COMMUNITY OUTREACH
 The artistic part of us should not go off somewhere but be incorporated              into everyday life so that the values prevail in society.
                                                                                                 M.C. Richards

Students and faculty from Expressive Arts Therapy at Appalachian State University are active participants in arts and service activities in the local community.

Expressive Arts Therapy teams with the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts and Watauga County Parks and Recreation to offer "Express Yourself!," a community based series of workshops designed to help children and adults with developmental disabilities explore their feelings and have fun through creative activities.

Expressive Arts Therapy students interested in either school or community counseling may benefit from the HPC department's relationships with local area public schools. Most recently, the Expressive Arts Therapy program held a music workshop at Millers Creek Elementary School for special needs children. View the slideshow HERE.

Expressive Arts Therapy students and faculty are involved in various activities of the Watauga County Arts Council, including workshops at the community "Art Space," as well as workshops, book readings, poetry readings, and performances at the Jones House Community Center.

Students and faculty have exhibited their artwork in recent exhibitions, including Art That Heals at the King-Shivell gallery of Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, NC, and Counseling and the Arts at the open Door Gallery of the Jones House Coommunity Center in downtown Boone.


Students performed a faculty choreographed dance, FrameWork: This Thing Rising Between Us for the North Carolina Dance Festival in Boone. The work was a response to the events of September 11 and explored how the frames we create shape the ways we view the world.

Faculty and students participated in dance performances and community outreach programs with the Liz Lermann Dance Exchange ( The Hallelujah Project ) and with the David Dorfman Dance Company ( The Family Project ).

Appalachian faculty joined visiting international professor, Dr. Juergen Kriz from the University of Osnabruck, Germany in Expressive Arts Therapy: A Conversation in Music, Movement, and Words at the Broyhill Music Center at Appalachian.

Expressive Arts Therapy students, faculty, and visiting faculty regularly offer workshops in dreamwork, drumming, movement, music, and visual arts.

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