As winter (maybe? finally?) turns to spring, we are gearing up for the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, a 2-week program for interested high school students. The lessons Colin points out are great for our students to hear…. and in fact are vital parts of the creative process. Here’s one I love:

It gets ugly before it gets pretty

Don’t panic. Your most creative work always goes through a period when it is just awful. This is normal. In fact if things are going very smoothly its time to worry. You may be missing something.

Applications for the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts are available now (the deadline to turn it in to most high schools is March 15). Check out our blog to learn more!

The conference was great! I got to meet and share ideas with leaders of similar programs all around the country. I heard about how music students learn to improvise and collaborate with film and theater students at the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts. I heard about a West Virginia Governor’s Honors Academy class that teaches students to accept failure and use it to propel them forward. I heard about how excited the alumni of the Missouri Scholars Academy are about returning for reunions. And so much more…. check out the NCOGS website to see the programs for motivated teens in your area! There are programs in many subject areas, including the arts, engineering, math, science, and international relations.

I was lucky to have teachers who cared about my artistic development in high school. Instrumental music, chorus, and drama were all stressed, and important parts of of my life. I also attended summer Arts enrichment programs – such as the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, where I discovered Salsa music with the help of Jacob Edgar, and learned to paint with acrylics under the guidance of Wosene Kosrof. I also studied at the 5-week program at Berklee College of Music, which helped me decide to go to college in a city (and Boston, specifically).

Some students have mentors who will push them to learn about themselves through art, but many do not.

Will you be that mentor?

You don’t have to be an artist or musician yourself to be that someone for a young person. Encourage them to take photography or composition classes. Subsidize their lessons if you’re financially able. Buy their finished artwork. And help them to find peers.

In Vermont, I’m now the Director of the Governor’s Institute on the Arts, that seminal place in my life. We offer an intensive 2-week program covering art forms as diverse as Drawing, Writing, Music, Puppetry, Stone Carving, and many more. If you know a motivated student entering grades 10-12 in Vermont, please send them to our website for more information: http://giaofvt.org/ComeToGIA.html

Across the country, there are great arts programs. View a list from the National Conference of Governor’s Schools, and leave a comment here with links to other great programs.