LYNN — Beyond Walls goes above and beyond when it comes to their Classroom to the Streets program. 

For their third year running a fellowship program with Lynn Public Schools (LPS) and St. Mary’s School, the organization seeks students interested in careers in art or education, said Lisa McCarthy, Classroom to the Streets (CTTS) director. 

“We asked the high school art educators to look at their students and identify some that they think might be a good fit for the program,” McCarthy said. 

Classroom to the Streets is a fellowship program that connects Lynn students with their community and professional artists, providing an experience many students don’t get. 

“I have not seen anything similar to this program specifically, so it’s very unique and we’re really grateful that our students have this opportunity,” LPS Curriculum Director of the Arts, Dr. Patty Klibansky, said. “But also the teachers as well, because they’re learning alongside the students.” 

The students and teachers become immersed in the vibrant and diverse Lynn community, turning the streets into a live classroom experience, Klibansky said. 

When it comes to choosing students, teachers are vital to understanding who would thrive in the program because of the level of connection they build in the classroom. 

“The learning experience is interesting, you know, it’s actually for everybody involved,” McCarthy said. 

After the students are scouted by their educators, they’re instructed to apply to the program, McCarthy said. 

“There was a prescreening and application process, so students had to fill out a form that was really to help us get to know the students and see where their areas of focus are,” she added. 

Through this process, the Beyond Walls program leaders and artists can begin to form understandings of the students’ strengths and weaknesses, which later turns into a collective theme that represents the community as a whole. 

Beyond Walls also works to reach out to the community and schools to see whether there are groups who feel underrepresented, McCarthy said. In 2025, the organization asked LPS whether there was a segment of the population that felt forgotten in celebration, and the response was that the Italian community needed more tender loving care. 

The organization then engaged an Italian mural artist to help bring their sense of culture to the wall art, while also engaging with students who felt that population needed to be more visible, McCarthy said. 

“This year, one of the intentional artists that we sought out works with ceramics and does mosaics, and that was based directly on the feedback we got from one of the educators who thought students would really benefit from working with a tactile, hands-on pop art experience,” McCarthy said. “We’re always taking so many different variables into consideration.” 

To expand on what the program teaches students and educators on the street, lessons from the cohorts are then integrated into the schools’ art curricula, including field trips to murals painted that previous summer, Klibansky said. 

“So students are learning contemporary art from their teachers in real time about artists who are alive today,” Klibansky said. “I think that’s really important in the curriculum, that students can relate to the art that they’re looking at in some way.” 

One of the new initiatives Beyond Walls will add to their 2026 CTTS program is the inclusion of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) based lessons, McCarthy said. 

One thing Julia Midland, the director of communications and external relations, hopes families and students take away from the CTTS program is the power of working as a team. 

“We can do really great things when we work together, and for them (students) to come out and see the art and understand that it’s their art too,” Midland said. 

For Klibansky, it’s more about students making an unbreakable connection with their community through their artistic expression. 

“I think it’s extremely important that students have access to the work that’s right here in their own city, and that they understand and feel a connection to the city, and that they are learning not just about the community, but also from a curriculum standpoint… like understanding the elements of art and principles of design,” Klibansky said. 

The CTTS program has been solely in Lynn since the fellowship began in 2023, but Beyond Walls projects have expanded farther than the city lines, Midland said. Since their opening in 2017, the organization has worked within 18 different communities, she added, and there’s hopes for CTTS to expand alongside the organization. 

“Classroom to the Streets is only in Lynn right now, and I think we have had such great results and experiences in partnership with Lynn,” Midland said. “We want to continue it. We’ve definitely gotten interest from other places… and it might be a good thing for them to deepen their work… There’s no plan right now to go to another city… but we’re always open.” 

To build on past experiences, Beyond Walls will be incorporating mural walking tours into their bi-weekly calendar, Midland said. 

“We’re bringing back mural tours every other Saturday; now through the fall there will be public mural tours that people can sign up for,” Midland said. “We’ve had little stints of them over the years… but we’re really excited to have a more formal kind of mural tour season.” 

Helping promote youth’s art in the community has been a consistent effort to help grow their confidence to be professional artists, Midland shared. 

Some students have even reached back out to Beyond Walls for letters of recommendation, sharing they’ve been accepted to some of the nation’s most prestigious art schools, including SCAD, Mass Art, and Rhode Island School of Design, McCarthy said. 

“They are our future,” Midland said.