Thursday, March 10, 2011

MIAMI’S HOTTEST FOOD TRUCKS TEAM UP WITH ARTISTS TO FEED KIDS ‘BODY AND SOUL’

The dynamic arts non-profit Artoconecto presents KIDSART BRIDGES: Tolerance and Understanding In Our World, the third annual series of summer arts camps that will take place locally at artists’ studios in Miami, and internationally in Gvozd, Croatia. This summer, Miami’s hottest food trucks, including Ms. Cheezious, Wing Commander, Mac and Food, Gastropod and Catered Bliss will team up with local artists to feed kids ‘body and soul’. “We are very gratified that the arts community and the wildly popular food trucks of Miami have so generously embraced KIDSART,” says Executive Director Alexandra Rangel, “and we are excited that we will have the opportunity to expand the program internationally.”

Five artists in the Miami area, including Bhakti Baxter, Leda Almar, Doug Hoekzema, Pachi Giustinian and Sinisa Kukec, will conduct one camp per week, on Saturdays from 10 AM to 1PM. The camps will include all materials and art supplies. After each project, the kids will find a different food truck waiting, parked outside the artists’ studios. “We want to feed the kids ‘body and soul’,” says Rangel, “and lunch at a food truck after the workshops continues the fun and discovery for the kids.”

Children in Miami from the ages of 6 through 12 are welcome to participate this summer, where camps will run concurrently with the participation of children from the war torn city of Gvozd in Croatia. Children and artists from both cities will work side by side to create meaningful pieces of artwork that reflect the theme of tolerance and understanding in our world. Artists in Croatia include Hrvojé Mitrov, Stipe Zoroja, Lila Herceg, Nikola Faller and Aleksandra Podrebarac. In addition, Artoconecto is excited to announce that they have been awarded their second grant from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs for KIDSART, as well as a generous grant from international arts organization CEC Artslink. This will allow Artoconecto to expand its children’s program and partner with the Croatian organization Sunkocret (Sunflower) Center for Community Development. The grants will facilitate both organizations’ implementation of a five-week arts camp where kids will participate in collaborative art projects designed by established artists. The pieces produced during the camps, alongside the artwork of the participating artists, will be exhibited in a gallery space in December, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011.

THE KIDSART BRIDGES program this year will have the participation of four under-privileged children selected through a partnership with Art Studio Miami, who will receive full scholarships for the camps. It is a tremendous opportunity to not only have your child participate in the most exciting arts camp in Miami, but also, you will directly contribute to sponsoring a child.

“KIDSART helps kids build a meaningful foundation for learning, and all kids deserve the chance to fulfill their potential,” says Rangel.

Starting day: Saturday July 30th

Continues on: August 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th.

Times: from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Contribution to the program, tax deductible: $100 per child: includes materials, lunch and sponsorship of under-privileged children.

Space is limited to 20 children.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011



CALL FOR PROPOSALS
DEADLINE MARCH 31ST, 2011


Requesting Artist for Art Camps
Benefiting Miami's At Risk-Youth & Children in Foster.



The local arts advocacy organization Artoconecto, Inc, in conjunction with Art Studio Miami, Empowering Young Minds, are seeking local emerging visual artists, who have bold and exciting artistic ideas ready to be implemented at a series of arts camps for at-risk youth and children in foster care, at Art Studio's location in Little Haiti. The camps are scheduled to start March 2011 and will run consecutively through May. Artists in all mediums are invited to participate. The goal is to select two emerging artists who are ready and enthusiastic about implementing their dream project and work with a group of children in need, on a volunteer basis in exchange for valuable Teaching Artist experience and training. In addition the chosen artist's will have the opportunity to be eligible for a paid summer teaching artist position with Artoconecto's KIDSART program and a possible artist-in-residency at Art Studio.



Artoconecto's KIDSART program, in partnership with Art Studio, will provide selected artists with the tools, materials, population of at-risk youth, space, technical support and guidance necessary to successfully complete their art projects, therefore training them as teaching artists and adding a valuable set of skills to their CV/Resumes. Once selected for the volunteer Teaching Artist training, these artists will be recognized and participate with an honorarium in a paid position at the summer art camp of Artoconecto's KIDSART program, making it a sustainable and rewarding experience for the artist who in the process becomes an agent of change. In addition, the artists will be eligible to become an artist-in-residence within Art Studio.



Artoconecto is expanding the KIDSART project within Art Studio's premises, where during two months and under the tutelage of one artist per month, a population of children in need in the area of Little Haiti, will receive an afterschool arts program (2pm-6pm weekdays) that will serve as a compliment to their primary education.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD APPLICATION