The upcoming Texas-side Community Yard Sale on May 11 brings a chance to help raise funds for the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council's education programs.
It's one of several ways TRAHC is reaching out to the community and local students.
To that end, TRAHC encourages people to pitch in by donating items that the non-profit arts agency can sell at the yard sale, including: housewares and decor, furniture, tools, and toys and games. Contact Dr. Becky Black, visual arts and community programs coordinator, to schedule a donation drop off.
"People can donate any household, yard, office or decor items for the yard sale. They should call me to schedule a time to drop it off at the Regional Arts Center," Black said. "The proceeds go to educational programming such as providing scholarships to children for our Arts on Main camps and classes. It will also go to purchasing art supplies that we use in the kids camps and classes."
The Texarkana, Texas, Community Yard Sale will be held 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 11 at Spring Lake Park.
In the coming months, TRAHC is also striving to get youth involved in arts activities.
First, TRAHC and St. James Day School are partnering to offer student-led history tours at the Regional Arts Center and Perot Theatre at both 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, April 26.
Eleven third-grade students from Summer Burkes's class at St. James will lead the tours. It's free to take these tours. Sign up at SignUpGenius.com via the Facebook event page for Student Led Tours with St. James Day School Students.
"It encourages 'non-experts' to become experts by engaging them in the research and teaching process. The students are not just learning about these structures, they are enacting that research and engaging with others in the community about what they have learned," Black said. "These tours are different from other tours of the building because they are coming from a new perspective of these structures and Texarkana history."
At the same time, leading these tours will instill civic pride in these students, said Black.
"The project was inspired by my own work with student docent projects, which I will present at the Alliance of Academic Museums and Galleries conference this June in Minneapolis," she said. "It's also a product of Summer Burkes's reaching out to TRAHC to get her students involved in a community service project."
Also looking ahead, TRAHC will organize a teen art wall project this summer, one session June 10-14 and the other July 29 to Aug. 2.
"It will run during the same period as our usual kids summer camps at Arts on Main. It's designed to engage regional youth who are too old for kids camps but too young for jobs," Black said. "There isn't enough programming in our community to serve this population who have important things to say about their community and culture. We hope this will give them a voice. Their work will be on display in our Arts Park starting in August. Teens can sign up for one or both sessions."
Scholarships are available for this project.
(More info: TRAHC.org or 903-792-8681.)