Inspiring Yukon Students
Artist in the School provides high quality, engaging and culturally diverse programming in schools across the territory. Over the course of the 2025-26 school year 40 artists and arts groups travelled the Yukon to deliver over 3,500 arts encounters to elementary and secondary school students.
Meet our artists › View our programs ›
Featured Artist
Rhoda Merkel
Rhoda was born and raised in the Yukon, is a member of the Tahltan Nation and is a passionate First Nation culture promoter, educator and artist. She has a studio in Atlin, B.C., where you can find her sewing, beading, painting, and moose tufting, writing, or preparing for school teaching… Learn more ›
-
Featured Program
Monster Parade! - Cardboard Monster Puppets on Backpacks with Nicole Bauberger
Students are given cardboard of a good size for them to carry above their backpacks, about shoulder width or a little wider. They draw monsters, which they cut out with kid-friendly cardboard saws (or the teacher and artist helps them, depending on grade level). (Nicole has about 15 of these which she will bring, which usually works fine for classes.)
Depending on timeline, students then paint their puppets with school grade tempera paint, perhaps adding accents with markers and/or oil pastels before or after (or just use oil pastels and markers if we’re doing this with a quick turnaround).
Students are encouraged to… Learn more ›
-
Community School Touring Program
The Community School Touring Program sends performance artists to every Yukon community school. The goal of this program is to expose children to types of performance art they may not regularly encounter, with preference given to acts that have an educational component. CSTP impacts hundreds of students each year and provides important and inspiring opportunities for youth in Yukon communities.
Learn more › -
About Artist in the School
The Artist in the School program (AIS) provides Yukon school children with the opportunity to be instructed and inspired by practicing artists and to learn to work with a variety of art forms and media. It is available to all Yukon elementary and secondary schools, including 21 schools in Whitehorse and 14 in the communities.
Learn more ›