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VSA Michigan-
Genesee County Programs
VSA Michigan-Genesee County (VSAMI-GC) offers these exciting programs in the Greater Flint area. Donation, grant and sponsorship dollars go directly into these opportunities for our participants. We strive to promote the creative power in persons with disabilities through the visual and performing arts by providing the following programs:
artsJAM Flint!
artsJAM stands for Jobs And Mentoring through the arts. 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. ArtsJAM after school programs' student apprentices work with professional artists with and without disabilities in creative processes to gain production, management and marketing skills. School districts can offer credit towards high school graduation to students completing a required number of hours of study.
Through grants from the Ruth Mott Foundation and collaboration with 21st Century Learning Centers, artsJAM Flint has been able to bring school programs to Flint Community Schools: Holmes Academy, McKinley Middle School, Northern Academy, Northwestern Academy, Southwestern Academy and International Academy. We are proud of our continuing community partnerships with Greater Flint Arts Council (since 2005), hosting classes and events; and the Flint Children's Museum (since spring 2009), hosting classes and exhibits. The Flint Public Library provides space for classes and Super Saturday family functions. We are grateful to the Whiting for sponsoring participant attendance at cultural events in Flint.
The Michigan Youth Arts Festival (MYAF) will continue to host students participating in artsJAM Flint this spring at Western Michigan University. This event places artsJAM students in the company of fellow outstanding Michigan student artists showcasing their works in visual art, performance art, clay, writing, graphics, film, voice, instrumental productions and soloists. The friendships developed in past festivals have grown, offering opportunities to continue to support each other as contemporaries in the upcoming generation of artists.
Artist Residencies
To integrate the arts into the general and special education classroom curricula, VSAMI-GC 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, four or more classroom sessions in one or more arts disciplines; and a culminating event for the community at large.
Availability of residencies is based on funding for a particular year. VSAMI-GC has been fortunate to partner with the Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) and Ruth Mott Foundation in the past to provide residencies in GISD classrooms across the county.
Exhibits
VSAMI-GC offers opportunities for local artists with disabilities to exhibit their work. Participants may submit work to the VSA Michigan Emerging Artist's touring exhibit, a juried show that travels across the state annually, to the VSAMI-GC and Flint Children's Museum exhibit and also for display at various fundraisers throughout the year.
Festivals
VSAMI-GC has five festivals each year in various locations around the county. Partnerships with Genesee Intermediate School District allow us to provide festival experiences to students in its center-based schools, Elmer Knopf Learning Center, Special Services South, and Marion D. Crouse Instructional Center. GISD classrooms located in community school districts participate in off-site festivals. Last year, partnerships with Mott Community College's Northern Tier and the Flint Cultural Center brought participants from all over the area together for festival experiences. During festivals, local high school and college students volunteer to work alongside local artists to provide arts experiences in music, visual art, drama, and creative movement to participants with special needs. Festivals are intended to be the culmination of a year's worth of programming.
