Making Art Accessible

Published: 6/8/2009 12:00:00 AM

Often, pursuing artistic endeavors is considered a path only open to the more affluent in our society. Today, I’d like to salute the Community School of the Arts for helping break that barrier. The school offers instruction by professional, part-time faculty who work individually with students in piano, violin, wind instruments, and voice, and hold group classes in the visual arts and dance.

Making Art Accessible
Alvin Nance

Often, pursuing artistic endeavors is considered a path only open to the more affluent in our society. Today, I’d like to salute the Community School of the Arts for helping break that barrier.

The school offers instruction by professional, part-time faculty who work individually with students in piano, violin, wind instruments, and voice, and hold group classes in the visual arts and dance.

Its student body is composed of preschool through high school age children, primarily from the inner-city and rural areas. Of the 160 students currently enrolled, 90% attend on full financial scholarship determined solely by financial need.

Recently, Bennett Galleries hosted the 13th Annual Side-by-Side Exhibition and Auction. The event marks the culmination of a special apprentice program in which Community School of the Arts students are paired with professional artists, including Richard Jolley, Tommie Rush, Allen Cox and Robin Surber.

The students work in the artist’s studio and produce their own works of art in a variety of media, from glass-blowing and sculpture to ceramics and watercolors, which are then exhibited and auctioned at the event. The artwork these students created was quite impressive.

KCDC has had a longtime partnership with the Community School of the Arts, and we are certainly proud to be affiliated with such a fine organization. If you’d like to learn more about the school, call 865-523-5684.

KCDC’s mission is to improve and transform neighborhoods and communities by providing quality affordable housing, advancing development initiatives and fostering self-sufficiency. For more information, call (865) 403-1100 or visit http://www.kcdc.org.