VR field trips educate students on Arizona Indigenous artists

Virtual reality field trips from one organization are seeking to give underprivileged students more access to art education. With more than 18,000 students served so far, their newest experience focuses on some of Arizona’s Indigenous artists.

Act One, the nonprofit behind the initiative, created the program in 2021 to help students remain engaged and combat closures from the COVID-19 pandemic. Emmanuel Class is the field trip operations manager.

“They didn’t get to grow up as a community looking out for each other so now, they’re relearning that. Now, they’re relearning the ability to be in shared spaces together," Class said.

In their newest VR experience, Class said the project is meant to be educational and also a symbol of hope and representation for Indigenous students.

It was built in collaboration with 18 ASU arts and engineering students. Skye Lucking was the creative director. She said that the partnership with Arizona State University allowed students to get hands-on experience with immersive media.

“If you’re supporting Act One, you’re not only supporting Title I schools, but through our ASU partnership, you’re also supporting these knowledge workers of the future," Lucking said.

The program is offered at no cost to Title I schools, but other schools can reserve the experience, too.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to an editing error, this story has been updated to correct the attribution of a quote from Skye Lucking.