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GRACE Collaborates with the Lamoille Housing Partnership and SASH
to offer workshops to residents of Senior Affordable housing in Lamoille County. Read on to learn more about this exciting program:
LAMOILLE HOUSING PARTNERSHIP COLLABORATES WITH GRACE
Art workshops offered to residents at senior affordable housing sites
Jeffersonville, VT | September 10, 2018. Lamoille Housing Partnership (LHP), Grassroots Art and Community Effort (GRACE), and SASH (Support and Services at Home) are collaborating on a project to offer monthly art workshops to residents at several of LHP’s affordable, senior housing sites in Lamoille County.
On a steamy summer morning at Lamoille Housing Partnership’s senior apartments in Jeffersonville, four elderly women gather around a table painting, drawing, and coloring, chatting and laughing amiably. They are participating in a free art workshop organized and offered by GRACE, a Hardwick based non-profit that works with underserved populations such as seniors and adults with disabilities, and focuses on “empowering individuals through transformative art experiences, which lead to creative growth and self-discovery.”
“The goal of this specific project, and all GRACE workshops, is to offer quality art programming to populations in the community that might otherwise not have access to arts,” says GRACE executive director, Kathryn Lovinsky. “By bringing this workshop to LHP’s affordable senior housing sites, we are reaching community members who might be able to leave their apartments to have this experience.”
Fran Recchia, an instructor from GRACE, facilitates the workshop. “Today, we are working with color,” she says. Recchia has brought watercolors, crayons, colored pencils, and paper; participants are also encouraged to bring personal art projects to the workshop. While the women craft, they share stories about their families, reminisce about the past, and admire each other’s creations. The conversation is occasionally interspersed with Recchia’s supportive and gentle instruction, but the workshop is otherwise open ended; this is intentional, and allows the participants to engage their own creative voice. The participants like that the program gives them a reason to get out of their apartments and connect with their neighbors. Another perk? “I like it because I don’t have to drive anywhere.”
Many of GRACE’s workshops take place in participants’ residences, such as nursing homes and senior care centers; Lovinsky explains that because of this, “it seemed natural to partner with LHP and SASH to offer workshops in affordable senior housing.”
“When Kathryn proposed this collaborative project to LHP, we were immediately on board,” says Kerrie Lohr, LHP’s public relations manager.
SASH coordinator Maxine Adams was in support of the project, too. As the resident coordinator for LHP’s senior housing sites, Adams is in tune with the unique needs of and accommodations for elderly populations. “Positive social interaction contributes to the maintenance of physical health and a clear mind,” she explains. “This type of arts programming, which has a prominent social aspect to it, is important to the maintenance of older Vermonters’ independence. Bringing it directly to home locations is crucial since it’s difficult for folks to get out due to individual mobility issues and a lack of convenient transportation.”
Lovinsky hopes that the project’s model is successful enough to not just continue into the future, but also expand – her goal is to replicate the program, and partner with other affordable housing organizations throughout Vermont to offer the program to affordable senior housing sites statewide.
In addition to this project, GRACE offers a number of free workshops open to the public, instructional classes for adults, and is involved in several community improvement projects such as the Community Mural Project.
Grass Roots Art and Community Effort (GRACE) is focused on empowering individuals through transformative art experiences, which lead to creative growth and self-discovery. At the core of GRACE is a commitment to unite diverse communities through the process of art making and exhibitions. The Lamoille Housing Partnership (LHP) develops, rehabilitates and maintains safe, decent, energy efficient affordable housing through rental, home ownership, or other means to low and moderate income persons and families living within Lamoille County and the Town of Hardwick. LHP provides such assistance without discrimination or prejudice using a combination of private and public funding partnerships. Support and Services at Home (SASH,) part of Vermont’s Blueprint for Health, is an innovative, supportive-services model that combines the strengths of social service agencies, community health providers and nonprofit housing organizations to help Vermonters remain living safely and healthily at home. Created by Cathedral Square in 2011 and now operating in more than 100 Vermont communities, SASH supports participating seniors who live in affordable housing, as well as those receiving Medicare and living in communities where SASH is in place. The program is voluntary, with services provided free of charge to those who sign up.
Family Art Workshop
Thursday November 8th & 29th
Thursday December 13th & September 27th
9:00 – 11:00 am
FREE workshop
Coffee, Drinks and snacks will be provided
at the Old Firehouse in Hardwick across from the post office
Come for all or part of the workshop, no art experience necessary, all ages welcome. We will have lots of art materials to explore including paints, watercolor, markers as well as three-dimensional projects!
All children must be accompanied by an adult
Call or email with any questions! 472-6857 kathryn.graceart@gmail.com
Mill Street Mural Project
October 2018
The first of 5 panels to be installed on the Mill Street Parking Lot wall as part of the Mill Street Mural Project, organized and sponsored by Grass Roots Art & Community Effort (GRACE). On Saturday October 6th, the mural artist Tara Goreau and GRACE staff set up a Community Paint Day in the park next to Positive Pie, and invited the community to participate in a “Paint by Numbers” rendition of Tara’s design on three of the 5 mural panels. The result was fun, engaging and fruitful. “This project has been in the works for a couple of years now – we are so excited to see the first panel complete and installed on the wall, and it was so encouraging to have so many community members participate in our community paint day!” says GRACE Executive Director Kathryn Lovinsky. The mural was designed by Tara Goreau to celebrate Hardwick – it’s rich past, present and looking into the future. Lovinsky describes the vision for the mural: “There are elements of history woven through the mural in buildings, the granite and railroad industry as well as Abenaki peoples. There are also recognizable landmarks like the Judevine Library, Buffalo Mountain as well as depictions of the Memorial Day Parade/Tulip Festival, and celebration of our rich outdoors culture, agriculture and more!” This project has been supported by several local private donors as well as Hardwick businesses, in-kind materials donations and a grant of $1,000 from the Pleasants Fund of the Greensboro United Church of Christ. We are also excited to share the award of a grant from Spark! a grant fund of the Vermont Community Foundation. “It’s wonderful to see so much support from the town for this project in many different arenas from monetary donations, time, fundraising efforts, materials and creative participation” says Lovinsky. The first panel will be installed through October, then it will return to Tara’s studio for the winter where the others will be completed and the entire mural rehung in May 2019.
Family Art Workshop
Thursday October 11th, October 25th
Thursday September 13th, September 27th
9:00 – 11:00 am
FREE workshop
Coffee, Drinks and snacks will be provided
at the Old Firehouse in Hardwick across from the post office
Come for all or part of the workshop, no art experience necessary, all ages welcome. We will have lots of art materials to explore including paints, watercolor, markers as well as three-dimensional projects!
All children must be accompanied by an adult
Call or email with any questions! 472-6857 kathryn.graceart@gmail.com
