What moves you?

So, I decided to start a blog one day when I had nothing better to do. The next week I started class and I haven't had time to keep up with it. Good planning on my part, I know. The project for class I'm working on is creating a nonprofit from the ground up. I told my mom that I wanted to start a community arts center when I was 12, so that is what my group is working on for our project. It will be really sweet when it actually happens. It might not be this year, or even in the next 30, but this project has been confirmation that it is something that God has called me to do. I feel it in my blood, it's what moves my soul. It will be a huge scary beast of an undertaking, but God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called right?

Here are the programs we want to offer:

Community events
JCAC seeks to make the arts available to the entire Jackson County area, therefore we host community events which bring the arts to their backyards. These events include concerts in local parks, art shows, community mural painting block parties, and family fun chalk days. These events will bring families and the entire community together, building a stronger community through the arts.

Art Reach
Art Reach is JCAC’s unique outreach program which provides specifically designed arts programs for groups and organizations throughout the Jackson County Area. Art Reach brings the arts to those who are unable to take advantage of the Arts Center’s programming. Programs are offered in all areas of the fine arts. Art Reach is designed to complement an existing curriculum or provide arts experiences for groups that do not have the opportunity to experience the arts. Programs can include drawing and painting, ceramics, jewelry, photography, sculpture and much more. Each program is tailored to meet the needs of the individual organizations. Some of the organizations we serve include: the Boys & Girls Club, Jackson County Department of Recreation, local public schools, and area Senior Centers.

After School Program:
The after school program at JCAC is available to high school and middle school youth. JCAC is a safe and enriching environment for area youth to come to after school. There are tutors and mentors who work with the students, encouraging healthy relationships in their lives. The students participate in a variety of service projects empowering them to change their world for the better. JCAC challenges the students to use the arts as an outlet to create conversation and bring up issues they are dealing with. These conversations will help them discover a deeper sense of who they are as individuals.

Fine and Performing Art Classes:
Visual Arts
The visual arts at JCAC provide students with an opportunity to express their feelings through a number of diverse mediums, including paint, sculpture, photography and drawing. Students learn to view their surroundings differently, express their feelings visually, and discover their uniqueness through images that they create.

Creative Writing
Creative writing at JCAC offers students an opportunity to expand their imaginations and to discover that writing can be an artistic and meaningful activity. Poetry and short story writing are some of the forms of expression that will come together to increase the individual's palette of expression.

Dance
The study of dance at JCAC provides students the unique opportunity to express themselves physically while studying classic and culturally relevant styles in a group setting where teamwork is vital.

Digital Arts
Students at JCAC have access to a brand new, state of the art computer lab. Each computer is equipped with music production, photo editing, web design, video, and animation software, as well as educational software in music theory and word processing.

Drama
The dramatic arts at JCAC provide an outlet for self-expression through role playing, thinking strategically and situationally, and working as a team. Drama is unique in its ability to address issues that are normally not addressed with ease and confidence in other circumstances. JCAC has a community theater which encourages individuals of all ages to get involved in the dramatic arts. Also, Music Theater Workshop, which combines the elements of vocal music, movement, and drama, is offered.

Music
Instrumental and vocal music at JCAC provides an outlet for individual and ensemble performance. Students have the opportunity to build skills like teamwork while playing and singing with others, as well as develop the ability to work through a variety of situations as they learn technique on their individual instruments.

pretty sweet huh?