What is the Urban Arts Academy? We are a neighborhood-based, non-profit organization that offers culturally inclusive arts, music and academic tutoring programs. Who do we serve?   We serve preschool through middle-school aged youth and their families who primarily reside in the four center-city neighborhoods of Bancroft, Bryant, Central, and Powderhorn. Many youth participants are in need of academic as well as social supports to enhance their social and personal skills. These youth are also often under served in programs that offer non-traditional learning opportunities. What programs and services do we offer at the Urban Arts Academy? After School Arts and Academic Enrichment, brings students together with artists from a variety of expressive mediums to learn, create and perform. Students also receive small group homework and academic support Summer Arts, providing five weeks of arts, music, dance and other expressive mediums for up to 50 elementary and lower middle school aged students. Family Arts, brings together neighborhood children and families to work with a professional artist to create an art piece as a family Community Arts, which brings together neighborhood people together to create a community arts project Preschool Arts, offering open-ended arts experiences to build literacy and math skills for neighborhood children, ages 3 to 5yrs Performance Arts, providing opportunities for children to gain deeper proficiency in various performance areas. History Late in 1999, our host site, Calvary Lutheran Church, received an estate gift from a life-long, elderly member who had a distinguished career as a local jazz musician. Because of his interest in the arts, the commitment was made to complete an extensive community needs assessment to determine the need for a multicultural community school of the arts. The task force charged to do this assessment involved the following stakeholders in south Minneapolis: education, human services, arts communities, churches and families. The result was an overwhelming level of community support for a multicultural community school of the arts, named the Urban Arts Academy. The initial oversight of this new venture was provided by The Crossroads Foundation, a not-for-profit community foundation created by Calvary Church. The Foundation, in turn, formed the Urban Arts Academy. An initial Board of Directors was appointed in 2001 and in February 2002, the Academy received its approval as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Following a seven-week pilot program with 60 neighborhood youth in spring of 2001, the Academy was officially launched in October 2001. The Academy has run strong since that opening day, and it has evolved to include elementary programming after school throughout the academic year and a five-week Summer Arts Camp, which has grown from a two-week program in Year 1. In fall 2006, the Academy will offer a Performance Track, offer a deeper study of the performance arts and Preschool Arts serving students three to five years of age. Mission Statement The mission of the Academy is to bring neighborhood people together from diverse cultures by providing creative experiences in the arts with children and families to develop the gifts of self-expression and community. Values The guiding principles or values that undergird the work of the Academy include arts programming that: 1. reflects the unique attributes of the world cultures living within our community; 2. is designed to empower participants, offering tools (artistic, social, etc) to strengthen self-esteem and success in life; 3. develops out of community need (lack of arts opportunities, especially during summer months), without regard to religious affiliation; 4. is founded and built on the principle of collaboration between students, families, artists, community, staff, and board. Artistic Goals The artistic goals are to offer arts experiences to students and adults that: 1. provide a safe environment in which all participants can explore, experiment and find their own creative voice under the guidance of professional, practicing artists; 2. build cultural bridges and strengthens cultural identities in our participants, our artists and our community; 3. challenge all persons involved – students and adults – to create, explore and learn from one another; 4. offer choices in a variety of artistic disciplines. Location 3901 Chicago Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55407 612.827.1641