Trinidad Area Arts Council- Children's Arts Program
I would like to thank The Women’s Exchange for this opportunity to tell you about Trinidad Area Arts Council. TAAC began in 1986 when a group of area artists taught art and creative writing to the community children on the weekends. In 1989, TAAC was granted the 501(c)(3) nonprofit status from the state which enabled the organization to offer the classes at no charge to the children. In 2005, TAAC occupied the third floor of the Mitchell Museum nd with the ample space was able to expand the classes to include theater and dance on the weekends as well as during the summer months. In 2010
TAAC moved to its current location.
TAAC’s Mission Statement is:
The purpose of this organization is to promote a cultural, social and economic climate in Trinidad in which the artistic heritage and creativity of all people may find voice. This includes an emphasis on art appreciation and education targeted at the youth at no cost in accordance with the organization’s exempt status. How TAAC accomplishes these goals are varied:
All classes are free of charge to all children. In this way, there is no separation between the economic statuses of the children. A bag of clay costs $10 and glaze costs $7-$12 each. Some families cannot spare that amount in their household budget and therefore that child would be delegated to less expensive class. Such children would not obtain the benefit of learning spatial perception and the hand- eye coordination that working with a three dimensional medium as clay. Once a child walks through the door of TAAC, they leave their social/economic status behind them. Jonathan Wai of Duke University’s study, Art Makes You Smart, used 11,000 students picked by lottery to study the effects of art on the learning curve of developing minds. The 10 year study concluded that those children with art in some form added to the regular curriculum performed higher in cognitive areas such as problem solving than those children who had no art in their curriculum. The study also found that children in rural areas increased their score at a higher level that those children in cities. The reason given is rural children did not have access to theaters, museums and galleries that city children did and
therefore art had a more profound effect on them.
In Trinidad, TAAC helps to provide a child with a strong sense of community by partnering with The History Museum to have the children’s art work displayed permanently or semi-permanently at the Museum. In 2010, the Summer Youth Program made clay sculptures of bird houses, bird feeders, bird baths, flowers, faces and signs which can still be found in the Bloom Garden. Last summer, My Life In Mosaic saw mosaic tiles of what the children find important in their life, shown for two weeks along the walk way of the Baca House. This summer it is TAACs wish to have the children build a sculpture on a vehicle to be a part of the ArtoCade parade. Last summer TAAC sponsored the poetry contest for the youth of the schools during the annual Water Festival. Children wrote prose proclaiming the importance of water for people and the land. Over 300 entries were received and TAAC enlisted the help of the Trinidad Writers to help in judging the contest. The older youth participates every October with Kurt Newton making ceramic bowls to be auctioned at the Empty Bowls Dinner to benefit Holy Trinity’s Soup Kitchen. Through participating in these programs, children learn leadership by working with others for a common goal and more importantly, they work until the job is completed, giving them a sense of pride in seeing a job well done. This sense of pride will encourage the child to complete other jobs in order to achieve a goal.
Gallery Main teaches the children art appreciation by exposing them to art in its infinitely various forms through its year around shows which change on a monthly basis. Children who participate with the Creative Friday and Summer Youth programs are brought into the gallery to view the art being display and the instructor engages conversation with the children on the medium used to make the piece and the historical forms of the media. Some of you might remember the five high school students who, with Marie Holdershaw, taught the painting classes of Wine, Women and Watercolor in the winter 0f 2012. In May of 2013, Gallery Main was proud to host a showing of these students own work. The students curated and hung their own show under the tutelage of Ms. Holdershaw and TAAC Director, Denise Kroneman. To this date, Ciao was the show with the highest attendance by the community.
We at TAAC hope to continue this growing tradition with the children of the Trinidad community and surrounding area through the efforts of Creative Friday where kids work with clay, leather, macramé, found objects, painting and drawing classes to continue to build a strong mind for each child today which will gives us all a stronger community tomorrow.
I would like to invite everyone for a tour of Trinidad Area Arts Council to see the Gallery and art studio were the children of our community come to experience and develop into well rounded members of your community.
Thank you,
Peggy Westmoreland, Chair
Trinidad Area Arts Council
TAAC moved to its current location.
TAAC’s Mission Statement is:
The purpose of this organization is to promote a cultural, social and economic climate in Trinidad in which the artistic heritage and creativity of all people may find voice. This includes an emphasis on art appreciation and education targeted at the youth at no cost in accordance with the organization’s exempt status. How TAAC accomplishes these goals are varied:
All classes are free of charge to all children. In this way, there is no separation between the economic statuses of the children. A bag of clay costs $10 and glaze costs $7-$12 each. Some families cannot spare that amount in their household budget and therefore that child would be delegated to less expensive class. Such children would not obtain the benefit of learning spatial perception and the hand- eye coordination that working with a three dimensional medium as clay. Once a child walks through the door of TAAC, they leave their social/economic status behind them. Jonathan Wai of Duke University’s study, Art Makes You Smart, used 11,000 students picked by lottery to study the effects of art on the learning curve of developing minds. The 10 year study concluded that those children with art in some form added to the regular curriculum performed higher in cognitive areas such as problem solving than those children who had no art in their curriculum. The study also found that children in rural areas increased their score at a higher level that those children in cities. The reason given is rural children did not have access to theaters, museums and galleries that city children did and
therefore art had a more profound effect on them.
In Trinidad, TAAC helps to provide a child with a strong sense of community by partnering with The History Museum to have the children’s art work displayed permanently or semi-permanently at the Museum. In 2010, the Summer Youth Program made clay sculptures of bird houses, bird feeders, bird baths, flowers, faces and signs which can still be found in the Bloom Garden. Last summer, My Life In Mosaic saw mosaic tiles of what the children find important in their life, shown for two weeks along the walk way of the Baca House. This summer it is TAACs wish to have the children build a sculpture on a vehicle to be a part of the ArtoCade parade. Last summer TAAC sponsored the poetry contest for the youth of the schools during the annual Water Festival. Children wrote prose proclaiming the importance of water for people and the land. Over 300 entries were received and TAAC enlisted the help of the Trinidad Writers to help in judging the contest. The older youth participates every October with Kurt Newton making ceramic bowls to be auctioned at the Empty Bowls Dinner to benefit Holy Trinity’s Soup Kitchen. Through participating in these programs, children learn leadership by working with others for a common goal and more importantly, they work until the job is completed, giving them a sense of pride in seeing a job well done. This sense of pride will encourage the child to complete other jobs in order to achieve a goal.
Gallery Main teaches the children art appreciation by exposing them to art in its infinitely various forms through its year around shows which change on a monthly basis. Children who participate with the Creative Friday and Summer Youth programs are brought into the gallery to view the art being display and the instructor engages conversation with the children on the medium used to make the piece and the historical forms of the media. Some of you might remember the five high school students who, with Marie Holdershaw, taught the painting classes of Wine, Women and Watercolor in the winter 0f 2012. In May of 2013, Gallery Main was proud to host a showing of these students own work. The students curated and hung their own show under the tutelage of Ms. Holdershaw and TAAC Director, Denise Kroneman. To this date, Ciao was the show with the highest attendance by the community.
We at TAAC hope to continue this growing tradition with the children of the Trinidad community and surrounding area through the efforts of Creative Friday where kids work with clay, leather, macramé, found objects, painting and drawing classes to continue to build a strong mind for each child today which will gives us all a stronger community tomorrow.
I would like to invite everyone for a tour of Trinidad Area Arts Council to see the Gallery and art studio were the children of our community come to experience and develop into well rounded members of your community.
Thank you,
Peggy Westmoreland, Chair
Trinidad Area Arts Council