The love and celebration of the arts are alive and well in the Valparaiso community and thanks to the Spring into the Arts program, students, artists and all members of the community can enjoy Valparaiso's artistic display as they bring together art and the Valparaiso community all throughout May.
Organized and planned by Valparaiso Community Schools Art Department along with a partnership with the City of Valparaiso, starting on April 30th and continuing through May 28th, students from grades kindergarten through 5th will be able to display their various artwork across 6 different Valparaiso landmarks each corresponding to different themes.
"The art will be available across six different locations for our kick-off event, art-chitecture walk," says Spring Into the Arts Coordinator Jessica Corral. We want this to be a fun event for the community to engage in as well as walk around and visit famous landmarks in the Valpo community."
For the six locations, Valparaiso Library, City Hall, Memorial Opera House, Porter County Building, Porter County Museum, and Urschel Pavilion will host grades kindergarten through 5th respectively. Each location will hold a central theme with kindergarteners having a theme of book characters, 1st graders having a theme based on community roles, 2nd graders having a theme based on 'characters' of art, 3rd graders having a theme of local government roles, 4th graders having a theme of historical facts and 5th graders having a theme of characteristics of respectable citizens.
Each of the locations and art exhibits will also feature interactive QR codes revealing more information, videos, and other media giving more depth to the exhibits and the process students went through during the preparation and creation phase of their artwork.
"Along with the art displays, we've also asked local businesses, restaurants, and storefronts to help spread the word by choosing a creative way to display student's artwork," says Coral. "Along with the event, we're going to give incentives for people to visit each location and really walk around and explore."
The kick-off event beginning on April 30th is only the beginning as 11 more art related events are planned until May 28th. Ranging in variety from comedy productions to Valparaiso University senior capstone projects to film festivals, a wide variety of art will be on display for the community to witness and interact with.
"We have plenty of events lined up for the rest of the summer that aims to target all kinds of art," says Coral. "Our final event is called Where Did Van Gough, a tribute to the artist Vincent Van Gough. It's the perfect timing too as the Chicago Art Institute is also celebrating the artist around the same time."
Many of the events feature donated equipment from both ADTRAN and Frontier Communications as part of their ABC Communities initiative. With Valparaiso currently being in the semi-finals, it comes as the perfect opportunity for the City of Valparaiso to make the push towards informing the community of the importance and significance of an art district.
"It's really a community effort from everyone to bring the arts to more people in the community," says Corral. "It's an opportunity for businesses to become involved in displaying art in creative ways, bringing in new people and artists and opening up the arts to the community. That is what art is all about."
Photo by Edward Byrne. You can view more of his work here
To see the full list of events, please click here
To find out more about the upcoming events, please visit the official website.
If you are interested in sponsorships or submitting a live artist, please visit their questions page.