Announcement: Changes to the Art Education Program

The Joan Mitchell Foundation will be making changes to the Art Education Program during the 2015/2016 program year. The Foundation has engaged professional artists to offer high quality arts education to young people in New York City since 1997. While the same programs will continue this year through June 11, 2016, after this date the Art Education Program will stop offering studio and portfolio development classes. From the summer of 2016 through the end of 2017, the Foundation will focus on research and will pilot innovative educational opportunities for the artist community. We look forward to sharing the new education model with you in 2018.

For our Students and Parents:
Students who participated in one or more of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s Art Education programs during the 2014/2015 program year will be automatically re-enrolled in the same program at the same site when possible. However, in preparation for this transition, there are some changes to the course offerings for the 2015/2016 program year.

Please make note of the following changes:

• Automatic re-enrollment for students who participated in 2014/2015 Programs
We will be providing automatic and priority placement to all current participants. Therefore, if you were in a Joan Mitchell Foundation class last spring you will be automatically re-enrolled and we will populate any remaining space in the classes with individuals from our waitlist.

• No Beginner classes for new students in 3rd through 5th Grades
There will no longer be classes for beginner level students (grades 3 – 5) at the Grand Street location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn nor at Jacob Riis Settlement House in LIC. Those sites will have two middle school classes and one high school class.

• No classes at University Settlement
Classes will no longer be held at University Settlement in Manhattan. Students who were enrolled in that class may choose to attend classes at Grand Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

• New structure for Middle School Saturday Portfolio class for 7th graders
The Middle School Saturday Studios Portfolio class for 7th graders will be in partnership with Museum of Art and Design and take place at the Foundation’s Education & Research Center in Manhattan.

• Figure Drawing will occur weekly
Figure Drawing will take place weekly Wednesday evenings at the Foundation’s Education & Research Center in Manhattan. For ages 15-25 to enroll in this program please request enrollment via email at [email protected].

• New registration process for jumpstART
Registration for jumpstART will be facilitated by our partner organization CUE Art Foundation. To register, go to cueartfoundation.org/jumpstart

• Requesting Portfolio classes
If your child is interested in developing a portfolio for specialized high school or college admissions, we will do our best to enroll them in the portfolio classes. Please request enrollment via email at [email protected]

• There will be no Summer 2016 programming, including Summer Portfolio Intensive.

Parents and students will receive notification of the student's registration in the specific class or classes by Monday, September 14th. If you need to request a change to that placement or if you have any questions about the classes or changes in the Foundation’s Art Education Program, please email us at [email protected].