VSA Mississippi
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P. O. Box 2364 |
V.A. Patterson |
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Tel.: (601) 965-4866 |
Website: |
Organizational Profile:
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Full-time Staff: 1 |
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VSA Mississippi is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes and provides arts opportunities for people with disabilities. VSA Mississippi has been offering arts programs for children, youth, and adults since 1978.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
Mississippi Legislature through the Mississippi Department of Education; Goodwill Industries; Methodist Rehabilitation Center; Mississippi Arts Commission; Fondren Renaissance Foundation; Tougaloo College; Art Center of Mississippi; Greater Jackson Arts Council; Mississippi Paralysis Association; Northwest Mississippi Regional Center; Lauren Rogers Museum of Art; Hattiesburg Parks and Recreation Department; USA International Ballet Competition; Belhaven College; Mississippi Library Commission; Municipal Art Gallery; Parents for Public Schools; Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education; Mississippi Art Education Association; Collage; AT&T; BankPlus; BlueCross Blue Shield of Mississippi, Episcopal Church of the Mediator; Family Framing Place, Inc.; Merck Partnership for Giving; AT&T Pioneers; Mississippi Department of Mental Health; Shornick Foundation; Jackson State University; City of Jackson; Lynn Meadows Discovery Center
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
VSA Mississippi School Artist-in-Residence Program
VSA Mississippi artist-in-residence programs in visual arts, dance, music, or drama/literature will be offered to 22 classrooms across the state in the 2009–2010 academic year. Students with disabilities are included in the classroom hosting the artist-in-residence. VSA Mississippi will focus on schools in rural areas that have limited access to arts experiences and schools on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where recovery from Hurricane Katrina continues to strain resources for arts education.
Community Artist-in-Residence Program
The Community Arts Group offers visual arts experiences in the VSA Mississippi studio for adults with disabilities and their families. Two free weekly three-hour sessions include instruction in watercolor, acrylic and oil paints, clay, drawing, collage, and printmaking. Participants will be offered opportunities to exhibit and sell their work in public exhibitions.
ArtBuds
This program pairs students with disabilities with professional artists for instruction, mentoring and collaboration on art projects. The 2010 program will culminate with an exhibition and reception featuring individual artwork by the students and by the artists, along with the collaborative pieces they create.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Professional Development for Educators
VSA Mississippi will provide training opportunities for teachers and other education professionals to learn how to use the arts to increase childhood literacy and problem solving. Educators will be taught Universal Design by Learning and Understanding by Design practices to promote inclusion in the classroom. The VSA educational resource Start with the Arts™ will be offered.
Professional Development for Artists
To artists participating in artist-in-residence programs, teacher training programs, and school education, VSA Mississippi will offer training in best practices for working with people with disabilities. This training will be made available to artists listed in the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Artist Roster, arts education organizations, and nonprofit organizations working with disability or cultural communities. This program will assist artists with disabilities in attending workshops to develop skills for careers as teaching artists. Four VSA Mississippi teaching artists will participate in the VSA Communities of Practice program in 2010.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
VSA Mississippi Museum Docent and Volunteer Training
VSA Mississippi will publish a disability awareness handbook, Training Handbook for Museum Docents and Volunteers. Using the handbook, VSA Mississippi will offer training workshops for docents and volunteers at sites across the state. VSA Mississippi also serves as a resource and referral source for museums seeking to increase their access to patrons with disabilities.
Public Awareness and Outreach
VSA Mississippi Exhibition Program
Exhibitions across the state will showcase work by VSA Mississippi artists. The Goodwill Art Show, now in its 22nd year, showcases the work of Mississippi’s professional, non-professional, and student artists with disabilities. Art will be exhibited at the Arts Center of Mississippi. Works by participants in the Community Artist-in-Residence Program will be exhibited in the VSA Mississippi Gallery on a regular basis and at area venues such as the Municipal Art Gallery, Mississippi Library Commission, Methodist Rehabilitation Center, and others, with official openings and receptions. Artists will be assisted and encouraged to exhibit their work in local and national competitions and at annual art fairs and special events.
VSA Mississippi Dance Program
The VSA Mississippi Dance Company, composed of professional and student dancers and dancers with disabilities, will produce one major public performance in 2010 and offer smaller lecture/demonstrations in schools in the central Mississippi area. In addition to performing, the dancers will discuss ballet, paralysis, and disability awareness in a lecture-demonstration format. This program provides dancers with disabilities the opportunity to perform in a public setting while also providing children with and without disabilities the opportunity to watch and participate in dance and movement experiences.
Web Site
The new VSA Mississippi web site, www.vsartsms.org, will feature VSA Mississippi programs and activities, a calendar of exhibitions and special events, artwork by VSA Mississippi artists, and current news. VSA Mississippi will use the Web site to announce the VSA national programs, Young Soloist, Playwright Discovery, Call for Writing, and CVS All Kids Can Create, as well as other arts opportunities for people with disabilities.
(F) 202-429-0868