Young children and their families are invited to participate in the Start With the Arts Festival on Saturday, September 11, 2010 from 10:30 to 12:30 at the Hiddenite Educational Center. The festival will include dance, music, and special art activities along with displays of children’s art, food and fun! You will not want to miss this exciting opportunity designed with children in mind. All activities are FREE! The Start With the Arts Festival is the culmination of Start With the Arts Alexander, funded by the LEGO Children’s Fund which provided a $5,000 grant to the Alexander Partnership for Children for Start With the Arts.
The Start with the Arts Program was developed by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and followed a curriculum to introduce the participating children to visual arts, creative drama, creative movement, and music with a literacy enhancement component. Four sessions that lasted eight weeks were held during the past year. Each session included a theme that allowed participating children to receive take home materials to extend the session into their home with parental support. Parents and children participated in each session together. Martha Burgin, artist with the Hiddenite Center taught the classes which reached out to over sixty children and families in Alexander County.
