Art has been a public focus as of late in the Castle Country Area. Whether it be the Helper Arts Festival, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, or various vendors at local celebrations peddling their art, it’s something residents of the area have come to love.
This posed the question for some,” How can I get into art without breaking the bank?” And thanks to the Visual Art Institute alongside Utah State Extension, there’s an answer to that question with new Virtual Art Classes for Rural Communities. Castle Country Radio sat down with program director Jessica Bedingfield to learn more about what is being offered.
Firstly, Bedingfield described what the Visual Art Institute is and what it aims to accomplish,” We’ve been around since 1978, so we’re one of the oldest art education nonprofits in the state.” she continued,” And our priority has always been to make art classes high quality and affordable to everyone in our community.”
Beddingfield then explained what the idea behind the Virtual Art Class for Rural Communities is,” Our thought process behind the program is that there are some areas within our state that just don’t have access to quality art education and have to go to YouTube to watch videos about how to do art, and they just don’t get that interactive instructor experience. We want to make that experience available to as many people as we can.”
As for how the group plans to accomplish this lofty goal, Bedingfield stated,” We’re offering four art classes this fall as a test run to see if people are interested in accessing art education from rural communities. But we hope that people get on board and get to participate with our amazing instructors and learn a lot.”
To take advantage of this opportunity and participate in these virtual classes, sign-ups can be found on the Visual Art Institute’s website. These classes are $50 for a full semester or $15 for a single class drop-in. “We’re super excited … I’m happy to answer questions or walk people through the process so that they can feel comfortable about what they’re getting involved in.”