Arts Center begins Open Studio for All
(Moultrie, GA) – We are very excited to announce that The Colquitt County Arts Center has received an Open Studio for All Grant from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities in the amount of $18,000. These funds will support the Arts Center’s mission to be a creative cultural resource that makes quality visual and performing art available to a diverse population.
Open Studio for All is a visual arts program that will create a more inclusive art community by shifting people’s perceptions about individuals with disabilities. Open Studio for All will include instructors with and without disabilities, as well as students with and without disabilities.
Open Studio for All will be free and inclusive to all community members and will be offered at the Colquitt County Arts Center to students 16 years old and older and will take place up to twice per month between May 2019 and April 2020 with our first Open Studio for All art gathering taking place on Tuesday, May 28 from 4-7 p.m.
Another Open Studio will follow Thursday, June 13, from 4-7 p.m.
If you only have an hour to spare for your create time, that’s OK! You may drop in any time during the Open Studio hours to work on your masterpiece. Just let us know which hour of studio time you’ll need.
Participants must pre-register, even though the gathering is free, so that we can be sure everyone has ample art supplies.
During these art gatherings, Open Studio will make supplies available to everyone in the community who attends. Students will choose their medium and will work on visual art projects of their choosing.
People will be able to share experiences, talents, and stories as community members get to know one another. Allowing more people access to art gatherings in our community will change people’s perceptions about individuals with disabilities and will impact that population through the opportunities to create art, through sharing artist abilities and talents, and through the conversations that will take place at the gatherings. Developing and nurturing social relationships is key to mental and physial health.
Through Open Studio for All, people with disabilities will have opportunities to be the leaders and instructors of art as well as the students, and will play an active role in changing perceptions in our community.
To learn more about the Open Studio for All Grant, to register for a gathering on May 28 or June 13, or to inquire about instructing an art gathering, please contact the Colquitt County Arts Center at 229-985-1922 or stop by the office at 401 Seventh Ave. S.W. Please visit us at www.colquittcountyarts.com or follow the Arts Center on social media.
The original article ran in The Moultrie Observer Online on May 12, 2019.
