ART COURSES ARE GOOD VALUE
Do you want to experience joy and a sense of well-being? Or belong to a community of creative individuals? These are just a few things you get from enrolling in an art course.
A spring or summer art course at the Vancouver Island School of Art is good value. For $195 you get 12 hours of instruction by a highly qualified professional artist. One hour with a psychologist is $200, and while the two experiences are different, there are similarities. People who make art or participate in therapy are often looking for the same results: a sense of well-being.
The only way that the Vancouver Island School of Art can survive in Victoria, is if people take art courses with us. Many of you appreciate knowing that there is a great art school in your town, but we need people to register for art courses to keep the doors open. There has been a notable decline in registrations compared to last year at this time. We understand that the cause of this is multi-faceted, including people eager to travel as it gets warmer and places open up post Covid related closures. And with the increased cost of almost everything, some might perceive art as a luxury.
Art courses are not a luxury. The arts offer a way to survive during these very challenging times with worries such as Covid, the war in Ukraine, the climate crisis, inflation, and many other things causing us everyday stress. In an art course, you live in the moment and you can take your mind off the worries of the world for a short period. An art course can give you a mini-vacation while learning new things about art making and who you are as a person. And it gives you the opportunity to meet a great community of individuals. Many of our students have become lifellong friends.
In case you are skeptical about how art can help your mental health, here are some articles to check out:
Those of you who have taken art courses already, need no convincing regarding the benefits gained. However, even if you know how good the experience is, something might be holding you back from registering for a course at this time. Maybe you aren't sure what to take. Or you are wondering whether you have time for a course with the demands of summer gardening or other commitments. Make the time. Take the plunge. Sign up for an art course today. It will be good for you and VISA.
VISA's survival depends on you taking art courses. An art school is like a plant, if it doesn't get water (i.e. people taking courses), it will cease to thrive. We have a
great range of in-person and online courses that include drawing, painting, mixed-media, photography and craft. Each course is 3 hours per week for 6 weeks. There are two sessions of 6-week courses for you to choose from: Spring (May-June) and Summer (July-August).
If you have a hectic schedule in the summer, consider taking an online course, so that if you have to miss a session due to summer plans, you can review the recording later at your own leisure.
There are other ways to help the school such as making a
small monthly donation, but the best way anyone can ensure VISA's longevity is to take an
art course or encourage others to do so.
Another way you could help is to buy a gift certificate for a friend of family member for our drop-in online sessions:
Draw by Drawing ($20) or
Watercolour Mondays ($25). The recipient can select a session that works best with their schedule. These are great sessions to introduce people to art making. They are geared towards complete beginners.
Check out our
website and sign up for a course or drop-in session today.
I would love it if some of you show your support by emailing me a testimonial of your experience with taking an art course and how it improved your mental health and sense of well-being. These will be used for promotional purposes on social media.
Thanking you in advance for your support,
Wendy
Wendy Welch
Executive Director.
