READING, PA – GoggleWorks Center for the Arts (GoggleWorks), one of the country’s largest interactive art centers, announced today its newest iteration of fall offerings adapted to serve Berks County and beyond. The program model will expand to three new program types, allowing for students to have both broader access to high-quality education and more flexibility for health concerns, leaders from the nonprofit center said. The curriculum also includes new offerings for the 2020 holiday season.
- Online only classes provide patrons the safest, most accessible creative experience. Students can learn techniques and skills across a variety of art forms and mediums, including GoggleWorks studio environments in hot & warm glass, metals, ceramics, 2D print, virtual reality, wood, photography and more.
- Creative Carryout takes its name from the registrants’ ability to “order in” and “take out” the materials they need to follow along with safe video instruction at home. Students can then finalize or kiln-fire any work necessary at GoggleWorks.
- On-site Classes are socially-distanced, in-person classes teaching students how to create in a safe environment, from clay to glass, wood to metal, and more.
All upcoming offerings can be found at goggleworks.org/classes
“The pandemic has created unique, if not daunting, opportunities to think in new ways,” said Tim Compton, Artistic Director. “While we know we have exceptional facilities for making art, this environment has helped us to think outside of our walls, for ways to bring art to the people. We are thrilled to be offering this newest slate of programming to our broadest ever audience.”
Safety was at the forefront of the class redesign. Leaders said they knew their mission was even more vital in these trying times and that compromising visitor safety was not an option. GoggleWorks employs zero-contact art kit pickup, small on-site classes, temperature checks, deep cleanings, and mask requirements to ensure that all participants have a customized, safe experience.
Leaders said affordability and access were other key considerations with the redesign effort. GoggleWorks’ team sought ways to reduce financial barriers by ensuring that each experience offered this term is less than $100, well below the normal cost. For those hit hardest by the pandemic, their scholarship program is available and the application form is now online at goggleworks.org/scholarships
“My memory of this time will be shaped by those who persevered with creative resolve,” said Levi Landis, GoggleWorks Executive Director. “Artists and makers, adult students and schoolchildren, visitors and online audiences. These are the people that will literally design a beautiful future for our communities by making and spotlighting beautiful things.”
Taught by professional artists and educators, GoggleWorks typically runs three terms per year (Spring, Summer, and Fall). GoggleWorks foresees the modified experiences continuing into 2021 and will continue to build on the model beyond the pandemic as they seek new opportunities for bringing the creative experiences to Southeast Pennsylvania and around the world.
