SAMFA To Focus on Urban Water Experience

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to welcome Ellen Freedman Schultz, the Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center/Philadelphia Water Department, who will present a lecture entitled: The Urban Water Experience on Tuesday, October 29 at 5:30pm in the museum’s meeting room. There is no charge and the public is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.

In her lecture, Schultz will discuss how Philadelphia's Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center can serve as a model for innovation in urban water engineering and education. This lecture promises to be especially relevant to San Angelo, since issues related to water use and conservation have long been at the top of the list of our community’s concerns. After Schultz’s presentation, the audience is invited to ask questions and engage in a dialogue about the ideas she will discuss.

In addition to the lecture on Tuesday night, Schultz’s visit to San Angelo will include programs for 8th grade students at Lincoln Middle School and Lee Middle School on Monday and Tuesday during the day, as well as an evening workshop on Monday for teachers from all Region 15 schools. These programs have been coordinated by the Upper Colorado River Authority, working together with the SAMFA Education Department.

Since 2004, Schultz has developed curriculum for the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center on environmental issues related to water quality and watershed management, the history of Philadelphia’s municipal water system and education and advocacy programming related to global water issues specifically geared to middle and high school age students. Presently, she is leading a comprehensive Curriculum project called “Understanding the Urban Watershed” which is being piloted in Philadelphia School District classrooms.

Since 1996, Schultz has served as an adjunct faculty member at Bucks County Community College teaching courses in American history and historic preservation.  She helped lead the effort to create a nationally recognized campus-free online Certificate in Historic Preservation Program to parallel the face to face program. Formerly, Schultz served as the Director of the Education at the Foundation for Architecture, Philadelphia for the K-12 built environment education program called, “Architecture in Education".

Ms. Schultz’s Tuesday evening lecture is hosted by the museum’s Collector’s Society, a group within the art museum’s membership, that each year presents a series of discussions and talks on a broad range of issues. This year’s lecture series is sponsored in part by a grant from the FMH Foundation in Midland, which has allowed SAMFA to bring prestigious speakers such as Ms. Schultz to our community. All are encouraged to attend. If there are any questions please call the museum at 653-3333.

The museum’s regular operating hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for senior citizens. ASU and SAISD students are admitted free as well as museum members and active military personnel.