The 2015 Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation raised nearly $60,000 for teaching grants and student scholarships at the annual Fine Arts and Beyond, FAB, Showcase. Paintings, pottery wheel displays, living statues and musical performances were all part of the event at Butler Intermediate High School.

BUTLER TWP — The Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation on April 16 will host its 13th annual Fines Arts and Beyond (FAB) Showcase, a fundraiser to benefit the Butler School District.

The free event will run from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Butler Intermediate High School, 551 Fairground Hill Road.

It will feature student artwork, some of which will be sold, according to Lisa Konesni, a foundation board member.

“It’s a fundraiser, but it also showcases the creativity of the Butler School District students,” Konesni said.

Nearly every student in the district from first to sixth grade will have art in the show, according to Erich Campbell, the chair of the art department.

Artwork from first to eighth grade students is not available for purchase, but the art from ninth to 12th grade students will be auctioned off. Those upper class artworks include six categories: drawing, painting, sculptures, ceramics, photographer/graphic arts and mixed media.

Those pieces will be judged by a five-person panel, including Campbell and Konesni as well as foundation members Carrie Morgan-Davis and John Reddick and former foundation member Jane Rittelmann.

There will be first to third place prizes and three honorable mentions in each category and one best in show award overall, Campbell said.

The event will include free face painting, concession sales, a 50/50 raffle and a basket raffle.

Artist Tom Panei will do a demonstration along with teachers Ryan Benedetti and John Pugliese.

The money raised by the FAB Showcase helps fund scholarships for seniors who have a financial need. It also funds the foundation’s Creative Teaching Grants program.

That program provides money to teachers with ideas that might not typically be funded, as Konesni describes it, “financial support to go above and beyond the curriculum.”

Previous years’ grants have funded student field trips and technological devices in the classroom, such as pedometers and tablets.

Last year’s FAB Showcase raised almost $60,000.