UNC Asheville Craft Studies

dding understanding and support for the Craft Studies Program and the craft industry in WNC. Check out our full schedule on our website: www.unca.edu/craftcampus/mtm.htm. In Real Life: Crafting Community with Teens

Beginning Fall 2010, Asheville Middle School students can join In Real Life, an engaging and enriching after-school experience. This unique, coordinated effort brings together more than twenty community groups and teacher clubs to offer consistent, flexible opportunities for students to grow in confidence, build relationships and have fun. In response to a community initiative to address achievement gaps and teen violence amongst area middle school students, this course forms a partnership between the UNC Asheville Craft Studies program and Asheville City School’s Foundation (ACSF) Listening to Our Teens Network program (LTOTN). The LTOTN program is designed to improve teen drop out rates and promote positive personal development. The efforts will provide an after-school, service-learning collaborative craft project within a UNC Asheville course. During the semester, UNC Asheville students enrolled in an ARTS 310 class will work in teams with middle school students for 8 weeks to create an art/craft project together. TAPAS: Teaching Artists Presenting in Asheville Schools

An artist residency program for Asheville City Schools, sponsored by the Asheville City Schools Foundation, LEAF in Schools and Streets, and the UNC Asheville Craft Studies Initiative. All students can be reached through the arts, and many students who cannot otherwise be inspired, can be touched by opportunities to learn about and create art. In a community filled with great artists, our classrooms should be filled with the artistry for which Asheville is known, and every student should have access to learning with artists. These are the assumptions that started a conversation among our three organizations more than 18 months ago. We were frustrated that the small amount of funds designated to provide artist residencies were quickly expended and few classrooms got to experience high quality art with trained teaching artists. Grant requests often included travel, and lodging, and made all but a few extended residencies impossible to fund. How will TAPAS address the problem? In June, a team of artists and teachers created a “Teaching Artist Training” that identified great local talent eager to work in our schools. These artists participated in a three-day workshop on the Standard Course of Study, lesson planning, arts integration and alignment, and more. Through this program, the Asheville City Schools Foundation, LEAF in Schools and Streets, and the UNC Asheville Craft Studies program are committed to funding more than 50 days of artists-in-residence this year. The TAPAS catalogue is a tool for parents and educators to identify the trained Teaching Artists who are best aligned with your classroom and subject area. Visit acsf.org for more information.