Statewide ProgramsProfessional Development VSA arts Institute Educational Services Cultural Access and Inclusionary
Services Public Awareness |
District ProgramsAround the StateCopper Country. |
For more information about any of these programs contact the VSAMI office at 313-832-3303 or email. Please note that when emailing VSAMI contacts, replace the [AT] with an @ symbol.
February 25-27, 2010
MacMullen Conference Center
Higgins Lake, Roscommon, MI
The VSA arts Institute is a series of professional development workshops that focus on designing and delivering arts learning experiences that reach students with disabilities. Through discussion and hands-on arts activities, participants in our workshops gain an understanding of the foundations of arts learning and inclusive education, and how to use inclusive practices in their work.
National experts Alana Barter, Linda Boston, Jaehn Clare, Dr. Mindy Fried, Gordon Sasaki, and Deborah Stuart will conduct exercises in inclusion, evaluation and assessment, partnerships, and curriculum building.
The VSA arts Institute is designed for arts education specialists, classroom teachers, teaching artists, and arts administrators. The lessons learned at the institute are applicable to all fields of study by using the arts as a tool for learning in any discipline.
The VSA arts Institute is hosted by VSA arts of Michigan in partnership with VSA arts in Washington, DC and the U.S. Department of Education.
REGISTRATION IS CLOSED
Artist Focus Groups (Coming Soon)
Artist Career Forum (Coming Soon)
ownload a Career Forum Flyer and Registration Form.
VSA arts of Michigan District Outreach
Communities throughout Michigan are encouraged to develop committees of strong, committed volunteers to plan, develop, fund, and implement programming in the arts that benefit children, youth and adults with disabilities in their respective communities.
Roles and responsibilities of district committee members are delineated in written policies and procedures. Volunteers are encouraged to develop community partners to assist in the development of programming and services that integrate persons with disabilities into the community at large, as well as provide educational and career opportunities.
VSAMI provides technical assistance including strategic planning sessions, program development, fund development, public relations and volunteer recruitment. At the annual, professional development retreat, district volunteers renew their commitment to the VSA arts mission, receive updates on national, state and local VSA arts initiatives and activities, exchange information, participate in arts workshops, and socialize with new and returning peers.
Individuals interested in joining an established affiliated district committee are encouraged to contact the district coordinator in your area (Programs Around the State). If you would like to start a VSA arts of Michigan program in your community contact the VSA arts of Michigan office (info@vsami.org).
Workshops - VSAMI offers training for educators, parents, artists, human services and health care workers. Teaching artists train staff in dance, drama, literary arts, music, and a variety of visual arts media such a s drawing, painting, sculpture, pottery, papermaking, book making, and collage. Full-day and half-day workshops are available for a fee that includes payment to the artists, travel and workshop materials.
Artist Residencies - To integrate the arts into the general and special education classroom curricula, VSAMI provides professional development for teachers, and hands-on learning through the arts for students, conducted by trained, professional teaching artists.
Program components include pre-residency planning, educator workshops , collaboration between teaching artists and classroom teachers using the Michigan Curriculum Framework standards and benchmarks, ten or more classroom sessions in one of more arts disciplines; a culminating event for the community at large.
Artist Services provides information and direct assistance to artists with disabilities. We maintain a roster of Michigan visual, performing & literary artists, emerging & accomplished, and are always seeking new artists to join our efforts. See Artist Career Forum section for Professional Development opportunities.
artsJAM (Jobs and Mentoring) Young people, with disabilities learn to express their creativity through the arts and develop life enhancing and pre-vocational skills as they prepare to enter the workforce. In after school programs, student apprentices work with professional artists with and without disabilities, in creative processes, gaining production, management and marketing skills. School districts can offer credit towards high school graduation to students completing a required number of hours of study. VSAMI staff can provide technical assistance and training to replicate this model program in your community in collaboration with your local school district.
artsJAM Detroit! includes an afterschool and summer program with funding from the Highland Park School District, City of Detroit Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, and Pfizer Global Research and Development Fund. Click here to download an artsJAM Detroit! registration form. email Alana Barter, or call the VSAMI office at 313-832-3303.
artsJAM Osborn is an afterschool progam at Osborn High School made possible by a grant from the Skillman Foundation Good Neighborhood Initiative.
Click here to read the Detroit Free Press Yak's Corner feature about artsJAM Osborn.
