Inaugural Young Artists Workshop Offers More Than Just Art Lessons

will host a free “Young Artists Workshop” program series in conjunction with the upcoming event, happening Apr. 27 through 29. The free program is aimed at St. Charles middle school and high school students.

“These students are the key to the future of community support and involvement in the arts,” SCRA Board President Lou Cariffe said. “Students and teachers from as well as private, public and home middle and high schools in St. Charles will be involved.”

Joseph Alsobrook, dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Lindenwood University said the workshops offer a “win-win” opportunity.

“Local middle and high school students get to apply and refine their artistic abilities, while Lindenwood art education students or graduates get to apply and refine their instructional abilities,” Alsobrook said in a press release.

“The workshop series will broaden an interested student's exposure to different instructors and techniques,” Cariffe added.

Cariffe said this is the first time the program is being offered. The inaugural “Young Artists Workshop” series will be held weekly at the on Main Street in . The program begins on Tuesday, Mar. 20 and will run through Tuesday, Apr. 24.

She said after the series ends, student artists will be asked to select two to three pieces they completed during the workshop sessions to be displayed in a special gallery during the Spring ArtWalk event in April.

According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, the arts “are essential to preparing our nations young people for a global economy fuled by innovation and creativity and for a social discourse that demands communications in images and sound as well as in text.”

In fact, kids who participate in arts learning experiences often improve other areas of learning, and even their lives in general, according to a report published by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA).

NASAA’s report points out a growing body of studies that presents “compelling evidence connecting student learning in the arts to a wide spectrum of academic and social benefits.”

“In a well-documented national study using a federal database of over 25,000 middle and high school students, researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles found students with high arts involvement performed better on standardized achievement tests than students with low arts involvement,” reads the report. “Moreover, the high arts-involved students also watched fewer hours of TV, participated in more community service and reported less boredom in school.”

Things to remember

• The program is open to all St. Charles students, including those enrolled at public and private schools, as well as home-schooled students.
• Students will be able to choose from a number of different sessions taught by Lindenwood University art education students and alumni, as well as several professional working artists. The sessions include drawing, painting or sculpture sessions.
• While the program is free to St. Charles Students, it’s limited to the first 40 who sign up, so be sure to visit www.saintcharlesriverfrontarts.com and click on the “Workshop” link to register soon. Registration is first come, first served.