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 to explore the arts in a way that is fully accessible. Through participatory involvement with trained professionals and volunteers, people with disabilities learn new 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 being conducted in all six congressional districts throughout the state. There are over 875,000 people in the state of Kentucky with some form of disability. Of that number, more than 8.44% are students in Kentucky schools. Many of these individuals benefit from and contribute to art-related educational and career opportunities by participating in VSA arts of Kentucky programs and services. While most programs have educational or community outreach components, others provide services such as career development, recognition, festivals, and fundraising.
Programming Partners and Other Funders:
A&A Mechanical; Aspen Energy; Baker Arboretum; Bandy, Carroll, Hellige Public Relations; Bisig Impact Group; Carnegie Center for Performing and Visual Arts; Capitol Arts Alliance; Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital; CARITAS; Chest Medicine Associates; Citizens First Bank; Conference for Exceptional Children (CEC); Daniel Pitino Foundation; Ernst & Young, LLP; Explorium; Gordon and Regina Newell; Hugh E. Sandefur Training Center; Jewish Hospital Healthcare Services; Jim Johnson Automotive; John J. Audubon State Park; Zachary M. Kafoglis, PSC; Kentucky Arts Council; Kentucky Department of Education Office of Exceptional Children Services; Kentucky Museum; LEO; Lifeskills, Inc.; Mac Town; Martin Management Group; Mountjoy & Bressler, LLP; Public Theatre of Kentucky; Renaissance Medical; Sleep Medicine Associates; South Central Bank; Southern Kentucky Rehabilitation Hospital; The Country Peddler; The Liberty Group; Voluforms; WKYU-FM; WKYU-PBS
State Programs
Educational Programs and Artist Residencies
VSA arts of Kentucky Arts Inclusion Program
Through a partnership with the Kentucky Department of Education, VSA arts of Kentucky provides up to fifty $1,000 awards to schools in every congressional district for inclusive, hands-on projects in various arts disciplines. Many of the projects involve artist residencies with artists from our Artist Roster.
Side by Side
Side by Side will be conducted in five locations across the state for students (Pre-K-12) with disabilities. An artist from our Artist Roster will teach a series of classes; then students will be paired with a local artist to create a piece of art together. A culminating exhibition is held to recognize every participant. This program was adapted from VSA arts of Alabama’s Art Partners Program.
Cardinal Hill Partnership
VSA arts of Kentucky and Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital have partnered to bring the arts to clients of Adult Day Health and Preschool programs. These inclusionary artist residencies, that range from puppetry and visual arts to music and songwriting, include experiential opportunities to meet for each individual’s needs.
Carnegie Center for the Performing and Visual Arts Partnership
VSA arts of Kentucky and the Carnegie Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Covington have partnered to provide inclusive arts programs for children in innercity environments. Throughout the year artist residencies are conducted for youth culminating with exhibits and performances to showcase the participants’ creative work.
The Artist Within: Disabling the Myth
This partnership with The Hugh E. Sanderfur Training Center in Henderson provides an opportunity for its adult residents with developmental disabilities to have access to the arts. Weekly classes are taught by a local artist throughout the year with a culminating exhibit to display the participants’ work, often featured in the VSA arts of Kentucky gallery.
A Different Point of View
This partnership with Lifeskills, Inc. and The Capitol Arts Alliance in Bowling Green provides artist residencies for adults with developmental disabilities. Classes are taught at Lifeskills facilities throughout the year with an exhibit mounted and organized by The Capitol Arts Alliance in one of the public exhibition spaces in the city.
Special Initiatives
Special Initiatives are community projects provided throughout the state that 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.
Artist Roster
The VSA arts of Kentucky Artist Roster is an adjudicated list of teaching artists from the arts disciplines of dance/creative movement, drama, literary arts, music, storytelling, puppetry, and visual arts. These artists have backgrounds and extensive experience in arts education and adaptive arts strategies. VSA arts of Kentucky Roster Artists provide residencies for our Arts Inclusion Program, partners, arts education, and community programs.
Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Start with the Arts
VSA arts of Kentucky offers a full day training in Start With the Arts for educators, librarians, caregivers, and parents in Start with the Arts. This hands-on, inclusion-based, educational program involves young children in innovative activities based on commonly taught curriculum themes. Since 1995, VSA arts of Kentucky has trained over 2500 adults to enhance early childhood programs and curriculums using the arts as a learning vehicle.
Artist Mentoring Program
This program is designed to help new teaching artists on the Artist Roster reach the “mastery” level by observing and working with master artists in a residency environment.
Professional Development for Emerging Artists
VSA arts of Kentucky provides professional development opportunities for artists with disabilities to help more effectively market and prepare themselves for professional opportunities.
VSA arts Institutes
VSA arts of Kentucky provides professional development opportunities for teaching artists, education professionals, and arts administrators at the VSA arts Institutes. These four-day institutes are designed for individuals who are invested in the arts for people with disabilities.
Cultural Access and Inclusive Arts Services
American Sign Language
VSA arts of Kentucky is proud to provide access to the arts by providing American Sign Language interpretative services for cultural venues.
Artist Registry
The VSA arts of Kentucky Artist Registry is a resource directory of emerging and professional artists with disabilities.
Public Awareness and Outreach
www.vsartsky.org
This Web site serves as a resource to educators and artists with and without disabilities, as well as cultural organizations looking for ways to provide arts programming and access to a diverse population. The site provides information about upcoming events, programs, resources, and links to other arts and disability sites.
"A Matter of Perspective"
The VSA arts of Kentucky Student Traveling Exhibit, “A Matter of Perspective,” is an annual exhibit comprised of 15-25 pieces of artwork created by students with disabilities from across the state. The exhibit is available free of charge to display at entities across the Commonwealth, including schools, museums, businesses, libraries, and hospitals.
Young Soloist Program
Designed to nurture the exceptional talents of young instrumentalists and vocalists with disabilities, the Young Soloists Program provides an annual award to further the music education of young musicians (age 25 and under). The recipients perform at many venues across the state to gain more performance experience and opportunities and to increase awareness of VSA arts of Kentucky programs. Names of Kentucky’s award recipients are submitted to VSA arts for consideration for the national award and an opportunity to perform at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 2005, the recipient from Kentucky, Patrick Henry Hughes, was named the national VSA arts Young Soloists recipient.
Arts for All
Arts for All is the bi-annual newsletter that includes information about programs, services and opportunities provided by VSA arts of Kentucky.
Festivals
Each year, festivals are held in communities across the state. Activities include experiential mini-workshops in various arts disciplines and sometimes culminate in a performance or exhibition.
VSA arts of Kentucky Gallery
The partnership between VSA arts of Kentucky and Bandy Carroll Hellige Public Relations provides a public gallery opportunity for VSA arts of Kentucky to exhibit artwork created by people of all abilities. The gallery is housed in the headquarters of Bandy Carroll Hellige Public Relations in Louisville and exhibits different works by individuals and/or groups throughout the year.
(F) 202-429-0868