This returning VSAMI district was re-launched in 2006 and includes representation from diverse social service organizations in Southwest Michigan. For more information email Kathy Ellis
- The Art Class offers ongoing visual arts activities adapted to each participant's disabilities, and includes opportunities for social interaction for adults with disabilities.
- artsJAM Copper Country is a pilot project in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Working in partnership with Vocational Strategies, Inc. and several exceptional Michigan artists, the project includes indepth workshops for adult participants in the visual arts. Funding has been provided by Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and VSA arts.
For more information email Susan Burack
- the Char -Em district partners with Crooked Tree Arts Center to produce Arts for All, monthly arts activities for students with disabilities from area high schools and community based programs. Artists present hands-on activities in a variety of arts disciplines including painting, dancing, and drumming.
- Over 500 middle and high school special education students attend a one day Festival each May at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey. Students select three one-hour sessions from over thirty workshops taught from area artists. Offerings include oil and acrylic painting, pottery, drawing, creative writing, dance, drama, tie-dye, wood burning, bread work, juggling, and vocal and instrumental music. More than 120 community volunteers donate their time at this popular event.
- Annual Arts Mentorships for one or two high school students with disabilities provide opportunities to pursue advanced training in the arts.
- The district committee oversees a ticket distribution program for people with disabilities and their families. Local arts venues and producers release a block of tickets for select performances.
Over 100 free or discounted tickets are made available each year. Part of the program's success is the accessibility education provided to performance venues staff by district committee members.
For more information email or call Penny Crim, Charlevoix-Emmet ISD, 231-547-9947.
- In a partnership with the Dearborn Community Arts Council, VSAMI-Dearborn raises money for mini-grants to present arts activities in area schools and in the community.
- VSAMI-Dearborn participates in the City’s disability day program Pathway to Possibilities, held each October at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center
For more information email or call Bob Curtis, 313-561-0454
or email.
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VSA arts of Michigan – Genesee County (VSAMI-GC) has been serving the local community since 1991. Our district committee is comprised of volunteer educators, parents, community members and individuals with disabilities. All Over 90% of our funding goes directly to programming for over 800 participants in the community.
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The Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) provides an artist residency with teaching artist, Sam Huff to serve its students with disabilities in partnership with VSAMI-GC. Five annual festivals occur in the spring of each year all over Genesee County to provide hands-on arts experiences in the arts to children and young adults in the community. Three festivals are held at GISD’s center-based schools and two are held at community arts and education venues. Volunteers from five local high schools provide support and assistance to artists and participants during the festivals.
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ArtsJAM! Flint provides after school programming at 4 (please check with Carroll Kinkade on the number) local sites for students with disabilities who attend the Flint Community Schools. Participants receive experiences in visual arts, music, and drama while learning essential skills for success in future employment. This program has been generously funded by the Ruth Mott Foundation.
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VSAMI-GC and the Flint Children’s Museum partner to provide an annual exhibit of participant work from the GISD artist residency and also from ArtsJAM! Flint.
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Sponsorship for VSAMI-GC comes from individuals, the education community and from local corporate sponsors. The 2008-09 corporate sponsors were: the Genesee Intermediate School District; Big John Steak and Onion; Flint Area School Employees Credit Union; The Flint Children’s Museum; the Genesee Intermediate Education Association; Knights of Columbus Council 6694 Meijer store #28; Matthew Mrasek and Associates, United Way of Genesee County and the West Flint Optimist Club. We are grateful for their support!
For more information see www.vsami-genesee.org, email Carolyn Vierkorn, or call Marion Crouse Instructional Center at 810-591-4507. For more information about ArtsJAM! Flint, contact Carroll Kinkade: carrollkinkade@yahoo.com or by phone: 810-625-2089
- VSA arts of Michigan- Grand Rapids (“VSAMI-GR”) brings children, youth and adults with disabilities together with artists and art projects from around West Michigan. We have been serving our community since 1986. Our programming occurs in three areas: Educational/ School Programming; Community Access Programs for Children and Youth; and Adult Programs and Classes.
- Educational Programming:
All school programming is done in collaboration with teachers and schools in our community. We currently offer six programs with more than 120 classes in the arts each year.
