Olivia & Leslie Foundation Expanded Access to Arts Education Across Communities
HINESBURG, Vt. — May 18, 2026 — Kindergarten and first-grade students saw their artwork displayed in a professional gallery setting as Shelburne Museum hosted a special exhibition celebrating participants in the Olivia & Leslie Foundation Art + Math Program—an initiative designed to foster creativity, confidence, and social-emotional development at an early age.
The exhibition, held May 15–17, drew families, educators, and community members to the museum, culminating in a student reception on Saturday, May 16. During the event, young artists received certificates and experienced their work presented as part of a fully curated exhibition—an opportunity rarely available to students so early in their education.
Now in its third year, the program reached a significant milestone with its expansion beyond Hinesburg Community School into Burlington through new partnerships with King Street Center and the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington—two organizations serving historically underserved students. In the 2025-2026 school year, 124 children in the area participated in the program.
A true gallery experience, Shelburne Museum transformed its space with installed partitions and professionally hung artwork, giving students the opportunity to view their artwork, as they would in a formal exhibition.
“We believe that when young artists see their work displayed in a professional exhibition, it not only honors their achievements but inspires them to continue creating, take pride in their ideas, and expand their creativity,” said Tom Denenberg, the John Wilmerding Director of Shelburne Museum. “We applaud the Olivia & Leslie Foundation for nurturing this spirit and for connecting science, technology, art, and math in ways that align with the museum’s educational mission.”
The Olivia & Leslie Art + Math Program is a six-session curriculum that integrates visual arts with foundational math concepts such as geometry, symmetry, and spatial reasoning. Through studio-style lessons led by trained teaching artists, the program strengthens early academic skills while also nurturing curiosity, problem-solving, and emotional development during a critical stage of childhood.
“At a moment when so much attention is focused on AI and the relationship between technology and what it means to be human, it is more important than ever to help children connect with their creativity and imagination early in life,” said Chris Kuenne, founder of the Olivia & Leslie Foundation and a long-time resident of Vermont. “Art provides that opportunity through the tactile experience of making, discovering, and learning. For young children, having parents, teachers, and communities encourage their imagination and celebrate their creativity can have a lasting impact on their confidence, curiosity, and sense of possibility.”
The program broadens access to high-quality arts education and strengthens connections through shared creative experiences.
Early results continue to underscore the program’s impact. Families reported high levels of satisfaction, with 92% saying they felt more connected and 96% indicating strong overall satisfaction with the program, according to data collected by the Olivia & Leslie Foundation. Art teachers and program leaders have observed that off-screen, tactile experiences create space for deeper engagement and emotional regulation. As children work with their hands, they slow down, persist through challenges, and build confidence.
The foundation was founded by Kuenne, a successful entrepreneur, and his sons, Peter, William,and Matthew. It is dedicated to the artistic legacy of Kuenne’s daughter and the boys’ sister, Olivia Kuenne, who died tragically at the age of six in 1997, and his wife and the boys’ mother, Leslie Keunne, who died in 2019.
Later this month, the Foundation will also support a similar exhibition at the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey.
IMAGE: Finley Young, 6, a student at Hinesburg Elementary School in Hinesburg, Vermont,points out her art work on view at Shelburne Museum on May 16, 2026, where students in the Olivia & Leslie Foundation Art + Math Program celebrated the conclusion of the innovative afterschool program, now in its third year. This year the program expanded to include the Boys & Girls Club of Burlington and King Street Center. Photo by Daria Bishop.
For high res image click HERE.
About the Olivia & Leslie Foundation: The Olivia & Leslie Foundation was founded by Chris Kuenne and his sons, Peter, William, and Matthew, to memorialize his daughter and their sister, Olivia, who died in 1997 in an accident at the age of five, and his late wife and their mother, Leslie, who died of ovarian cancer in 2019. The Foundation is committed to creating and funding proven STEAM initiatives that ignite the imagination of young children, provide a safe space for creative expression and problem solving, and to teach critical thinking and cognitive skills.
About Shelburne Museum: Founded in 1947 by trailblazing folk art collector Electra Havemeyer Webb (1888–1960), Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, is the largest art and history museum in northern New England and Vermont’s foremost public resource for visual art and material culture. The Museum’s 45-acre campus is comprised of 39 buildings including the Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education and Webb Gallery featuring important American paintings by Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses, John Singleton Copley and many more. Construction is underway for the Perry Center for Native American Art, designed in partnership with Indigenous voices and devoted to the stewardship and exhibition of the Native American art in the museum’s care, scheduled to open in 2027. For more information, please visit shelburnemuseum.org.