Since last summer, the Catskill Mountain Artisan Guild has been in collaboration with The Arc of Delaware County to develop and implement a community arts resource program to better help meet the needs, desires and dreams of some of the individuals within its organization. Hence, Creating Art Together, the “CAT” program has come to life. Creating Art Together will focus on creating workshops, mentorships and social venues for individuals from The Arc and additionally offer to various members of the local senior community an invitation to join into the same programming. “The need for this type of programming has been talked about for many years, but it seems now is the right time”, says Jill Cline, Guild Director. “The focus and support from the community are all on the same page”.

The idea for the programming came from discussions and research over the past nine months between Sheri Hull, Thrive Program Director of The Arc of Delaware County and Jill Cline, and is in direct response from what they collaboratively felt was needed by individuals within the organization. Realizing that there were other groups from the community that could benefit from this type of programming, Peg Ellsworth, Executive Director of the M-ARK Project was asked to work with them to more effectively develop this pilot program to create equal opportunities and make it available to other individuals in need within the county. “We are a very lucky group of artists to have the chance to work with The Arc to create programming like this for Delaware County!” notes Cline.

The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development has offered their community room for the on-site CAT Program. The monthly workshops started on May 6th and will focus on introducing individuals from The Arc to a wide variety of creative programming including fine arts, crafts and performing arts. Regional artists with expertise in a specific art form will teach these month long workshops, meeting on four consecutive Fridays from 10:45am to 12:15 pm. Senior citizens from different community groups will also be invited to attend these workshops to address their needs to get out and socially interact. Nat Thomas will assist in administrating the workshops and kicked the program off with an “Introduction to Drawing” workshop. This will be followed by Tabitha Gilmore-Barnes “Introduction to Weaving” workshop in June. Other workshops being offered throughout the year will include: “Dancing” with Pattie Dell, “Watercolors” with Sharon Suess, “Sewing” with Kathy Grassi, “Writing” with Ellen Stewart, “Printmaking” with Gerda van Leeuwen, “Beading” with Jeanine Pascarella and classes in pottery, singing, collage and performance arts. These low cost workshops will be available to the general public if space is available and community volunteers would be very welcome.
The workshops will also help identify future artists from within The Arc program who desire to further develop their skills in a specific area of art. A one-on-one mentorship program will be individually designed between The Arc individual and a community artist to help them fine-tune their skills. Two mentorships have already begun with artists, Barbara Petrini and Paula DeSimone working with individuals to create “greeting cards” and “jewelry”. These new emerging artists will be invited to promote their work with fellow community artists at regional galleries, shows and markets. The “CAT” program will ultimately help Arc individuals be a part of the public and become independent, active artists in the Catskill Mountain Artisans Guild.

Later this summer this community arts resource program will also develop multi-arts programming that will travel off-site to other immobile groups within Delaware County to create equal opportunities for individuals who may not be able to attend other workshops. Teams of artists will travel monthly to four additional sites to offer a wide array of arts programming including, but not limited to, workshops, music, dance, lectures and readings. The focus of these workshops will be to use arts as a vehicle to create lively events and bring a sense of social connection within the community.
“This is just a beginning,” says Peg Ellsworth “the CAT program will look to expand to meet the needs and offer community programming to other diverse groups and individuals in Delaware County.” In the future, Creating Art Together will further look to develop art programs that teach work habits to economically disabled groups, helping them gain the tools needed to succeed at opportunities to better their lives. Also envisioned is interactive children & youth programming, as well as a permanent site that could house a gallery to share their work with the public.

The CAT program is coordinated through the Catskill Mountain Artisans Guild in collaboration with The Arc of Delaware County, the M-ARK Project and funded in part by the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation. For more information please Call: 845-586-3443, Email: jilll@catsguild.org.