Click here to download an artsJAM! Osborn registration form.
artJAM Flint has received grants from the Ruth Mott Foundation to bring teens to the Greater Flint Arts Council and Red Ink Studio for after school artists workshops; and to collaborate with the Flint Community Schools Bridges to the Future Program to engage youth in the arts at Flint Central Foundation Academy and Southwestern Academy Annex.
artsJAM Copper Country is a partnership between VSAMI and Oakhouse.
Our Arts for All program always receives a great deal of attention when performed in public venues like the Ann Arbor Art Fair in July, the Detroit Festival of the Arts in May and other public events throughout the year. This arts activity promotes inclusion and increases self-confidence in participants by using alternative visual arts tools designed to meet their unique needs.
Our Cultural Access Project exists to assist arts and cultural organizations in making their programs, services, and facilities accessible to all. Onsite visits, awareness training and consultations are offered to any organization on a fee for service basis.
Our Emerging Artists' Touring Exhibit is a juried exhibit that features artists of all ages and levels of experience from all over the state. Each fall VSA arts of Michigan sends out a Call for Art to art teachers, special educators and individual artists with disabilities. A committee of professional arts and former arts educators adjudicate the exhibit entries. Each year over 150 works of art are submitted, and approximately 60 are chosen, divided between works created by elementary, and secondary aged youth, and adults.
The Emerging Artists Exhibit tours to schools libraries, arts and community centers, hospitals, nursing homes, malls, and other public venues, and is available for arts, education, and disability conferences throughout the year. Hosts can choose to exhibit all of the works or designate a specific age group. This year's exhibit is titled ARTomatic.
A complete schedule of the 2010-2011 Emerging Artists' Touring Exhibit will be available soon!
The deadline has passed for the 2010-2011 touring show, ARTomatic. Applications will be once again available in early 2011.
Express Diversity! is an educational resource providing interactive, arts-based activities that enhance self-esteem, communication and inclusion. Written at the 5th grade level, lesson modules explore past and present achievements by persons with disability and encourage all students to put themselves in the place of others to discover a world of unlimited possibility. The program currently runs in three schools in Genesee County and is being implemented in Grand Rapids and Traverse City.
Each fall we solicit nominations for our Educator of the Year. The nominee must be an educator who has contributed significantly to VSA arts of Michigan and provides exemplary arts opportunities for persons with disabilities within their community.
Jill Richardson, special education educator and Richard Van Portfliet, transition coordinator are VSAMI's Educators of the Year for 2009. Read about Jill and Richard in Expressions Spring 2008.
To nominate an arts educator in Michigan, send the completed form to jessica@vsami.org or to the state office by February 6, 2010:
Educator of the Year
c/o VSA arts of Michigan
PO Box 02805
Detroit, MI 48202
VSAMI adjudicates all Michigan Young Soloist of the Year applicants for the state and national Young Soloist Award. The chosen Michigan soloist has performed before the "State of the State" address and at other suitable venues throughout the year. VSAMI forwards the state award winning application for consideration in the national competition.
Announcing the 2010 VSA arts International Young Soloists Award Call for Entries
Since 1984, the VSA arts International Young Soloists Program has been seeking to identify talented musicians who have a disability. The VSA arts International Young Soloists Award is given annually to four outstanding musicians, two from the United States and two from the international arena. The award provides an opportunity for these emerging musicians to each earn a $5,000 award and a performance in Washington, D.C.
U.S. APPLICANTS: All VSA arts United States affiliates implement their own International Young Soloists Award programs. Applicants must send their entry materials to the appropriate address for their state, found here .
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS: All applicants from outside the United States should submit their application form, biographical description, and recording to:
VSA arts International Young Soloists Award
818 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20006
Applications in English
Click to download the 2010 application guidelines
Click to download the 2010 application for individual musicians
Click to download the 2010 application for ensembles
Applications in Spanish
Click to download the 2010 application guidelines
Click to download the 2010 application for individual musicians
Click to download the 2010 application for ensembles
Applications in French
Click to download the 2010 application guidelines
Click to download the 2010 application for individual musicians
Click to download the 2010 application for ensembles
Applications in Arabic
Click to download the 2010 application guidelines
Click to download the 2010 application for individual musicians
Click to download the 2010 application for ensembles
Michael Fitzhugh and Brian Wu are VSAMI’s Young Soloist of the Year 2009. Michael, lives in Detroit and began working as a classical vocalist in his freshman year at Renaissance High School.
Brian, lives in Troy and began his music career learning to play the piano when he was eight years old. He is currently sixth chair in the cello section of Troy High School Orchestra. Read about Michael Fitzhugh and Brian Wu in Expressions Spring 2009.
For more information about any of these programs contact the VSAMI office at 313-832-3303 or email.
