Our Trip Next Door to Exploratory Arts
Did you know that VSA has two day habilitation programs? In addition to our Day Arts program, VSA also offers the Exploratory Arts program next door! We went next door to check it out. According to the VSA website, "The Exploratory Arts Studio is designed to appeal to and benefit people of all abilities. Artists have the choice of several classes or activities to choose from on a daily basis such as, Art Studio, Crafts Class, Music and Dance, Group Movement, Life Skills and Community Inclusion." At the Day Arts Program, we have a set schedule of classes and multiple classrooms. In the Exploratory Arts program, all of the classes take place in one big room and the classes change from day to day.
On our visit to Exploratory Arts we observed a sign language class. Most students were gathered in one area of the room and were learning to sign to the songs "Beauty and the Beast" from the Disney animated movie, "Dreaming of You" by Selena and "Firework" by Katy Perry. Some other students were working on art projects in the art studio. The art studio is always open as an option for students who want to work on individual projects.
Exploratory Arts is a smaller program, serving about 50 students during the week. They have four teachers and two TIs. Many classes are offered, but some of the most popular options are: Painting and Drawing, Line Dancing, Paper Mache, Ceramics, Music, Weaving and Creative Writing. The most popular class of all is Karaoke. A typical day at Exploratory Arts starts out with warm up. Next they offer art studio and visual arts classes. Then they break for lunch. Most performing arts classes are held in the afternoon, along with open art studio. Finally, it's time to go home.
To us here at VSA, Exploratory Arts is also known as Red Fish. This comes from the early 2000s, when Exploratory Arts was first started. Each core group in the Day Arts program had an animal mascot (such as an owl and a dragonfly), and one core group, called Red Fish, split off to become Exploratory Arts. The nickname stuck.
If you want to see some of the amazing work from the Exploratory Arts program, you can check out their Soulbots Film Project on YouTube.
