Our Programs
Art in the Neighborhood has a long history of initiating programs and projects and bringing them to successful completion. We currently serve children ages 5-12 who live in three low-income housing communities in Brattleboro. Read more about the communities we serve below.
Multimedia art classes
We offer year-round classes with a variety of media and materials. These classes include painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, clay/pottery, puppetry, mosaics, book illustration, art and poetry, fabric arts, and mural painting. All classes are taught by professional artists and instructors. In 2019 we hired an accomplished poet to join our staff. Our goal is to expand visual and verbal vocabularies and enhance literacy.
Student art exhibits
At the end of the fall and winter/spring semesters we invite parents and community members to an “Art Party” and student exhibit in order to forge stronger relationships between Art in the Neighborhood and the wider communities we serve.
Community murals
For several years, the program has sponsored a public mural project as a way to engage the students more fully in the wider community, and to make the community aware of the accomplishments of children from low-income neighborhoods.
Permanent murals painted by Art in the Neighborhood children now exist on the walls of the Hanna Cosman meeting room in the Brattleboro Municipal Center, at the Crowell Lot public park, on the Green Street School playground, and on outdoor walls at low-income communities of Moore Court, Ledgewood Heights, and
Westgate Housing.. Each of these projects received local press coverage in the Brattleboro Reformer, further enhancing student pride and community connections.
Programming during the COVID-19 pandemic
At the onset of the COVID-19 crisis in early 2020, programming was cancelled by the housing authorities. Our staff pivoted and started deliveries of art supplies to individual students’ homes along with project ideas, instructions, and a poem template for students to respond to. This has proved to be an important way to keep our connections to our students.
Communities Served
Ledgewood Heights
Ledgewood Heights is an affordable-living complex of 48 units administered by the Brattleboro Housing Partnership. About 100 children live there. Several years ago the community lost its part-time Americorps volunteer because of funding cuts. When we started our program there in March of 2013 there were no specific on-going programs for children at Ledgewood.
Classes take place in the Ledgewood Community Room, a fairly small space for the number of children who come to art class. However the children seem to create their own work spaces. One child works under a card table and calls it her studio.
The playground at Ledgewood received a major upgrade in the fall of 2023. The opening celebration featured the new mural painted by students of Art in the Neighborhood. There is now a covered space where art classes take place during the warmer months. That allows students playing in the adjacent playground to join in with the classes.
Moore Court
Moore Court is a 28-unit affordable housing complex administered by the Brattleboro Housing Partnership. Like Ledgewood Heights, this community also lost its part-time Americorps volunteer because of funding cuts. As a result, before we started our program there in September of 2013, there were no specific on-going programs for children at Moore Court.
Classes take place in the Moore Court Community Room. Despite a sometimes crowded room, and challenging economic and social issues, the students seem to thrive.
Westgate Housing
Westgate Housing is a tenant-led affordable non-profit housing complex occupying spacious grounds on the outskirts of Brattleboro. We have been offering classes at Westgate since 2008. Westgate has a community center building, and a van. Westgate also has a governing Board with majority tenant representation, and various community events throughout the year.
Daly Shoe Building
We started offering classes at Daly in the winter of 2022 after an invitation to come for a one-class Valentine’s day project. Daly is a community run by the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust. There are 30 apartments of various sizes and a wonderful spacious community room stocked with art supplies. Many parents here participate in the classes with their children.