Why You Should Fund the Arts

Art is one of the most important things about being alive and yet, it remains a distant 4th place priority in most education systems. Not everyone is an artist, but then again not everyone is a scientist or mathematician.  The world would be a very boring place if we were all so well-rounded.

In my personal experience, I have found that art is something so intrinsic to my happiness and ability to express myself that imagining life without it seems impossible. I’ve been lucky enough to make a little money from my chosen form of expression - photography. One of the things I’ve learned since I started working at VSA Texas is that no matter what age, ability or income bracket you fall in, art is a viable career option.

Photo I took of my son at the beach in Costa Rica a few years ago

My son was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when he was 3 years old. He did not start speaking clearly until he was 4, but ever since I can remember, he built things, he drew things, he sang, he danced. He did so many things to express himself before a full sentence came out of his mouth and I know that without art, he would have not been able to show me exactly who he was and what was on his mind.

Photo of bathtime art my son made when he was just learning to speak

Sadly, art hasn’t been a high priority in education for a long time. What if we spent as much time encouraging creativity as we did teaching students how to pass standardized tests? What if we allowed children to draw all over their homework, or better yet, draw the answers to their homework? The ‘what if’s’ could go on forever, but why not try focusing more on what we know works for students and make real change?

This is why it is so important to fund the arts. When you send a young person to one of our internships or camps, our dance class, our writing workshops, you are not giving someone the gift of passing their time. You are giving them the gift of an opportunity to do something that would have otherwise been impossible. You give them the gift of a new career path. You make art a priority.

Photo of my son and I at our house last year

At VSA Texas, our mission is to create an arts-inspired community that welcomes all abilities. Contributing to the creation of new artists will always be something worthwhile. 

To support the diverse, arts-inspired programming of VSA Texas, please click here to donate. Every little bit counts!

Crockett High School New Media Arts

Hi blog readers! This is April letting you know what I have been up to lately. For most of this semester I have been visiting Crockett High School on many Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons to be a part of our New Media Arts Program there. For five years now, the wonderful Mrs. Jane Comer has invited us into her Life Skills classroom to teach New Media Arts classes that combine traditional arts and technology. This year, we had a powerhouse team of teaching artists including Johnny Villarreal of The Edge of Animation Station who brought in his portable stop motion animation studio. We had Jo Ann Santangelo teaching photography skills with photo assignments in the classroom and outside around the school. And we had Stephen Sprague teach the process of filmmaking from storyboarding to filming to editing. I came in to tie it all together with art lessons and everyone’s favorite: quizzes!

Co-teachers Johnny, Jo Ann, and Stephen

The group of 15 students did a great job in all aspects of this class, which they were graded on. The showcase this week was a big success with parents, friends, and administrators in attendance. They were impressed with the photos, storyboards, and artwork on display in the classroom.

Student photos

And in the library, the students led the presentation of their movie premiere with each student standing up and talking about what they learned. Their film was called “The Big Show in the Big Storm” and included a tornado, a talent show, a theft, and a capture. Animation was included in parts of the movie, and a short reel of the student’s animations was also shown. I am very proud of all of the Crockett Life Skills students who participated in this program. We look forward to doing it again next year!

If you want to see the movie, subscribe to our VSA Texas YouTube Channel here, and you will be notified when it is ready to watch online.

A sign welcoming guests to the movie premiere

The Art of Photography

This week we are hosting our Spring Break Side by Side Photography Internship. This involves a large crew of people including the Intern Supervisor (or chief head counter), me April Sullivan, our instructor, local photographer Jo Ann Santangelo, five dedicated volunteers, Jeff, Robert, Michelle, Mary, and Yannik, three sign language interpreters Shea, Naomi, and Bethany, and twelve young adult interns with developmental disabilities, Berk, Ben, August, Kamand, Stephen, Thaddeus, Ricardo, Natalie, Rachel, Shelby, Kacie, and Lewis.

Together we are studying the world of photography. Jo Ann told us one of her favorite quotes by photographer Dorthea Lange, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” We practiced this concept as we took still life, nature, portrait, and animal photographs.

On Monday we learned still life photography. Here is one of Natalie’s still life images. She says, "I held the bird close to the camera when I took this photo. I wanted it to look like the viewer is looking down at the elephant from a birds eye view, literally. I wanted to show that the elephant travels a long way and I wanted the audience to be a part of that."

"Journey" by Natalie

Ricardo really enjoyed the photo shoot we did outside. He says, “My shots came out nice and clear. The scavenger hunt gave me a lot of opportunities. Trees and flowers were aesthetically pleasing. I really want to take more pics of nature to be clearer. I like how this is going.” Here is one of Ricardo’s photos from our scavenger hunt on the second day.

"House of Ages" by Ricardo

We took a field trip on Wednesday to a local urban farm, Hausbar Farms. Here is a group portrait from the farm. We took photos of bunnies, chickens, geese, donkeys, and plants.

Group photo at Hausbar Farms taken by Naomi

We have just a few more days of photographing and editing our images. The hard part is choosing a selection of photos for our portfolios and for display at our final showcase on Saturday, March 19th, from 3:30 – 4:30 pm.

Ben shows Mary the photo he has edited.