VSA New Hampshire

P.O. Box 908
Concord, NH 03302

Deborah Stuart
Program Committee Chair

Tel.: (603) 764-9159
Fax: (603) 764-9159

Organizational Profile:

Full-time Staff: 0
Part-time Staff: 2
Volunteer Hours: 83 hours/month
Direct Participants: 345
Indirect Participants: 4,500

VSA New Hampshire is committed to creating a community where people with disabilities can learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. To accomplish this, VSA New Hampshire has collaborated with art, education, disability, and community organizations to provide arts programs and professional development opportunities statewide. These programs have reached thousands of people with and without disabilities annually.

Programming Partners and Other Funders:

Spaulding Youth Center; Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire; Plus Time New Hampshire; Plymouth State University; White Mountains Community College; Head Start of Northern New Hampshire; Early Learning New Hampshire; New Hampshire State Library; Children's Library Services of NH; Pease Public Library; Freedom Weavers; New Hampshire State Council on the Arts; Monarch School of New England; Plymouth Elementary School Pre-School Program; SAU #48; Franconia Children's Center; Silver Hall Performing Arts Center at PSU

Educational Programs and Artist Residencies

Freedom Weavers Studio

Five years ago, VSA New Hampshire launched Freedom Weavers Studio, a non-traditional weaving studio open to the public for people of all ages and abilities. The studio’s philosophy is based on Saori weaving, a craft developed by VSA Japan. This program in New Hampshire is now an independently run studio with a public “Main Street” presence, and maintains scholarship fund assistance so that young people and adults with disabilities can participate in lessons and programs.

Professional Development and Technical Assistance

Arts in Early Learning (AEL)

VSA New Hampshire has launched an extensive training program for early childhood educators in the northern rural tier of the state. In partnership with the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, trainings are being held for teachers, aides, and child care workers from a large number of small child care and preschool centers across the region. The basis of this training is the VSA educational resource Start with the Arts™, and it is designed to substantially affect the degree to which the arts are infused in these early childhood settings. This program also includes classroom follow-up at targeted sites, school visits by artists, model teaching by trainers, and support with supplies and resources.

Training and Professional Development

VSA New Hampshire is working with the school district SAU # 48 on a year-long intensive initiative to infuse early childhood classrooms and child care settings with arts-based learning. This initiative includes teacher and provider trainings, model teaching in classrooms and in home care centers, observation and evaluation of carry over into teaching practices, and work with interns from the Early Childhood Program at Plymouth State University who serve in the classes as interns. It is an intensive program designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the larger Arts in Early Learning project.

In addition, other requests for trainings for teachers, teaching artists, child care providers, and youth workers are met by artists and educators on the roster who have substantial experience to share related to the role of the arts in the inclusion of children and youths with disabilities in educational settings, as well as in community activities and organizations. VSA New Hampshire is working with children's librarians across the state to assist in integrating the arts into children's story hours and programs to better support understanding of inclusion of children with disabilities.

Public Awareness and Outreach

Web site

The VSA New Hampshire Web site, www.vsaartsnh.org, includes pages covering the organization’s history, frequently asked questions, programs, information on how to get involved, and resources in the areas of art, disability, and education. The Web artist roster allows VSA New Hampshire program partners to see the artists who are available for workshops and residencies throughout the state.

Basic training materials for teacher reference are being added to the Web site this year to complement the AEL project and to give teachers easy access to resources and best practices information.

VSA New Hampshire also provides public support and direction for calls, letters or requests received for referrals to resources, and programs.