Nebraska: My Nebraska, Our America

Tree Pluribus Unum at Buena Vista High School, part of the South Omaha Mural Project with support from the Nebraska Arts Council. The South Omaha Mural Project is one of the resources included in the My Nebraska Lesson Plan Toolkit. Photo courtesy of the Nebraska Arts Council and the South Omaha Mural Project

Many state arts agencies are supporting special America250 initiatives to honor the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Nebraska Arts Council is one example of a state arts agency that is marking this national occasion through a variety of public art activities.

The agency recently announced the My Nebraska, Our America Public Art Design Challenge. This collaboration between the Arts Council, the Nebraska Department of Education and the Nebraska Semiquincentennial Commission is a unique opportunity for students to explore history, creativity and civic identity.

The state has produced a Lesson Plan Toolkit offering six teaching modules that explore Nebraska’s story as part of America’s 250th anniversary. All of the teaching modules are aligned with the state’s social studies and arts standards and are adaptable to multiple grade levels. Using public art as a point of entry, the lessons teach how Nebraska’s people, landscapes and history have shaped, and continue to shape, the American experience. Students are encouraged to develop their own public art designs that reflect local cultures and connect to national ideals.

Public, private and home-schooled students are eligible to participate in a Public Art Design Challenge. Images of designs and descriptions submitted to the state will be published online, creating a virtual gallery. A selection of submissions will be printed in large format to become a traveling exhibition. The exhibit will be mounted in the Nebraska State Capitol in July to celebrate Independence Day. It will visit the Museum of Nebraska Art in August before being shown at the Nebraska Department of Education in September for Arts in Education Month.

Some of the lesson plans feature large modern artworks installed on the Interstate 80 corridor during the 1976 American Bicentennial celebration. In conjunction with America 250, the Arts Council is rededicating the sculptures and hosting other special events that tell the story of these artworks that have, over the past 50 years, become part of the prairie landscape.

For more information on the arts and America 250, contact NASAA.