MELBOURNE, Fla. – Last year we featured the Brevard Achievement Center (BAC) as part of our Getting Results Award coverage. The nonprofit helps adults with disabilities find jobs.
Well, it turns out they do a lot more. We were there as hundreds of students took part in their annual Color In Motion Art Festival.
Now in its 39th year, the BAC Color in Motion Arts Festival is one of two mission-driven events that BAC hosts in conjunction with the Brevard Public Schools and Eastern Florida State College.
This year the event was held at The Brevard Zoo. Tents were set up amongst the lush tropical landscaping. Students of all ages filled the pathways and stopped at a number of “art stops” where they were invited to work with volunteers to create their own art.
Keri Goff, BAC Director of Community Relations, helped explain the event.
“A lot of times students in our exceptional education programs, they are not necessarily excluded from field trips but there might not be a lot of accessible field trips that these kids can go on,” Goff explained. “So by incorporating the zoo, they have a fully accessible field trip that the Brevard Achievement Center sponsors. They can have a day with the arts but they also get to enjoy this amazing zoo we have right here in our county.”
Goff said the festival serves as a vibrant celebration of art and community engagement.
William McCray was there with his class from Bayside High School. He was excited to see the alligators and flamingos. McCray said he’s not great at drawing but enjoys making crafts. “I’m learning new things, having fun with new people, and creating new friends,” McCray said. “This is all about meeting new people and making new friends.”
Kelly Miller, a Junior at Satellite High School, was also volunteering with BAC.
“It’s been fun. I love going around to all the activities,” Miller said. “I just went to the musical petting zoo. It was fun. I got to play some really fun musical instruments. It was amazing.”
BAC provided each school with a plain white wind sock. They asked the students from 110 different classrooms to decorate them. Dozens of multicolored windsocks lined the pathways, each one decorated in its own unique way.
“They were like a plain canvas, “Goff said. “As you’ve seen as we walk through, some of them are extremely elaborate. Some of them have names, some of them have more but all of them are true expressions of those students who created them.”
Jennifer Perini, BAC Community Relations manager said the festival serves as a significant opportunity for BAC, to not only bring awareness to their organization, but also the transitional programs aimed at nurturing youth with disabilities throughout their academic journey.
“Every different medium we use with the arts helps open up pathways within our brains for creativity. They help us in our daily lives,” Goff said. “The arts are utilized to help with cognitive delays, and motor skills and it’s a fantastic way to get our students out of their shells and just celebrate their own personal creativity.”