Youth on the Radar Project

Here is some exciting news, VSGSA - Visual Connections Project will be part of the Youth on the Radar Project (YOR). The YOR Project is a crime prevention program for youth 12 - 17 years of age that utilizes the creative arts. The youth participants will come from J.L.Illsley High School and its feeder schools in the Spryfield area (South West Halifax).

VSGSA - Visual Connections Project Education and Outreach Curator will function as the project manager, Blogger, as well as instructor for part of the media arts component. The other components of the project include street dance and mural/street.

There will be a new blog site developed for the project.

The Creative Start Workshop Fall 2008

The images below are from the Creative Start Workshop. This workshop is designed for youth with disabilities and is five weeks in length. We will offer the workshop again in the new year.

Update on In Our Voice: Visual Conversations

After trying to get the the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations workshop off the ground we had to cancel it because we could not get any youth participants. We were going to bring youth and elders who have mental illness or mental health issues together to address various issues each generation have or will experience. We were going to use the visual arts as a vehicle for dealing with these issues. We are now going to apply for funding from another source to work with just the elders.

Update

It has been quite awhile since a posting. In part because we have been procrastinating and also I have been very busy getting ready for learning programs coming up this fall. There is both the Creative Start Workshop and the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations program. We are also getting ready for number of arts festivals and the Tools for life conference. And finally we are also working with a number of other community arts educators to develop a proposal for community arts education program that will be submitted to a number of universities to see if this program is feasible.

Update

Just received news from the 4C's Foundation that the In Our Voice: Visual Conversations project has received funding. The In Our Voice: Visual Conversations workshop is a partnership between Veith Street Gallery Studio Association, Visual Connections Project and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Halifax - Dartmouth Branch.
The workshop will be eight weeks in length. Participants in the workshop will consist of youth who are dealing with mental health issues and people fifty years and over who are also dealing with mental health issues. The youth participants and the elders will pair up with each other. Each week the facilitators will pose a question dealing mental health issues. The pairings will then respond to this question using various art materials and processes. After the eight week workshop there will be an exhibition of the art works at Veith Street Gallery.

New Web Site and Anniversary

Veith Street Gallery Studio Association has a new web site. The site is still under construction but should be completed in two weeks.

www.veithstreetgallery.org

Veith Street Gallery Studio Association is also celebrating its 5th Anniversary on March 20th and 22nd.

UPDATE

Well it has been some time since created a posting, and a lot has happened since December 2007. Veith Street Gallery Studio Association through the Visual Connections Project, has now established partnerships and collaborations with organizations and institutions such as NSCAD University, who has established the new Community Service Learning program, APSEA (Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority) and Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre. We will be offering educational programs for both APSEA and the Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre. The program we will be offering the Nova Scotia Provincial Autism Centre will tie into a research project around art and autism. Below are some images from an exercise that I lead for participants of a program called ACEE (Adults in Community Education and Employment). We may be working more closely with this program in the future by offering the Creative Start Open Studio Program to ACEE participants.