The Art Resource Collaborative for Kids’ (ARCK) annual gala was a bit different this year, but the nonprofit still raised $154,000 to support arts education for under resourced Boston students.

The virtual gala, held on October 23 over Zoom, included a silent auction, a live painting demonstration by artist Dwight White and a digital “whiteboard” on which participants could write and draw. The night concluded with dancing and celebration with a live DJ, still over Zoom.

“It was open for everyone to participate in,” said Sara Mraish Demeter, founder and executive director of ARCK. “People dressed up and put on a show. Especially in times like this, you want to have that personal, human touch.”

ARCK, founded in 2012, helps fund arts education for K-8 students in Boston Public Schools (BPS), with the aim of ensuring that the arts are part of the regular classroom curriculum. Demeter founded the company when her child started kindergarten at Boston’s Josiah Quincy Elementary School.

She learned that the school did not provide arts education due to budget cuts. ARCK teaching artists co-teach with BPS educators through its 36-week curriculum, helping students improve social emotional skills and build civic engagement. “Our program provides vital tools for these children to build their confidence and to connect with one another to envision a better world,” Demeter said. “it’s about promoting citizens to become agents of positive change, all done through the arts curriculum.”

With the money raised through the auction, which ended on October 31, ARCK will be able to send materials kits to BPS students who are learning virtually at home.

The money will also help fund professional development for BPS classroom teachers in all disciplines, a program that ARCK developed with Lesley University. While Demeter said she is very happy with the gala, the organization hopes to meet their goal of raising a total of $200,000 through another fundraiser, on Giving Tuesday, December 1. ARCK will be taking monetary donations, as well as contributions of art materials, through its website, arckboston.org. Every $100 the organization raises will fund an art kit for one student, which will last them through the school year. “We’re working on getting the materials together to send them before the holidays, so kids can actually make the projects they’re learning and share it with their families,” Demeter said. “It’s a way of connecting with families and healing [from the pandemic] together.”