by TASI Executive Director, Greg Busceme, Sr.
With a panel discussion at Lamar University looming, I have been thinking about The Studio and our educational and social outreach to the community. At our inception, we felt there had to be a community outreach arm of the organization. With that in mind, our mission statement demands that we foster a tie with the artists and this community. Our engagement works in many ways. We hold classes in a variety of disciplines including printmaking, ceramics, watercolor, color theory, drawing, and photography, as well as programs tailored to people with special needs. Art therapy has become a new avenue toward improving the health of people in our community and we are working with mental health professionals to provide fun and entertaining programs with a deeper purpose of improving the hearts and minds of that unique community.
Another aspect of outreach is directing activities to include specific age groups and subcultures that we want to engage. One such program that has been running for 30 years is Band Nite, where solo or group musicians sign up to play their own original music live with an audience of their peers, family, and friends. No cover bands ever! Considering all visual art must be original to the artists we felt it should be the same way with music.
Poetry has been the least supported art form there is. It is the purest of the arts and the cheapest with only a pencil, paper, and a dab of angst, and you are on your way. Thoughtcrime has been a part of The Studio since its beginning and present time. Published for several years as a book, we began to offer newsprint paper with poetry in its own section. Poets meet the second Friday of the month at 6 pm at TASI. We also offer a monthly creative writing workshop.
Exhibitions are a major part of what The Studio is all about. We offer several shows a year that cost nothing to enter, have no age limit (you can be as old as you want), and everything gets in. We also invite artists who show diligence and promise in their work to have a solo show or be part of a small group show. We have two galleries and present 9 shows a year in the main gallery/stage and several more in the small gallery. And of course, the best way to engage is going to the art openings. Not just ours, but great shows are on walls all over Southeast Texas, thanks to The Beaumont Art League, Dishman Museum of Art, Art Museum of Southeast Texas, and the independent galleries that are supporting local visual artists.
Lastly, three major events that each year bring excitement and fun to our usual jovial times. They are the Beaux Arts Ball, our annual themed gala event, and the Gumbo Clayfest that is a cadre of 9 visiting clay artists who work and demonstrate their unique skills for three days of fun and cavorting as well as lots of info about ceramics. Now the newest thing you cannot miss, an artist demonstration festival called “Look What I Can Do!” coming this Spring. It is a chance to see artwork being made and maybe make a little yourself.
Over the years dance classes, theater groups, and performances organizations have benefitted and grown here at TASI as we offer space, time, and support. Churches needing a starting place have found a place with us. We are uniquely set as an incubator for aspiring artists, groups, and new organizations to get started and we are poised to be able to meet the needs and desires of our community.