ArtVan

Established by the Indianapolis Art Center in 1996, ArtVan is a traveling art class that serves youth ages 5—18 at city parks and other community centers during the summer months. It is a sister program to the Art Center’s semester–based ArtReach, a neighborhood–based art education program offered after school.

The ArtVan instructors travel to Indianapolis neighborhoods to provide children with creative and fun lesson plans that incorporate studio art and art history while teaching valuable social skills.

The Art Center's ArtVan goes where the children are, arriving with instructors, supplies, and lots of enthusiasm! Community sites contract with the Indianapolis Art Center’s Outreach staff for a series of classes. The usual model is four to eight two-hour visits over a period of several weeks. Classes can be spread out during the summer to one or two visits per week or tailored to shorter programs, based on the needs of the host site. Students work on projects using a variety of materials, individually and in groups. One instructor and assistant are sent to each class, instructing a maximum of 25 students.

ArtVan is typically provided to community organizations at little or no cost to the site. Outreach staff work with the varying resources of the neighborhood sites to develop a graduated payment scale in order to accommodate the needs of the site. Full scholarships are available and are dependent upon the number of sites applying for ArtVan programming each year.

If you are interested in applying for the 2008 ArtVan program please contact Laura Alvarado, Director of Outreach, 317.255.2464, ext. 235 or e-mail lalvarado@IndplsArtCenter.org.

There is both an ArtVan Lesson Plan Synopsis and an application available.