Urban Arts Institute Launches Fundraising Campaign

Photo: Micah Mackenzie

The Urban Arts Institute (UAI), through Arts2People launched a  campaign with the aim of raising funds to match a generous donation of $10,000 from within the Asheville community. Money raised will help UAI establish a new home and permanent rehearsal/performance/study base for its students.

Community leader Michael Hayes is the founder and creative director of the UAI (www.urbanartsinstitute.com), a free youth program offering dance, drama, video, and music classes and mentoring at-risk youth in the underserved African American communities of Asheville.

Meeting for three hours a day, five nights a week, and requiring
participants to maintain good grades, the UAI gives young people an
opportunity to collaborate, mentor one another, and be part of
meaningful performance experiences.

Unfortunately, the UAI has
been displaced from its former classroom and rehearsal space and
currently has no place to meet for regular classes, mentoring, or
rehearsal.
Students from the UAI come from some of the most underserved communities
in Asheville and the after-school and Summer Enrichment classes at the
UAI provide them with the focus they need to achieve their dreams.

Funds
will go towards a lease for a permanent space, completion of any up-fit
necessary to make the space workable with a dance studio, music studio,
audio-visual editing studio, performance space, and any equipment
necessary.

Please help provide these students with the opportunity
to learn a set of skills that will empower them to become community
leaders and active participants in creating a better society.

Visit www.indiegogo.com/Urban-Arts-Institutes-Eternity-Infinite-Possibility to help us achieve our goal.