Community Arts & Service Learning

The Community Arts and Service Learning program at KCAI began in 2005.

When his summer school plans fell through, Jon Dandurand ('05 sculpture) went to the Academic Resource Center for help finding a way to earn the remaining three credit hours he needed to graduate. KCAI's community partner, Mattie Rhodes Counseling & Art Center, needed an intern for their summer art camp, and Jon was a perfect fit. The CASL program was initiated to continue to pair talented students with KCAI's community partners.

Community Arts and Service Learning certificate program

Ryan LaFerney works with his students during his internship at UMKC School of Education's Edgar L. and Rheta A. Berkley Child and Family Development Center.

The CASL program encompasses a rigorous 15 credit hour academic curriculum noted for its three credit hour service learning internship. Students who complete the program will be eligible for a certificate in community arts.

Participating students will be required to take three courses in liberal arts, "Collaborative Art Practices," two studio classes and an internship.

Semester-long internships place students in community agencies as volunteers to develop skills they will need to become active, contributing members of their community -- skills that include planning, resource management, communication, evaluation and working independently and as a member of a team.

Just as their work supports the mission and goals of their community partner, the students' experiences expand and deepen their classroom and studio education. In a service learning internship, the students represent the college and may seek the resources of the Kansas City Art Institute -- facilities, faculty and programs -- to address the issues facing the community agency.

Students may become a service learning intern with a KCAI community partner in one of three ways: as a student enrolled in the CASL certificate program; as a service learning volunteer independent of the academic program; or through a service learning work-study assignment.

KCAI's community partners include
816 Bike Collective
Accessible Arts
Boiler Room
Berkley Child Development Center (UMKC)
Dela Salle Education Center
Girl Scouts of America
Kansas City, Kansas School District
Mattie Rhodes
Operation Breakthrough
Rose Brooks Center

For more information about the CASL certificate, contact Julie Metzler, director of career services and Community Arts and Service Learning, at 816-802-3357 or jmetzler@kcai.edu.

CASL certificate requirement sheet

The CASL certificate requirement sheet is available here (PDF).