VSA arts of Kentucky
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515 East Tenth Street |
Ginny Miller |
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Tel.: (270) 781-0872 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 1 |
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VSA arts of Kentucky provides arts education and inclusion programs for children and adults with disabilities throughout the state and offers an underserved population equal opportunity and full access to explore the arts. Through participatory involvement with trained professionals and volunteers, people with disabilities learn creative and social skills that open doors to new opportunities in the arts. Offices are located in Bowling Green and Frankfort, with programs and services conducted in all six congressional districts throughout the state. Of the more than 875,000 people in the state of Kentucky with some form of disability, 8.44% are students in Kentucky schools. Many individuals benefit from and contribute to arts-related educational and career opportunities by participating in VSA arts of Kentucky programs and services.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Kentucky Department of Education Division of Exceptional Children Services, VSA arts; WHAS Crusade for Children; City of Bowling Green; Kentucky Arts Council; Conference for Exceptional Children (CEC); Baker Arboretum; Bandy, Carroll, Hellige Public Relations; Capitol Arts Alliance; Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital; Citizens First Bank; Conference for Exceptional Children (CEC); Explorium; Hugh E. Sandefur Training Center; Jim Johnson Pontiac, Nissan, Hyundai; Kiwanis Club of Bowling Green; Target
In-Kind Contributions: Emily Adams; Misha Ambrosia; Nannette Amsden; Anonymous; B&J Gallery; Karen Balzer; Anite Bentley; Raymond Carver; Sheila Crowson; Donnie Deaton; Lynne Ferguson; Judith Gray; Likretia Hayes; Marsha Heidbrink; IKON Office Solutions; Scott Maples; Collis Marshall; David McCormick; Ginny and Clayton Miller; Claci Miller Juday; Albert Nelson; Penny Nelson; Jeremy Padgett; Nell Peperis; Caden Plemmons; Sandy Richardson; Delaire Rowe; Andee Rudloff; Camille Serre; Jessica Snodgrass; Jeannie Snodgrass; The Liberty Group; Weyerhauser Company
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
Arts Inclusion Program
Through a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education, VSA arts of Kentucky provides up to 50 $1,000 awards to schools in every congressional district for inclusive, hands-on projects in various arts disciplines. This program provides arts residencies to children in many underserved areas of the state.
Side by Side
A visual art program that provides mentoring collaboration for students paired with professional artists. Students attend a series of studio classes led by resident artists that culminates with each student creating a collaborative art piece in a one-on-one session with a professional artist. A culminating public exhibition includes the collaborative artworks, individual student artwork, and artwork by the professional artist. Side by Side is currently being conducted in Bowling Green, Lexington, Louisville, Murray, and Somerset.
Cardinal Hill Partnership
This partnership brings the arts to clients of preschool and adult day health programs. These inclusionive artist residencies range from puppetry, visual arts, music, and songwriting, which include experiential opportunities to meet each individual’s needs.
The Artist Within: Disabling the Myth
This partnership includes the Hugh E. Sanderfur Training Center in Henderson; LifeSkills in Bowling Green; and, for the first time, Easter Seals in Paducah, and provides an opportunity for adult residents with developmental disabilities to have access to the arts. Weekly visual art classes are taught throughout the year with a culminating public exhibition to display the participants’ work.
Special Initiatives
Community projects provided throughout the state involve hands-on experiences in all the arts for children and adults with and without disabilities. These are custom-designed projects to meet the unique needs of individual communities and organizations.
Teaching Artist Roster
The Teaching Artist Roster contains information on teaching artists from dance/creative movement, drama, literary arts, music, storytelling, puppetry, and visual arts. These artists have extensive experience in arts education and adaptive arts strategies. The artists provide residencies for school and community programs.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Start with the Arts™
Start with the Arts is an accredited training provided for educators, librarians, caregivers, and parents involving inclusive hands-on, educational programs for young children based on commonly taught curriculum themes. Since 1995, more than 2,500 adults have been trained to enhance early childhood programs and curricula using the arts as a learning vehicle.
Artist Mentoring Program
This program is designed to assist new teaching artists adaptive strategies for working with students with disabilities and increase their teaching skills. These artists work with and observe master artists in a residency environment prior to being listed on the Teaching Artist Roster.
Ronald J. Billings Emerging Artist Professional Development Program
This professional development program assists artists with disabilities to more effectively market and prepare themselves for professional opportunities. This allows emerging artists to develop business skills, increase marketing knowledge, and further develop the quality of their work.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
ASL Interpretation
VSA arts of Kentucky provides access to the arts by providing American Sign Language interpretative services for cultural venues.
Artist Registry
The Artist Registry is a resource of emerging and professional artists with disabilities. Registry artists are often invited to exhibit in the gallery and participate in the newly implemented Holiday Art Show and Sale.,/p>
Public Awareness and Outreach
Web site: www.vsartsky.org
This Web site serves as a resource to educators and artists, with and without disabilities, and cultural organizations looking for ways to provide arts programming and access to diverse populations. The site provides information about upcoming events, programs, resources, and related links.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective is an annual student traveling exhibition composed of artwork created by students with disabilities across the state. Each year it is available free of charge to entities across the Commonwealth.
Young Soloists Program
Each year, VSA arts of Kentucky conducts a statewide search to identify and recognize the exceptional talents of young instrumentalists and vocalists with disabilities. Recipients perform at venues across the state throughout the year. Finalist(s) are submitted to VSA arts for consideration in the international award and an opportunity to perform at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Arts for All
Arts for All is the biannual newsletter that includes information about programs, services, and opportunities provided by VSA arts of Kentucky.
Explorium VSA arts of Kentucky Festival
This three-day event, held in Lexington in partnership with Explorium, provides hands-on arts experiences to introduce under-served students to the arts and give them an opportunity for local recognition.
VSA arts of Kentucky Gallery
The newest gallery is located in Bowling Green in the VSA arts of Kentucky office suite. This space allows us to present and host exhibitions on a regular rotating basis throughout the year. This gallery also serves as an educational tool for classrooms, partner organizations and the general public. VSA arts of Kentucky also provides exhibitions for Bandy Carroll Hellige Public Relations in Louisville. Four exhibitions per year are housed in this space.
(F) 202-429-0868