Saturday, June 23, 2012

Learning and creating without boundaries....

In my last post I gave the link for JCCFS' Student Host Program. In this post I'll be talking a little bit more about what that is and why I'm inspired to do it.

Unlike the full-time staff, I'll be on campus and on call 24/7. Once the office staff goes home for the night, I'll be the one answering the phone and responding to the needs of the students and instructors. Unlike the work study students, I won't be trading a week of work for a week of class.

My specific duties will include the following:
• Welcoming students and instructors/orientation
• Leading blessings & announcements at meals
• Leading morning walks
• Setting up Morningsong each day
• Leading afternoon activities/tours
• Leading evening activities/tours
• Setting up and taking down student exhibits each week
• Setting up chairs for weekly concerts and other school activities
• Attending to student departure at the end of the week
• Setting up equipment for each class prior to start & returning
equipment from previous week

In exchange for my hard work I receive the following compensation. A class every week on a "space available" basis. They try to fill each class with as many paying students as possible before opening it up to hosts. Three "silver bullet" classes that I'm guaranteed a space in. The cost of my room and board plus meals are included. Plus, I'll get a wee stipend for times when the dining hall is closed and for making long distance phone calls.

For my "silver bullet" classes I'll be taking: White-Line Printmaking with Sandy Webster, Kente Cloth Weaving with Linda Weghorst, and Beginning Mountain Dulcimer with Rosy DeVane. I'm also hoping to take classes in blacksmithing, book making, mushroom foraging, Danish folk dance, and felting.

Some of you are most likely asking, how can you give up a stable job with insurance and spend four months 2000 miles away from your partner and pets? I mean really who does this sort of thing? Well the answer to this is, I do and I do it because at the core of my being its exactly what I set out into the world to do.

I always felt out of place in the art department at EIU. I quickly discovered that what I craved in an arts education was the chance to explore without being graded and measured. Unfortunately, this is an overarching problem faced by all art programs that are set in traditional four year college formats. They're forced to grade you and thus most grade you on technique far more than on creativity. I longed to go to a private arts school where I could more freely create. Yet the money just wasn't available and frankly my parents weren't thrilled with the idea of me not getting a "well-rounded education". Which by the way doesn't really exist. I mean honestly how many of you remember anything from that required upper-level chem class or math class or history class you had to take that had jack all to do with your major?

I digress, my time spent at John C. Campbell Folk School as the Student Host is the opportunity for me to embark on the arts education that I have always wanted. It will give me the chance to unlock the parts of my brain that have been left to languish due to far too much time working in the "real world". It will also, hopefully allow me to continue upon a path of working in the arts and allowing others the chance to learn and create without boundaries.

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