I am embarking on a new endeavor!!
Last April, as I approached my June retirement, I posted here about some of my intended post-retirement plans. I talked about a professional development opportunity with the education arm of my state teachers' union, but after attending training for that I realized that the program was not a good match for me.I also talked about my desire to continue making art with kids in some capacity, perhaps an after-school art enrichment program. Well, after a lot of roundabouts and detours, I am finally able to tell you that it is becoming a reality! My program will be called DragonWing Arts and hopefully next week I'll be getting the first information out to the community. The program will be housed in a room in Temple Beth El, where my I have had a family membership for 25 years and served on the board for 6 years. They are excited to be working with me, even letting me use the facility for free until my business is able to earn money. The initial supplies, including some furniture items, will set me back a bit financially, but once I have the basics tools it won't be so expensive.
This week I'll be getting info hopefully into the local school, and begin purchasing supplies. I've put together plans for an 8 week program, meeting once a week for an hour and a half, for kids in grades 3 to 5. I'm hoping to find 5 to 10 kids for this first session. Based on how it goes, I'll plan for what comes next. My biggest fear is not finding kids to sign up, but even if it doesn't happen the first time around, I'm sure I can get it to catch on in my community.
I'm planning to base each 8 week session on an broad overarching theme. For the inaugural session my theme will "Flights of Fancy", which relates to the DragonWings name of my business. I figure this theme will allow me to start with a variety of imaginative projects, including a guaranteed success papier-mache - flying pigs!
I'll keep you posted! Wish me luck!
Note: the artwork in this post - both the dragon and the DragonWing logo - were drawn/designed by me. Please make sure to give me credit if the images are used in any capacity. Thank you.
