KIDSART Launched by Artoconecto, Miami Arts Non-Profit

Artoconecto, the dynamic Miami arts non-profit, has been awarded a Community Grant from the Miami-Dade County Dept. of Cultural Affairs, to help launch KIDSART, a Saturday morning arts program where children ages 7-13 will visit artists' studios to attend workshops led by the artists themselves. Each week the children will be given a community-oriented theme, like recycling, or diversity, and guided through arts projects correlating to those themes, culminating in a public exhibition. "We are very excited to begin KIDSART, especially now, at a time when arts programming has been cut back so severely in our public schools," said Alexandra Rangel-Brody, executive Director of Artoconecto. "We are also very excited to partner with national volunteer group, City Year, and we hope to add the arts as an additional component to their current mentoring programs in our schools."

Artoconecto is actively looking to partner with local artists who would like to share their studio space one Saturday morning, giving kids an opportunity to experience the artist's working environment. Any artist that wishes to participate can contact Artoconecto. The workshops will be followed by lunch, sponsored by World Resources Cafe on Lincoln Road, which will allow the children to interact informally with the artists and each other. Art supplies and materials generously donated by Utrecht Art Supplies; photo services by Tropicolor. Additional sponsors, as well as matching funds for the Miami-Dade grant, are being actively pursued as well.

KIDSART will include a partnership with 'City Year', the national service organization already working in 8 Miami-Dade public schools, who will have senior corps members attend the workshops and also write evaluations of the program for Miami-Dade, Artoconecto, and for the potential inclusion of KIDSART in their own volunteer programs. KIDSART will take place for five Saturday mornings from July 18th through August 15th, and culminate on September 12, 2009, when the participants will experience the Second Saturday Art Walk with a public exhibition of their creations.

For more info, please contact:
Danny Brody
Community Relations
artoconecto@gmail.com
786.246.2047