Community Art with a Purpose

Community Art with a Purpose

As modern technology emerged and new economic driven markets replaced old textile mills that once dominated small rural towns in America, communities of families have been displaced. The average mill worker obtained less than a high school education yet remains an extraordinary individual with skills and talents. Inadequate education inhibits yesterday’s workers from acquiring new jobs while monetarily affecting entire textile towns. Adobe has unleashed a new means for our community center to build a bridge between yesterday and today. By providing creative tools to execute unique hand-outs to promote useful community programs and services that enhance individual learning, Adobe has helped to increase our services.
The Fort Lawn Community Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to driving positive social change in our communities and surrounding towns. Among our programs are: career building opportunities through the accomplishment of GEDs, Literacy Lab, Workplace English, Computer Software training, Senior Citizen programs, and our Healthy Habits Outreach programs. Although we strive to unite a mixture of cultures planted in our communities to create a unique oneness, something was missing from our diverse garden - children and youth. “Art with a Purpose,” will help children and youth become responsible, well rounded adults.
Art classes conducted in small groups provide learning environments that encourage the growth of social skills such as self reliance and cooperative behavior, while enhancing reading, writing, math, and creative expression in children and youth. Fine Arts can become the catalyst that facilitates self-esteem and academic growth in children in these small communities. However, with the unemployment rate in Chester County at 20.8%, selling the idea of art classes for children is a tough task. In order to employ our new art workshops and fund them, we needed a creative means in which to project our ideas to the community.
With the tools in Adobe, it was possible to draw contour lines producing the energy of child-like drawings, import photos of students creating art, and integrate the text needed to kick-off our new ideas in an all-in-one flyer. We were astounded at the manner in which Adobe could turn an ordinary flyer into an extraordinary form of creative expression. Adobe gave us the power to create artistic flyers, handouts and brochures that not only announce our up-coming art workshops for children, but also reflect the artistic expression that can be expected when children attend the workshops. Adobe gave our hand-outs a uniqueness of their own that clearly demonstrates individual creative expression in fine arts.
On April 18, 2009, our Adobe flyers will be given out to thousands of guests visiting our annual community festival. With the creative ability that Adobe provided, we are confident that ‘Community Art with a Purpose’ will become a successful community service. Working together with Adobe in future endeavors; we hope to grow healthy communities, one creative flyer at a time.