Arts4All Florida is a local nonprofit that provides and encourages art education for people with learning disabilities.
Based in the College of Education at the University of South Florida, the program has traditionally offered camp programs that focused on a specific form of art, such as music, animation, or writing. These programs have traditionally taken place over a week, with “teaching artists” hired with expertise in their respective fields.
Starting February of this year, Arts4All Florida was holding a camp titled “Animation and More: Essentials for Work,” centered around teaching animation software to the people in its programs. According to Wendy Finklea, the Directors of Programs at the organization, the class was “primarily for transition-age students with autism and related disabilities … and are ready to learn software that may help in placing them in the job industry.” However, because of the pandemic, the organization had to cancel the rest of the classes in its series in the middle of March.
Despite the difficulties of the coronavirus and social distancing measures, Arts4All Florida has been able to adapt to the circumstances and empower disabled artists and their families through the use of online resources.
Arts4All Florida’s past webinars are available on their website, where one can also register for future webinars, all available for free of charge. As of the time of this writing, there are no webinars currently announced.
In addition to the webinar, the organization has continued to update their Pinterest with different art activities artists and families may want to participate in from home. The activities are separated by Pinterest’s “boards” into different categories.
Arts4All Florida has also created two new Facebook groups. The first, Artist Resources, posts and shares links and resources ranging from artist aid to virtual museum tours. The page was created to help artists throughout the quarantine period. The second group, At Home Activities, must be joined for users to access the content but works in tandem with the parents’ resources page on the organization’s site.
The organization has an especially large focus on children. Many of their classes are focused on children with disabilities, with residency and camp programs offered only for children with disabilities.
Their website also hosts a “Student of the Month” page that, according to the page, is used to “recognize a student in one of two different age groups (5-13) or (14-22) who exemplify outstanding work in and through the arts.” The aim is also to celebrate personal achievement for the children, which are also showcased in the organization’s monthly newsletter.
The website hosts a slew of resources for any artist with disabilities, as well as some for parents of children with disabilities. Despite the difficulties of the situation, Arts4All Florida has dedicated itself to adapting and overcoming quarantine regulations to continue to provide resources for artists in need.
