Hero Story

The REACH Program has been going on in Art in the Loft for the past several years, and during that time the program, and students it serves, has evolved. One of the group of students that the program has served has been our local students with special needs and abilities. This group quickly became a favorite of not just Art in the Loft, but a favorite part of the the student's curriculum.

The program connects students who are mentally and/or physically handicapped with the community around them, providing hands-on learning experiences in the arts, multi-faceted opportunities for individual creative expression, as well as collaboration with others and a feeling of inclusion and contribution to the community. The program also promotes confidence and well-being through the juxtaposition of culinary and visual arts, while teaching valuable life skills.

Since COVID-19 really limited traveling outside of the schools, Art in the Loft created the REACH Program for the student's classrooms and took the program to them! The program was thus able to still give those students, who have grown to love the REACH Program, a true Art in the Loft experience, in their very own classroom. They continued to create the lesson plans and supplied all the materials the students needed, and then delivered them to the school. It was important to Art in the Loft, for their art students with special needs to know that they were not forgotten and that the experience that they have grown to love so much--was still available to them despite all the obstacle the pandemic presented over the past several months. Once complete, the REACH Program was able to impact over 150 students over the 12-week period.

A quick video on the response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpVJWnO-6cA

Learn more about the R.E.A.C.H. program here: http://www.artintheloft.org/reach.html