CAT Institute Fact Sheet

The Community Arts Training (CAT) Institute is an innovative program centered on the belief that art has the power to be an agent for social change. Founded in 1997, the CAT Institute is a five-month curriculum fostering successful partnerships among artists of all disciplines, social workers, educators and community activists with the goal of creating relevant arts programs particularly in underserved community settings such as neighborhood organizations, social service agencies and after-school programs.

Goals

• To bring artists and community workers/social service providers together to understand the others' language and points of view so that successful programming occurs;
• To allow participants to confront and grapple with unique issues in program planning and adaptability, partnership development, hands-on projects, teaching and situational strategies, and assessment tools;
• To provide an active, progressive experience through a rigorous, mentorbased curriculum;
• To provide an ongoing support system for artists and community workers/social service providers engaged in community-based work

Selection Process

16 CAT Institute fellows (eight artists of all disciplines and eight community workers /social service providers) are selected through a nomination, application and interview process.

Program Structure

CAT Institute fellows are provided with more than 55 hours of training, which occur during intensive, two-day sessions for 11 hours a month and in lab assignments for five months; ongoing professional development programs are offered to CAT Institute alums.

Curriculum

The rigorous five-month curriculum includes training on partnership and survival strategies, mediation and conflict resolution, learning styles, teaching strategies, public relations, identifying funding sources, legal and liability issues in the arts and social services, assessment techniques and advocacy. Fellows are required to complete homework assignments of extensive reading and the development of team lab programs.

Method

Include lectures, discussions, critical response to reading assignments, site visits, review of case studies, interactions with community, writing assignments, participation in interactive projects with demonstrations, viewing performances.

2008/2009 Session

The CAT Institute convenes in November 2008 and will run through March 2009; all sessions are held at the Regional Arts Commission's Cultural Resource Center.

Director

Roseann Weiss
Director of Community Art Programs & Public Art Initiatives
St. Louis Regional Arts Commission

Core Faculty

Lead faculty

• Jane Ellen Ibur, writer and arts educator

Faculty

• Renee Franklin, Head of Community and School Programs, Saint Louis Art Museum
• William Cleveland, Director, Center for the Study of Art & Community
• Sue Greenberg, Director, Volunteer Lawyers & Accountants for the Arts
• Jackie Masei, Artistic Director, Playback Workshop Theatre
• CAT Institute Alumni and a variety of guest lecturers

History

Considered a national model, the CAT Institute began in 1997 under the leadership of Executive Director Jill McGuire and Ann Haubrich. The concept was expanded by the initial core faculty: William Cleveland, director of the Center for the Study of Art and Community; Porter Arneill, former RAC staff, Maggie Hourd Bryan, social worker; and Jane Ellen Ibur, writer and educator.

Exhibit

Uncommon Experiences, Common Ground: Collected Works by Graduates of the Community Arts Training Institute, 1997-2003 was the inaugural exhibition in The Gallery at the Regional Arts Commission. The exhibit focused on the theme of the community artist in the studio and strived to demonstrate how an artist's creative process is impacted by his or her work in nontraditional settings.

Summer Session

In 2004, the CAT Institute held its first Summer Institute in an ongoing effort to support CAT Alums as they continue to work on community art projects. Summer seminars are often intensive day to week long workshops to foster professional development, integrative thinking and reenergizing the creative process.

CAT Cafés

In 2005, CAT Institute alums began meeting quarterly for an informal exchange of ideas, collaborations and problem-solving. The alums choose various topics to discuss and examine, as well as "meet and greet."

Programs & Initiatives

To date, there are about 155 graduates of the CAT Institute living, working, creating and collaborating in the St. Louis area. The following is a sampling of initiatives (all of which receive direct funding from the Regional Arts Commission) where CAT alums have been integrally involved in creating, enhancing or expanding community arts programming:

• Arts CollaboARTive, a program that works with the clients of the Peter & Paul Community Services, a transitional housing program, to document through art their personal journeys from homelessness to independent living.
• South City Open Studio and Gallery for Children (SCOSAG), a program that provides a safe and educational environment for children to explore the arts and also to strengthen the ties within the St. Louis neighborhood, its families, and its youth.
• Arts Programs at the St. Louis City Juvenile Detention Center is an opportunity for the Center's young residents to participate in hands-on art workshops such as African drumming, leather crafting, hip hop poetry and circus performance.
• Project Common Ground a consortium of Community Health-in-Partnership Services, Metro Theater and Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma; brings together refugee teens from Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Bosnia with African-American teens to explore their similarities and differences through artistic expression.
• In addition, CAT alums have contributed to various programs at Craft Alliance, St. Louis ArtWorks, the Urban Arts Program at the Center for Creative Arts (COCA), The Learning Tree Intergenerational Center, Neighborhood Houses and Critical Mass for the Visual Arts.