VSA arts Teaching Artists to Lend Expertise to Egyptian Summer Arts Camp

June 28, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 – VSA arts will provide two experienced teaching artists with disabilities to instruct 60 underprivileged children, including children with disabilities, at a summer arts camp in collaboration with VSA arts of Egypt and the Townhouse Gallery in Cairo, Egypt, July 7 through 25.

Jaehn Clare of Georgia and Nilea Rohrer-Parvin of Texas, both VSA arts 2006 Teaching Artist Fellows, will teach during the 3-week camp. The camp is designed to develop social, cognitive, and cultural skills through arts learning, while creating inclusion in the arts for children with disabilities.

“I am delighted that VSA arts is able to send these teaching artists to collaborate with the Townhouse Gallery, a respected cultural arts institution in Cairo that is working to bring the arts to their community,” said Soula Antoniou, president of VSA arts. “I applaud our affiliate, VSA arts of Egypt, who has cultivated this project and identified children with disabilities to participate.”

The Townhouse Gallery was founded in 1998 to support artistic work and increase accessibility to contemporary arts in Egypt. One of the region’s leading independent art spaces, the Townhouse Gallery opens their doors to 800 individuals from all backgrounds annually through outreach programs in the community and workshops. Saturday workshops provide a place for the public to paint, sculpt, and create art. The Gallery holds exhibitions and sells artworks on behalf of the individuals, many with no other source of income, without taking a commission.

Clare is a trained theater artist with more than 30 years experience as an actor, director, producer, playwright, teaching artist, and arts administrator. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts, with a Minor in Humanities, from the University of Minnesota, and an MA in Dramatic Literature from the University of Essex. For more than 20 years, Clare who is paraplegic, has been active as a disability awareness trainer offering both disability awareness and inclusion workshops. As a teaching artist, she has worked with diverse participants in a variety of school and community settings across the U.S.

Rohrer-Parvin is a sculptor who teaches using many disciplines, including performance art and creative writing. She demonstrates a strong multicultural element to her teaching artist engagements. Rohrer-Parvin, who experienced a mild traumatic brain injury, designed and taught art programs for 30 years in museums, public and alternative schools, juvenile detention centers, and adult learning centers. She has served as director of a community arts center and is a published poet. Rohrer-Parvin was recently selected for the Montalvo Arts Center’s Teaching Artist Fellowship program.

The VSA arts Teaching Artist Fellowship was launched to engage and support teaching artists with disabilities in the visual and performing arts. Teaching Artists are professional artists who integrate their art forms, perspectives, and skills into a wide range of educational settings.

VSA arts is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1974 by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to create a society where people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. VSA arts provides educators, parents, and artists with resources and the tools to support arts programming in schools and communities. VSA arts showcases the accomplishments of artists with disabilities and promotes increased access to the arts for people with disabilities. Each year millions of people participate in VSA arts programs through a nationwide network of affiliates and in more than 60 countries around the world. VSA arts is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. For more information visit www.vsarts.org

Media Contact
Jean Wussow/VSA arts
(202) 628-2800 ext. 3892
JMWussow@vsarts.org