A local arts initiative is offering adult craft classes with hopes to redefine itself in the eye of the Greenwood public.
Communities in Schools, an organization that began as a tutoring program but has narrowed its focus to the arts both in and out of the classroom, has recently changed its name to CIS Arts and hopes to be recognized as a community arts center, said painter Robin Whitfield, an instructor for the organization.
The organization once hosted a myriad of activities in public schools across the state, from abstinence programs to sports, but it now will focus solely on art and invite the greater community into its expressive dialogue.
“We want to open it to the greater artistic community,” said Whitfield.
The organization has a presence north Mississippi to the Gulf Coast but is headquartered in Greenwood.
The art classes will be open to anyone over 18 and will begin Dec. 3. Mississippi-based painter, photographer and skydiving champion Bill Jackson will teach clay silver jewelry-making, Greenwood native Chela Gutierrez will teach a class in block printmaking using linoleum, and Yolande van Heerden, a native of South Africa, will teach interested students how to use stencils and fabric paint to create their own fashion statements. The classes vary in price between $30 and $100, depending on the cost of supplies, Whitfield said.
All of the classes aim to allow participants to bring something home with them in time for the gift-giving season. Interested people may sign up by going to the CIS Arts website, cismississippi.com, or by calling or emailing Hart Henson at 455-2864 or cisarts.hart@gmail.com.
CIS Arts already has a presence in Threadgill Elementary School’s senior citizen program, where senior citizens are currently making furniture out of willow from the Greenwood riverbank. Henson, a CIS Arts grantwriter, said the residents are benefiting greatly from the program.
“You walk in and you can see them sanding and finishing the wood. It’s so cool,” she said.
CIS Arts has offered adult art classes in the past but wanted to reintroduce them to help raise money for the organization’s expanding mission, said Whitfield.
Whitfield said the organization is trying to transform itself into a full-blown community art space, beginning with a renovation of its building on Washington Street.
Henson added that “a lot of funding available to arts education programs can’t go to building renovation. We’ve applied to some other grants, but we need to raise a lot of money.”
“We’re trying to create a vibrant, artistic community in Greenwood in addition to the regular programming we do with students,” she said.
“It’s an especially good time for things like this in Greenwood,” Henson added. “With the new park opening up and the nature trail, there are so many creative things going on here.”
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
