Community Outreach

roam van

Covid Message: To ensure the safety of our staff and community, Outreach programing is currently on hold due to COVID-19.

The Arts and Education Outreach Programs of the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts at Appalachian State University is committed to connecting university arts resources to a diverse audience of community arts patrons, teachers and learners to inspire a love of learning through the arts. Through participation in workshops, APP students, community members and school children of all ages can be part of a nurturing environment and experience the power and excitement of the arts to engage, discover, create and heal. Participants are invited to let go of the voice that whispers “but I am not an artist” and allow their creative spirits to soar.

Roam

Keep your eyes open for the Turchin Center’s Regional Outreach Art Mobile (ROAM) – a traveling classroom full of supplies to inspire artists of all ages and abilities to discover their artist within through creativity and design. The ROAM program supports the center’s vision to be an engaging and accessible resource responding to diverse educational, cultural and health needs by meeting participants wherever they are in their personal relationship with the visual arts and providing them with opportunities to access the power of the arts to help learn, grow and heal.

Per Pegge Laine, TCVA’s Community Outreach Coordinator, “Our mobile van and the ROAM program make materials and inspiration available to community members and their imagination and creativity do the rest.”

Outreach Programs

Hidden Talents

Adults in the Junaluska Community discover their hidden talents as they explore clay, collage, alcohol inks and painting. Meeting at the Boone Mennonite Brethren Church and at the Western Watauga Community Center, they are building an art community as they encourage and support one another through life’s challenges. Time together provides an opportunity to relieve stress and promote healing.


 

Beyond Our Walls

Watauga Opportunities serves disabled adults in the workplace. They support and encourage one another as they create work from the heart and strengthen self-esteem through each project completed. The wide range of abilities, physical, mental and emotional challenges participants find support in the encouragement they give one another.


 

Western Youth Network (WYN) with Art

This program serves adolescents in the Western Youth Network, in a relaxed
environment to build character and confidence through positive role models and skill development so that participants can reach their full potential. These students are able to express themselves creatively, often dealing with the stresses of home and school life through their art. They share their feelings, concerns and their hopes for the future as they explore materials and feel pride in their creations.


 

Healing Arts

The Healing Arts outreach program offers opportunities for homeless children and adults at the Hospitality House and Rock Haven to create art. The program provides a safe haven and creative play while making something special to keep with them as they journey through life.


 

Bethel Elementary School

A six-week expressive arts program for a third-grade class that focuses on self-esteem, community, problem solving and expressing emotions through art experiences.


 

Crack Pots: Clay at the Senior Center

A program of the Western Watauga Community Center, the participants in this lively workshop have embraced members of the Junaluska community and are mentoring them in their journey with clay. 


Ebenezer Children’s Home

Traveling in the ROAM van, TCVA staff work with groups of children living at the
Ebenezer Children’s Home. Each visit provides a supportive inviting environment for participants to express their feelings and rediscover their creative spirit through age-appropriate activities.