All educational programs are taught by local, professional artists with extensive teaching and artistic experience. Any teacher or staff member working with students with disabilities is eligible to apply for programming.
Programs include: K-12 Art Workshops and Residencies, Transition Programming, Early Childhood art programming and our annual Festival Day at Lincoln Campus. Interested teachers or staff members should contact our offices directly for more information.
- Community Access Programs for Children and Youth:
These programs offer public access in the arts to children and youth under the age of 25. These programs are all offered outside of normal school hours and are open to any person with or without a disability.
Programs include the VSA Summer Art Camps and a Traveling Art Exhibit, which can be found at local libraries and other community centers throughout the year. Additionally, the Visual Voice Project is a ground-breaking, pilot initiative with Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital. This project offers a weekly art class for the pediatric patients and their families at Mary Free Bed and is underwritten by our program partner Nurture by Steelcase.
VSA is also available to provide one-day art programs in partnership with local agencies, schools and other non-profit organizations. These access days offer a variety of fun, adaptive art activities that can be enjoyed by children of all ages. If you are interested in more information about hosting a VSA Community Access Day, please contact Katie at the Grand Rapids office.
- Adult Programming. VSA provides opportunities for adults with and without disabilities to experience, learn through and excel in the arts. “Graduated Art” classes in the visual arts are offered throughout the year. These class series are open to the public or can be scheduled privately for groups of ten or larger. VSA’s Very Special Choir rehearses September through May each year on Thursday afternoons and performs throughout the community. Any person, regardless of prior experience, is welcome to join the choir. The choir focuses on music and voice education, social interactions and fun for all. The Visual Voice Project at Metro Health Village offers an adult visual art class to patients at Metro Health Hospital in Grand Rapids. This project is generously underwritten by Nurture by Steelcase.
- VSAMI-GR relies on its volunteers and community partners. We offer a variety of ways for interested community members to become involved from art class mentor-volunteers to program sponsors. For information about ways that you can help, please contact Michele at the Grand Rapids office.
VSA is soliciting artwork entries created by adult artists with disabilities for the Legacy Trust Award Collection of ArtPrize 2010. Please see the Call for Art for additional information and registration guidelines.
ArtPrize is a radically open art competition, giving away the world's largest art prize. Part arts festival, part social experiment - this international art contest is decided solely on a public vote. ArtPrize runs September 22 through October 10, 2010 in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information see the ArtPrize website at www.artprize.org.
For more information see their website, Facebook or blog page.
To contact VSAMI-GR, e-mail Michele Suchovsky, Executive Director, or e-mail Katie Timmermans, Program Director, (vsaprogram@iserv.net) or call 616-885-5866.
- The annual Arts Festival brings together students of all abilities with artists, for two artful days at the Dennos Museum in Traverse City. 2006 is the10th anniversary for this popular program.
- GTA in partnership with Traverse Symphony Orchestra provides sign language interpretation for an annual series concerts targeted for families with children under the age of 12. The concerts are held at The Dennos Museum Center in October, November, January and February and include special themes and narration.
- “Kids on the Block”, the national and international puppet program, is an educational series of presentations aimed at enlightening school aged audiences about issues such as: Cerebral Palsy, Sibling Issues, Emotional Impairments, Learning Disabilities, ADD, Autism, Hearing and Vision Impairments, Stroke, Down Syndrome, Divorce and Bullies and School Safety. In partnership with Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District, each third grade classroom is eligible for two performances, free of charge. ISD specialists provide topic specific training for the puppeteers.
- An exhibit of 2-D art work created by people with disabilities from the region annually tours to local galleries and businesses, and the ISD Administration Building. Participants may choose to donate their work, which is then put on permanent display within the Traverse Bay ISD.
- Arts Explorers Club is an after-school program designed to give special education students another option for extra curricular activities.
- Creative Challenges is a new program designed to engage students and their families in art related experiences that simulate a disability.
- The annual Festival of Trees in conjunction with our local Zonta Club brings together 300 people in a variety of holiday activities and arts-stops.
- Living Arts is an artist-in-residence program where students with and without disabilities experience art together.
- Our Speakers Bureau has the goal to provide one presentation a month to local groups interested in learning more about VSA arts.
