photo by: Chris Conde

The Spencer Museum Of Art on the campus of the University of Kansas is pictured on Sept. 13, 2018.

The Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas has been awarded $437,261 from the Freeman Foundation to develop a K-12 outreach program focused on Asian art, according to a news release sent out Friday.

Through this two-year grant, the Spencer will partner with Salina Arts and Humanities to create educational resources for teachers and elementary students in central Kansas using Asian works of art from Spencer’s collection.

“We are honored to collaborate with the Salina community and its educators to extend the impact of the Spencer Museum and KU across Kansas,” Spencer Director Saralyn Reece Hardy said in the release. “The K through 12 state outreach program will advance our goals of preparing global citizens, cultivating cross-cultural understanding and teaching empathy.”

photo by: Contributed photo

“Medicine Buddha” is part of the Spencer Museum collection.

The program will draw on the museum’s Asian art collection to produce a series of digital resources, including an updated web presence for Spencer’s collection, and object reproductions for use in the classroom that promote Kansas state academic standards.

The program will also offer professional development for Kansas teachers to learn how to integrate art into their classrooms.