Call for artists!!

Who: La Reunion TX teams up with Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Dallas Art Dealers Association, and City Gallery to launch Art Chicas Unidas, a totally new program to engage artists in the Dallas area to become involved in the artistic development of low income high school girls. This call for entries is for Phase I. Women artists, minority artists and artists working in all media are encouraged to apply. Dallas Women’s Foundation has partially funded this project.

What: Phase I will feature 10 artists who will lead teams of 4 girls in a day long project with the goal that the girls co-host an exhibition showing the art they have created. During lunch, members of DADA will lead a demonstration of the real-life essentials of how to create an artist portfolio as well as a talk on various arts-related careers. An evening reception will be open to their families and the public at the end of the day-long workshop at Uptown’s City Gallery located at 3506 Routh Street in Dallas. Proceeds from the sale of art will go towards these same girls’ tuition at a weekend-long retreat in Spring 2008. A separate call for artists will go out for Phase II of the program. The La Reunion artist selection committee is made up of Dallas area arts professionals who will choose artists for this program.

When: Artists interested must complete the attached application, provide adigital portfolio with a $20 processing/background check fee and return to La Reunion by Sept 15, 2007.

Mail proposals to:
La Reunion TX
4848 Lemmon Avenue, #100-117
Dallas, Texas 75219

Important dates:
Sept. 15: application deadline
Sept. 29: interviews for selected artists and proposal review
Oct. 3: artists notified of acceptance (or not)
Oct. 10: materials list due
Nov. 10: workshop date

Stipend: Chosen artists will each be paid a $250 stipend for their time and planning of the day-long Phase I workshop. A materials budget of $100 is available for each chosen program.

Detailed Program Description: This new program, entitled “Art Chicas Unidas”, is for girls from urban and inner city high schools and consists of two phases coinciding with the girls’ school year.

Phase I will be a one-day working session (Saturday, November 10, 2007) for up to 40 high school girls with 10 local area artists, concluding with an evening art exhibit at City Gallery in Dallas. All artwork produced by participants will be for sale. Proceeds from this sale will be applied to the costs of the weekend retreat in Phase II.

Phase II will be a weekend retreat at Whispering Cedars Girl Scout Camping Facility (date TBA) in the Spring 2008 for these same girls who participated in the Nov 10 workshop and open to other girls at the targeted high schools. As a part of the weekend retreat, 100% of girls will be filling out a Dallas County Community College application. The girls will learn how community college credits transfer to major four year colleges in pursuit of a sustaining art career. Cedar Valley College is our partner for this portion of the program. Sales from Phase II will go towards replicating the project in the Fall of 2008. In the coming years, we will be expanding the Art Chicas Unidas program throughout DISD inner-city, urban high schools.

With the collaboration of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, La Reunion TX, City Gallery and Dallas Art Dealers Association, this new program will impact the girls and their respective urban, inner city communities in these ways:

o Demonstrate and teach a new set of ideas and skills to girls;
o Sustain local artists by paying them for their time;
o Bring awareness of the contemporary vision of Girl Scouts;
o Expand the girls’ artistic and cultural awareness by introducing them to DADA members and artists actually generating income from their art business;
o Increase public and student awareness of La Reunion TX and artists affiliated with the non-profit; and
o Expose La Reunion TX artists to a larger audience.

This program impacts local artists in these ways:

o Connects local artists with La Reunion TX and DADA in mutually beneficial relationships;
o Artists earn a stipend for a day-long workshop to sustain professional artistic development;
o Artists are able to make a direct impact on at-risk youth.

For more information, please contact La Reunion TX executive director Sarah Jane Semrad.
sarah@LaReunionTX.org
www.LaReunionTX.org