- Our members are committed to providing Access Technical Assistance to any cultural group that requests it. This year our committee has decided to branch out by joining even more cultural or human service agency committees.
- Special Kids Day conducted in collaboration with the National Cherry Festival invites over 300 children with disabilities to participate in hands-on games, sports, amusement park rides, and interactive drama activities using video and costumes.
For more information email Dayna Ryan, or call 231-947-1278.
This new VSAMI was district launched in 2006 and involves key community partners including the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum, SAIL (Superior Alliance for Independent Living), Marquette RESA, Goodwill and the City of MarquetteArts & Culture, as well as area artists, educators, and activists.
- Their goals are to encourage, transport and include people with disabilities in existing arts programs in the Marquette County area; and to spread the word to Rock, Negaunee, Ishpeming, and Escanaba within the year and to have programs in each area, thereafter.
For more information email Pamela Besonen at the Superior Alliance for Independent Living.
VSAMI- Starry Night in Mt. Pleasant has received funding from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation, and othr area supporters, to host a summer camp for young people with autism. They are working in partnership with the Central Michigan University Department of Music. For more information email or call Marie Lannen, 989-644-6391.
Each May more than 450 partipants including children with disabilities and their inclusionary classroom peers - grades first through sixth - come together for two days of arts activities in a wide variety of discipline sand mediums, along with performances at the Special Arts Festival. Volunteer high school art students serve as guides for the day. The event is held at Glen Oaks Community College. For more information email or call Julie Bontrager, 269-435-7794
Metro Detroit and Southeast Regional
- ArtsJAM Detroit Gallery and Studio Project is a unique jobs and mentoring program. Afterschool classes are held at VSAMI Office in heart of Midtown Detroit's Cultural Center. Professional artists mentor youth and adults in creation, exhibition and promotion of artwork. The artsJAM Detroit WAY (Work Alternatives for Youth) hires twenty paid apprentices for the Work Alternatives for Youth summer program. Apprentices were trained in photography, African dance and drumming, journaling, creative writing and poetry, and painting. They learned job and life skills through dramatic improvisation. Recruiting of apprentices and mentors is ongoing. Click here to download an artsJAM Detroit! registration form. Call the VSAMI office at 313-832-3303 or email Alana Barter
- VSAMI Metro Detroit is replicating the artsJAM program model at Osborn High School with support from the Skillman Foundation’s Great Neighborhood Initiative, VSAMI is working with educators to provide after school programs with professional artists for young people in the Osborn Neighborhood. Osborn High School has the largest special education student enrollment in the Detroit Public Schools. Click here to download an artsJAM Osborn registration form.
- In collaboration with the Highland Park School District Department of Special Education Services, VSAMI provides Artists-In-Residence programs at Highland Park Community High School (grades 9-12), Henry Ford Focus Academy (Pre K-8), and Barber Middle School (Pre K-8).
- The Annual VSA arts of Michigan-Southeast Festival is held every Spring in late April or early May. Experiential hands-on arts activities are provided for festival participants, in addition to their scheduled music or dance performances. The VSA arts of MI Emerging Artists Touring Exhibit is also featured. The Festival is open to the general public. The 2009 Festival was held at the VisTaTech Center on the Schoolcraft College campus. For information, contact Jody Stark, Creative Arts Therapies, Inc. via email or phone 313-273-7762.
- The Southeast Region Committee also provides scholarship/grant funding: the Jack Olds Scholarship provides $500 to a deserving artist to pursue their own studies and/or to purchase materials needed for their creative work, and Creative/Performing Arts Mini-Grants providing up to $500 to organizations in SE Michigan to develop and implement arts programs which benefit children and adults with disabilities. These funding opportunities are temporarily suspended. Please check back for future status.
- A district goal is to create Permanent and Rotating Permanent and Rotating Galleries in the Washtenaw Intermediate School District building located on Wagner Road in Ann Arbor. Installation would include work by and about our WISD students. This gallery space will not only be beautiful, but also continue to enlighten those who work with the students as well as the public in general of the potential of all artists of all ages of all abilities.
For more information about any of these programs email or phone Deborah Duranczyk at Washtenaw ISD, 734-994-8100.