geneva, WI, the Youth Arts Corp. in St. Petersburg, FL, the City of Clayton’s public art program in Clayton, MO, St. Mary’s Interparochial School in Philadelphia, PA, The International School in Bellevue, WA, Goethe School in Chicago, IL and the Woodbridge Public Library in Iselin, NJ.
If you know of a charitable organization in your community that would benefit from Park West Gallery CARES, please send your suggestions to pwgcares@parkwestgallery.com.
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