Arts Bus Inc

The impact of the Arts Bus Project seeks from its work is (1) consistent integration of & improvement in the quality art programming provided to children of Central Vermont; (2) emphasizing public commitment to the life priority of art; (3) affirming the value of the region’s many excellent artists and cultural institutions as EncourageMentors and resources; and (4) connecting art to the heart & hands of generations of children.

Each year, we evaluate and reset our short- and long-term strategic goals to meet the needs of the communities we serve. In 2019, we made over 70 stops, served 1540 children directly and indirectly impacted over 16,000 people in the State of Vermont , or 3% of the state's population by a single-employee nonprofit with $65,000 in Gross Revenues. This might be a small organization, but we are efficient & mighty! Our 2020 program includes stops at libraries, schools, camps and public-access locations with the following goals:

• Provide 130+ opportunities for children to receive quality art-education in a safe environment for NO CHARGE to the family beyond the payments they make for after care, summer camp, or event charges. Achieve up to 2,000 direct art education interactions with young blooming artists in a variety of settings, year-round.

• Foster and achieve 10 connections of community participation. This spans from working with volunteers & crafting communities to make kits “ready-for-assembly” to having the kids’ creations make debuts on a big stage at The Chandler Center for The Arts and the galleries at The Chandler, Gifford Medical, and through local public viewing spaces.

• Positively influencing, mentoring, and nurturing Central Vermont’s at-risk youth by providing art education and literacy, skills/techniques laddering, progressive development & composition – with the aim to create the spark of joy that leads to voluntary participation, self-reliance, pride in outcomes.

Our Long-Term Goals are (Years 3+):
• Show demonstrable art education, skills/techniques laddering, progressive development and composition in Central Vermont’s youth.

• Provide progressive andragogic and pedagogic learning, evidenced in art product of children over time and quantitative/qualitative data collection methods (interviews, observation, surveys, feedback loops).

• Achieve mission fulfillment through subjective feedback, photos, verbal, and written documentation of empowering joy and authentic self-expression through the arts.

• Consistently deliver 150+ bus stops for the community’s children, from which we have memories & smiles across generations of Central Vermonters who have participated in a community of art.

• From all of the above, a measurable decrease in at-risk children in Central Vermont with indicators of increased artistic abilities, expression, and outlets. This would also be measured in parental and youth resiliency, social connections, and cognitive, social & emotional competence of children.

The Arts Bus best practices are formed through experience, feedback, research, process- & self-improvement. And, they are aligned with CSSP’s identified Protective & Promotive Factors, as the “Everyday Actions” that build both are what we do!

Protective: Our programs are in safe, friendly spaces with familiar, knowledgeable art-educators & EncourageMentors; provide consistent child development, reliable in all times, including times of need; specifically address social & emotional competence-building through the practice of art and empowerment of authentic self-expression.

Promotive: By providing art/craft lessons, programs, kits & educators, we are intent on mentoring in the arts – written, visual, performance, edible, S.T.E.A.M., textile, mixed-medium – for all children. Each stop has 8-30 children for whom we customize age-appropriate lesson plans, foster creativity, guide to authentic self-expression, and learn from to allow for progressive social, emotional & knowledge development.

Compelling recent research is always instrumental in our program framework, including Univ of New Hampshire’s, 2017 “Understanding Early Childhood Education Needs & Opportunities in the Upper Valley” White Paper, “Working Families’ Access to Early Childhood Education”, Carsey Research Brief #137, CSSP’s research & publications, help-for-helpers workshops, program formation participation & evaluation from stakeholders.

The Arts Bus is mobile, thus its greatest asset is the ability to drive to the children and close the distance between the needs of the community and the resources to satify them. The magic of the bus is evident each time a child climbs up the stairs and enters a classroom filled with opportunities for creative imagination. At eye-level are bins of colorful paper & pens, watercolors & canvasses, costumes & make-up, writing pads & books, scissors & tape, glue & glitter. Hand-puppets Sunny Girl & Joe Cool greet each child with giant smiles, waiting to be given a voice (with clean hands). A library of books, from fantasy to coloring to poetry, are ready to be plucked and taken home. And, ever present is a local Artist-Educator ready to share an art lesson, offer a new skill and empower a child to find joy & authentic self-expression through the arts.

After 11 years of operations, the Arts Bus is firmly rooted in the community it serves and has built a network of support and resources. From fundraising to art educators to supply donations, the strength of the mission has engendered continuous loyalty and contribution. The organization also has thrived under direction of its recently appointed Executive Director and Legacy Gifts from long-standing donors and the founders of the nonprofit. This speaks to its resiliency and capabilities to continue to achieve The Arts Bus mission for another decade and more!

In the midst of 2008, The Arts Bus was an idea formed by a group of Central Vermonters in response to the need for children to have consistent & meaningful exposure to the arts. The group shared a conviction that learning through & living with the arts should not be peripheral, but basic in the educating process, of high quality & wide variety. They agreed that proximity to the arts accelerated healthy development during early childhood & served people through every subsequent stage of life, profoundly affecting human function and fulfillment. The Arts Bus debuted May 8, 2010 at the Fiddlehead Festival in Randolph, VT, and since that day-- with consistent support from grantors, family trusts & foundations, township appropriations & program clients--the bus has directly connected the joy of art to children over 13,250 times!

Now in its second decade of rolling through the green hills of Central Vermont, The Arts Bus is a fixture of quality art education, facilitating children to explore their own innate creativity, irrespective of economic means or geographic proximity to an arts center. We write grants, find sponsors, use creativity, and problem-solve to consistently achieve our mission and deliver fresh annual programming. There is no charge to climb aboard The Arts Bus, and there never will be. By providing a mobile art education service, The Arts Bus is driven to provide a creative resource right where our communities need it most.