Greenbriar Elementary School Fort Worth Independent School District Through the collaborative efforts of the art teacher, principal, and faculty of Greenbriar Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas, students at the school have experienced an annual Fine Arts Day for the last four years. Greenbriar's Fine Arts Day, initiated by art specialist Val Franks and held every spring, is a day-long participation in arts activities by all students in the school. Over one hundred volunteers from the community spend the day at the school to present a variety of arts activities and experiences for every class. As a school in the Fort Worth Independent School District, a consortium district of the North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (NTIEVA), Greenbriar's art specialist and faculty have participated in NTIEVA teacher training programs for some time. The school has sent teachers to NTIEVA's summer institutes and invited NTIEVA staff to conduct teacher inservices at Greenbriar for a number of years. This involvement has resulted in a unified commitment by the school and community provide to significant art education for the children in the school. Over the years, visual artists, musicians, dancers, dramatists, architects, and other adults engaged in arts-related professions have volunteered their time to work with students on the Fine Arts Day. Other presenters have included art specialists from within the district, faculty and art education students from local colleges and universities, and members of Fort Worth area symphony and dance groups. Planning for the Fine Arts Day begins about two months before the chosen date as invitations are issued to artists and the master schedule for the day is devised. Scheduling is carefully planned for each grade level to experience a different arts discipline. For example, in Greenbriar's 1996 Fine Arts Day, assigned disciplines included dance for kindergarten, two-dimensional art for first grade, drama for second grade, music for third grade, photography for fourth grade, and three-dimensional art for fifth grade. Activities vary from year to year; in 1996, students developed dance movements, performed dramatic interpretations, listened to an opera singer, guitarist, and a harpist, designed floor plans for a house with an architect, created original prints, and developed three-dimensional designs with both traditional art materials and a computer paint program. Students also become aware of art careers as they meet and interact with adults involved in art-related professions. . Each grade level rotates through four classes of activities; morning and afternoon activities are divided by a picnic lunch, shared on the playground by students, teachers, and arts volunteers. Time is also scheduled to allow classroom teachers an opportunity to visit other classes for an overview of the day's offerings. Teachers are also encouraged to include appropriate preparatory and follow-up activities in planning for their own classes before and after the Fine Arts Day. The Fine Arts Day at Greenbriar is a testament to the entire faculty's recognition of the value of the arts to all students. Principal Sherry Harris and Art Specialist Val Franks both deserve special recognition, Ms. Harris for allowing the Fine Arts Day to replace the regular school schedule and devote the entire day to the arts, and Ms. Franks for planning the master schedule for the day, enlisting the presenters from the community, readying the supplies, materials, and facilities needed by the visiting artists, and making every effort to ensure that the day runs smoothly. The success of this now annual event is evident in the return each year of many of the same presenters and the teachers' and students' eager anticipation of the day. At the end of the Fine Arts Day, all want to know "when will it be next year?"! by Nancy Walkup