Indianapolis Art Center

The SMART (Supportive Mentoring through Art) program is a unique partnership between the Indianapolis Art Center and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Central Indiana. It is a year long structured art program for youth between the ages of 12—18 from underserved areas of Indianapolis with an interest and/or talent in the visual arts. These youth are matched to mentors in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program who together attend a series of art classes in a variety of media at the Art Center. After completing a full year of classes each student is awarded a certificate of completion from the SMART program and is then eligible for a full year of scholarship classes in the media of their choice at the Art Center.

The classes are designed to introduce students to varied techniques associated with each media, engage students in art history and culture surrounding each media, address one theme decided upon at the beginning of the year and provide a safe learning environment for mentors and students.

Youth and mentors must be or become enrolled in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in order to be a part of SMART.

For more information about SMART contact the Director of Outreach, Laura Alvarado at 317.255.2464, ext. 235 or e-mail at LAlvarado@IndplsArtCenter.org.