Offering art instruction to those with underserved or special needs–no matter their age, abilities or financial status–is a key part of Wayne Art Center’s outreach mission. Our outreach programs allow us to form partnerships with schools, groups, and special needs populations in order to provide arts enrichment activities, field-trip opportunities, and increase access to the arts.
Broaden Your World is a class developed for special-needs students by student with a traumatic brain injury. Classes encourage the development and healing of physical coordination, personal expression and mental outlook, and provide special needs students with a social space in which to interact.
The Plus Art Program is a need-based art program that provides art classes to seniors, offering a social outlet and a way to stay active, involved and learn new skills. Classes are free to students who demonstrate need, which is assessed by a review of the previous year’s tax.
Meet Me at WAC: Art for Alzheimer’s is a new program for those with early to mid-stage Alzheimer’s disease and their family members or care partners. Based on The Museum of Modern Art’s Meet Me at MoMA initiative that began in 2007, Meet Me at WAC provides a forum for dialogue through looking at and making art. Exposure to art for those with Alzheimer’s has been shown to improve short-term memory, increase self-confidence and offer a meaningful cultural experience.
Our Offsite Outreach sends a teacher to schools serving students with special needs. WAC provides an instructor free of charge twice a week to provide art lessons for students at the Timothy School, which serves K-12 students on the autism spectrum. Art lessons are designed to improve social interaction and motor skills. The Timothy School also sends students to WAC three times per year at a reduced field trip rate. WAC also sends an instructor at reduced cost to the Woodlynde School, which serves K-12 students with learning and developmental differences) once a week for their after-school art club. Art classes provide an opportunity for social interaction among students, as well as for the development of skills like the ability to follow instructions, work collaboratively and think creatively.
The Wayne Art Center welcomes students of all backgrounds and offers full and partial scholarships to those who show documented financial hardship. Please call or stop by the front office to request a scholarship application form, or download the form here.
To sponsor a scholarship, please email us, Development Associate, or call us at 610.688.3553.
The Wayne Art Center is able to provide high school students with scholarships generously given through Gabrielle’s Arts Foundation and the Alexandra Adele Rapoport Memorial Fund.
Outreach programs at Wayne Art Center allow us to form partnerships with schools, groups, and special needs populations in order to provide arts enrichment activities, field-trip opportunities, and expand the awareness of and appreciation for the visual arts in our community.
Can you think of a way that your organization could partner with us to further the cause of art in our community? Please contact us today!
