The Collaborative, an all-volunteer nonprofit arts organization, will be holding free art classes for middle and high school students during the month of March. The classes will be held at the Mary V. Quirk School, 790 Main St., Warren in coordination with the Warren Parks & Recreation Department and funded by grants from Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) and the TACO White Family Foundation.
These classes are free but are capped at ten and students must preregister.
The classes will be presented in two sections and students can pick one class from each section. Section One runs on consecutive Sundays: March 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th, from 1pm-4pm and offers a class in functional sculpture and one in nontraditional & experimental techniques. Section Two will take place on Friday March 23rd from 3pm-6pm and then on Saturday and Sunday, the 24th – 25th, from 9am-1pm. These classes will be in printmaking and filmmaking. Four talented Rhode Island Arts Educators will teach the classes including Juliette Casselman, Lauren Enjeti, Adam Tracy and Tommy Whalen.
Since its inception, The Collaborative has always envisioned being less a gallery and more of an educational organization, bringing together art and education for people of all ages. That’s why Executive Director of The Collaborative, Uriah Donnelly, is very excited about this particular event. “This program really follows our philosophy of using the arts to educate,” said Donnelly.
The two main goals of this program are to develop each student’s appreciation of the arts and to encourage self-esteem and confidence. Since The Collaborative started, we have had many young artists exhibit in our gallery. We’ve had the pleasure of watching them grow and evolve into budding professionals.
At the conclusion of the classes, there will be showcases of the students’ work throughout the month of April at The Collaborative space, 498 Main Street Warren, RI.