Good Ideas for Raising Funds for a ART Program at a Local Elementary School

This is one of the fundraisers we did at our elementary school. We made sure we started this in the fall, so that the merchandise would arrive for the holidays. The quality is excellent an is available in all price points.
http://www.originalworks.com/

The other thing we did was make a "Want List" and asked for sponsors.. For example a Kiln was needed, we knew the price and found a company who was willing to install it at no charge.. We sent out the info to companies and one of the local law offices underwrote the kiln..

We thanked all of our sponsors on a huge banner that was hung in our school cafeteria for the entire school year (this is where most of our meeting and large group activities are held)and we had our school district recognize them as a "Partner of the year"... This was just one item.. We did this with a list of items for the entire school.

Lawyers & Art Museums for general fundraising.

Silent auctions are HUGE.

Digital Media Classes (photography, illustration, Adobe, etc for the silicon types)

every year a local school has a "race for education" where the children bring in address lables (mom fills them out from her address book ofcourse) and sends out letters to each person asking them to sponsor them for the race for education event. You can sponsor a set amount or you can give per lap, etc. The kids do not get prizes based on how much they raise- but on how many addresses the have to send letters to and on how many laps they complete or fastest lap time, etc. So it is fun and healthy at the same time.
Then they spend a day running (or walking) laps around the track. This is a tution paid school already and not very large.... K-12 probably still less then 400 kids. Yet they usually meet and exceed a goal of $100,000.
I know I am much more likely to give money to something like this then I am to buy the junk from school fundraisers.
Since this is a community event I am sure you could get some local businesses to sponsor or help with advertising the event, etc. Big sponsors get names on T-shirt given to most lap winners in each grade,etc. "free" advertising for them and more $$$ for your school. Instead of race for education it would be race for art or something much more creative then that!
You could also have an art sale... kids art from the school (so cute- I love kids art) as well as contact some local artist (maybe some art students from a local college,etc) to donate piece to sale or auction. And have a fun enviornment surrounding it. You could still get local businesses to sponsor or help advertise for the event so it doesn't take anything from you budget to get the word out to the community!
Whatever you decide to do make sure you set a goal you really want to/need to meet... how much does the school need to get this started and running. How long will that $$ last, etc? and do what it takes to meet that goal. Good luck and hope this helps :) I am glad some parents are interested in bring art back into schools. It is sooooooooooooo important to children!
Hope this helps :)

Different companies could be asked to sponsor an art project. A sculpture or project created by one or more students could then be given to each sponsor to display in their place of business, with a plaque saying how much was donated. Set your price, and then negotiate.

Another idea is to learn to make art from nature. Students could be responsible for collecting sticks, rocks, flowers, etc. to use for projects.