For the twelfth year in a row, Drury students are partnering with The Kitchen, Inc. to create and inspire art with residents of the Missouri Hotel.  The class is called Building Community through the Arts and its goal is to provide those living in the Missouri Hotel an artistic outlet over the course of two weeks, with a final exhibition this Friday, June 15, 2012 from 1-3 p.m. at Drury on C-Street located at 233 E. Commercial St.

This is the first year in the twelve-year history of the project that the class is being held outside of the Missouri Hotel basement and at Drury on C-Street. “Drury is connecting on C-Street by bringing everyone out of the Missouri Hotel basement and building a relationship with the people participating at our new location,” said Dr. Rebecca Burrell, Drury adjunct professor of education.

This year, the theme is pARTners in Weaving Community: Our Shared “Looming” Vision, a metaphor for the weaving and loom exhibit that was the first to be hosted in the Drury on C-Street location when it opened last fall.

Building Community through the Arts, typically a graduate level course, is available to upper-level undergraduate students in Arts Administration and/or Entrepreneurship this summer. The class is designed to offer students an approach to creativity in everyday living and learning, while giving students the opportunity to make a difference within the Drury neighborhood by introducing residents of the Missouri Hotel to visual arts, music and literature.

“We are giving residents an opportunity to have relaxing, art-making time because that nourishes the human spirit, to have creative time and quiet time,” said Dr. Burrell. Besides the opportunity to work with the Missouri Hotel residents, Drury students gain an understanding of visual and performing arts while also examining poverty in America.

The exhibition is free and open to the public, from 1-3 p.m.