By Amy Crelly

Parents, teachers, artists and students will come together this month for a very special cause—fun!—as VSA Arts’ annual Winter Festival celebrates the artistic accomplishments of 500 local students with and without disabilities. The festival will feature puppet shows, rock band performances, theatre presentations, drawings, dances, ceramics, and paintings created by students from special education and general education classes within Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD).

Over 15 imaginative "funshops" (hands-on art workshops led by community artists) will also be available for children and adults. Funshop projects will include self-portraits, pinwheels, diffusing flowers, castanets, friendship bands, and more.

VSA arts of California works to break down barriers, says Executive Director Alice Parente. “By having students of all abilities work on an artistic production together, labels disappear. Students become dancers, painters, singers, muralists... rather than ‘regular’ or ‘disabled.’”

The Festival is free and open to the public, thanks to donations from businesses, corporations, service organizations, and individuals within Sacramento County, all coordinated by the non-profit organization, Very Special Arts California.

VSA arts of California at Sacramento is an affiliate of National VSA arts, started in 1974 by Jean Kennedy Smith as the “Special Olympics of the Arts.” For more information, contact Executive Director Alice Parente: 277-6747, or visit VSAsacramento.org.