In the River Valley area, there is a little-known organization called Center For Art & Education whose sole mission is to provide outstanding art educational programming to area children, among others.
Even though it is based in Van Buren and they started with promoting an interest in art to the students, it has expanded to other communities like Charleston, Greenwood and Hackett with more locations coming.
CAE is supported by individuals, businesses, and private foundations. The Center also has public support through the Arkansas Arts Council. They can offer something for everyone.
While they do have art programs for adults, the specific purpose of this is to highlight that it’s the children who are taking part in what is called the Wonderful World of Art with this year’s theme of Universal Stories. The students will be visually taken to a new country each day to learn about the culture, the art and why the art is created like it is.
According to Terri Burt of Center For Art & Education, “Many kids return year after year after being involved. In fact, this year, there are three college interns who are volunteering, each of them was involved in the Wonderful World of Art from grade school. This program has influenced them to give back.”
Next week, June 17-21 at the Greenwood Westwood school from 9am to Noon will be an opportunity to experience this program, for ages Kindergarten through 12th grade. But, don’t worry, if you didn’t pre-register, just show up at the school on June 17 and your children will be able to participate. Cost is $20 ($25 with t-shirt) for the week-long camp.
Other Wonderful World of Art events to bring your children to will be held at the:
- Cedarville Library on June 24-28 from 9am-Noon
- Mulberry First Methodist Church on July 8-12 from 9am-Noon
- Ozark ATU Student Services Center on July 8-12 from 9am-Noon
- Charleston Public Library on July 15-19 from 1pm-4pm
- Hackett School Cafeteria on July 22-26 from 9am-Noon
Since curiosity is always out there, it begs the question of what will children be doing as it pertains to Wonderful World of Art. The children will be educated on different cultures and each day will be different. They will have “hands-on” experience creating art with different articles and mediums such as origami, different paint compositions, different styles of painting, printmaking, drawing, creating collages and so much more.
In talking with Terri, this program has been presented to the children of the area for the last 30 years with an attendance at each site of 20-60 children at 17 camps this year and she would like to see many more. Organizations interested in hosting a summer art camp can contact Terri at 479-474-7767 or email [email protected].
CAE would like all students to experience art and hopefully it will influence their lives. Their website is www.art-ed.org to see all of the events they have scheduled for this summer.
Photos courtesy of Terri Burt
