Community Outreach
Mission
Rice Lake Arts was born out of a desire to welcome artists to share their practices in a place which draws inspiration from the natural beauty of this region. We are committed to careful stewardship of the land, and to sharing our resources with the surrounding community, especially youth and individuals without easy access to arts-based programming.
Our goal is to develop outreach partnerships with organizations that nurture young artists and support youth in our community. To start, we have made two of these connections in Peterborough.
Big and Little Sisters
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Peterborough
This summer we ran our first Big Brothers Big Sisters Art Camp at Rice Lake Arts. In July, 20 kids ages 12-16 took part in a variety of activities, with an emphasis on visual art inspired by the natural world. Their days at camp were spent engaging in physical and artistic pursuits, and there was plenty of fun to be had! Each camper had the opportunity to make a stone carving, an artistic practice we were pleased to share with these highly creative young people! They took up the challenge of carving stone with great enthusiasm, ingenuity, patience and perseverance. We had a blast hosting the BBBS youth, and are so impressed with the amazing stone carvings they created. We look forward to our next collaboration with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Peterborough!
Thomas A. Stewart (TASS) Integrated Arts Program
For years the Grade 9 students enrolled in the Integrated Arts Program at TASS visited ZimArt to engage with the sculptures and the landscape through visual art, drama, dance and music and Rice Lake Arts will continue to welcome this group of young artists. We are enriching that collaboration by offering workshop scholarships to students in Grades 11 & 12 in the Visual Arts stream. TASS faculty will nominate students who demonstrate a keen interest in their art learning and dedication to their emerging practice. As well, we have invited Grade 12 students studying sculpture to spend two days creating works of art in stone at Rice Lake Arts this autumn. Stone, tools and instruction will be provided.
