CREATIVE ARTS SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Scholarships are offered to students who could not otherwise afford to attend. MOCA encourages talented children from economically disadvantaged families to apply for full scholarships. By contributing to the Creative Arts Scholarship Fund, you can directly support our mission to educate and serve the entire community.

$150 allows one child to attend one week of classes; for $1,200, one child can attend all eight sessions; and for $2,000 you can become a program sponsor.

To qualify for a scholarship, a child must demonstrate eligibility for free or reduced cost lunch through the Federal School Lunch Program. Applicants must also submit examples of their artwork and write a brief essay stating why they wish to attend the program. Overwhelming response last year enabled approximately 75 children to attend classes on scholarship.

Programs include:

CREATIVE ARTS

Hands-on studio instruction, art history and tours of MOCA exhibitions under the guidance of art teachers for students 6-12 years old. Classes are held monthly, October to June and for 6 one-week sessions during the summer. Approximately 400 participants.

CREATIVE ARTS SUMMER CAMP

Children ages 6 to 12 can discover the entire history of world art while experimenting in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, print-making, and sculpture at MOCA’s exciting eight week art program. All of MOCA's instructors are experienced art teachers and educators, who are ably assisted by MOCA's teen counselors. This year, we have expanded these classes to a full instead of half-day program, five days a week for eight weeks.

PROGRAMS

TEEN DAY FESTIVAL

MOCA’s corps of teens play an active role in the production and presentation of this annual day-long festival which brings over 400 teens and their families together to participate in all-day workshops that increase awareness of the arts as a career choice. MOCA has found that teens and contemporary art are a great combination. Contemporary art is particularly appealing and relevant to teenagers, as it often focuses on social issues, involves multi-media and multi-sensory techniques, and is often interactive.

JUNIOR DOCENTS

Free, after-school art history and creative writing instruction benefiting minority youth. The aim is to enable teens to develop critical thinking skills in the visual arts and learn on-site about career possibilities in various art fields. Museums are natural partners for after-school programming and MOCA has found that its efforts in this area have had a particularly positive impact in the lives of its participants, resulting in internships, jobs and higher education opportunities. The results of this program are measurable and effective. Your support can help us to continue giving teens at-risk a promising future.

MOCA'ZINE

MOCA’s Junior Docents and High School students from Miami-Dade County write, design, and produce South Florida's only art journal for teenagers (one of only three in the nation). A primary aim of this program is to introduce students to careers in the visual arts and art journalism. Participating students have the opportunity to learn about the world and business of contemporary art, meet professional art journalists, museum professionals, artists, etc. and work with highly skilled editors and graphic designers. Past participants were offered the opportunity to write for the Miami Herald. MOCA’Zine is distributed free to over 45,000 public high school students twice a year. The national magazine Teens Talk Out Loud (circulation 60,000) runs a monthly MOCA’Zine column, increasing our exposure to include teens throughout the state. MOCA'Zine is also available on MOCA's website.

SUMMER JOURNALISM INSTITUTE AT MOCA

This offers a six-week program in journalism that will target inner city youth and offer them the opportunity to write on art in relation to their communities. Students will learn about all aspects of journalism and arts criticism and will attend field trips to the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel, hear lectures by guest speakers in the field of journalism and art, and be exposed to the journalism programs at local universities. Approximately 25 students will attend this program.

HEART TO HEART

MOCA works closely with mentally and physically disabled children, youth, and adults throughout the community through partnerships with Jewish Community Services (JCS) of North Miami, North Miami Beach Senior High School's Project FIT: Friends in Training program, and Miami-Dade County Public Schools ESE program (for children with special needs). HeART to HeART is a unique, year-round program consisting of weekly and bi-weekly 90-minute workshops that comprise of a tour of MOCA exhibitions and related hands-on art project designed to increase participant's social cognitive and motor skills. MOCA is the only south Florida museum that has an ESE educator provided by the public school systems, who designs and leads tours of the museum’s exhibitions and arranges transportation for all available special needs school children in the Miami-Dade County public school system. This is part of the Art Treks program supported by the visual arts department of the MDCPS Division of Life Skills.

WOMEN ON THE RISE!

This innovative program is a series of 16 two-hour workshops that provides training in art history, creative writing, reading, and art to 200 minority, at-risk teen girls at four centers for alternative education in Miami-Dade County. After studying the lives and work of important female artist, students are encouraged to develop a critical understanding of art by creating their own works and writings to boost their self-esteem and cultural pride. Students will also work with female artists in the community and experiment with a variety of media to make self-portraits and images that tell the stories of their lives. This program includes field trips to MOCA exhibitions and meet with female arts professionals. The program was the focus of a recent arts section cover feature in the New York Times and ABC Nightline.