The Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art is excited to kick off a new season of programs during Village Shalom’s 100th anniversary celebration with ARTicipation: Pop Up Studio, a community art experience in which KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery at Village Shalom will become the site for art making as well as display. Epsten Gallery will present its first-ever display of artwork created by residents of Village Shalom and offer a series of artist- and therapist-led workshops in which intergenerational members of the community may utilize the Epsten Gallery as a pop-up studio space to create and share their own works of art.

The opening reception for ARTicipation is Sunday, January 22, 2011 from 1-4 p.m. in the Epsten Gallery. ARTicipation will remain on view through Sunday, February 26, 2012. All related activities are free, and please visit www.kcjmca.org for an updated calendar of both public and private events.

ARTicipation: Pop Up Studio

KCJMCA is pleased to present its newest initiative, ARTicipation: Pop Up Studio, a five-week pilot program that will launch January 22-February 26, 2012 at the Epsten Gallery and become an ongoing component of KCJMCA’s 2012 exhibition season.

ARTicipation is a new art therapy program that offers a forum for arts and health professionals to collaborate in the design and implementation of interactive workshops for residents at Village Shalom as well as the whole community. This program represents an exciting new partnership between the region’s arts and therapy communities as they work together to demonstrate how arts-related health and well-being programs for those living in continuum-of-care environments may be an integral part of a whole community’s development.

KCJMCA believes the creative process has the ability to bring different communities and generations together for meaningful shared experiences. During ARTicipation, KCJMCA will transform the Epsten Gallery into a temporary art studio for the creative exploration and application of art-and-therapy-based ideas and practices, in both self-guided and assisted creative workshops. Objects created in this environment will become part of a growing display of artwork created by Village Shalom residents, staff, walk-in participants and student groups visiting the Epsten Gallery.

In 2012, ARTicipation will include the following partnerships: Benedictine College Students in Free Enterprise program to conduct a marketing and impact survey; the Kansas Art Therapy Association to provide licensed, professional art therapists as collaborators; Emporia State University’s Art Therapy Program to launch a new internship program at KCJMCA’s Epsten Gallery; Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and Kansas City Art Institute’s Community Arts students for youth and young adult participation; and individual artists, musicians, performers, curators, art educators, health care professionals and community volunteers from the fields of art therapy, medicine, and health & human services, who will collaborate in ARTicipation’s creative community workshops.

For a complete list of related public and private events scheduled for KCJMCA’s pilot program of ARTicipation January 22-February 26, 2012, please see the attached calendar and visit www.kcjmca.org for the all the latest changes, additions and cancellations.