No Place Like Home / Afterschool Arts Outreach Student Exhibition

Since 1991, the Afterschool Arts Outreach (AAO) program has provided creative development to youth in under-resourced Palm Beach County communities through year-round arts experiences. Each year, over 700 participants, ages 5 to 18, from eight community organizations engage in art led by Norton Museum educators.

AAO offers free art lessons, Museum tours, and family passes to visit the Norton, fostering new interests, exploration, empathy, and self-awareness. The program culminates in an annual exhibition featuring artworks by children and teens who have participated in the program.

The concept of "home" is the central theme of this year's exhibition.

Museum educators introduced unconventional techniques and materials allowing students to re-imagine home not just as a physical space, but as an emotion. In both individual and collaborative artworks, students explored new interpretations of home through the lenses of nature, the body, and imagination. As they visited artworks in our collection, students encountered how art can reflect both deeply personal experiences and broader community ties, articulating the theme of "No Place Like Home" with their own distinctive viewpoint.