Art Beast is now offering an annual membership that halves the cost of buying monthly memberships.  Our Child and Adult Annual Membership is $350 a year.  A Family Membership, allowing multiple children in the same family, is $475 annually.  The annual membership allows free entry to Art Beast, free Family workshops, and includes a 25 Class Punch Card for each child in the family. Annual memberships can be purchased online at the link below or at Art Beast.

Our class catalog for 2010 will include most our current offerings as well as a new yoga and movement class for toddlers and a movement class for infants. We are also excited to introduce our new Mini-Art Beast Players class. This 8 week session will lead children in putting on a show that will be performed for families and friends. The children will star in the production, create sets, and learn the joy of becoming a team.  The first production will be a play following the adventures of the two little pigs as they seek out their lost and beloved friend.

In 2010, we look forward to organizing more events for children of the same age groups to meet at Art Beast.  Watch for Toddler Tuesday and Four-Year-Old Friday events where the art activities and play stations are tailored to specific stages of development.

To ensure we do not overcrowd the building and the classes, we will only sell 200 annual memberships. We may offer this promotion again if we find the building could accommodate more families.  We are excited to offer families a more affordable way to become a long term member. 

As always, all proceeds from Art Beast support Tubman House, a transitional living community for young, homeless parents and their children.  This means that after we pay the rent and the utilities, stock the shelves with supplies, and pay our art coaches and teachers every penny remaining sustains homeless families as they work toward self-sufficiency. 

Ready to become a member? Click here: http://www.formspring.com/forms/?760760-ybxusLULAV

We are now hosting birthday parties at Art Beast! Invite your child’s friends to a creative, cozy party at Art Beast Studio.  Your party includes admission for up to 15 children and 15 adults, exclusive use of our party studio, and open-ended fun in all the play spaces at Art Beast! 

Your friends and family will participate in a sweet birthday celebration where an art coach is available to lead a craft and help you host your party.  You and your guests will enjoy the homey feel and relaxed environment of Art Beast while the children have free-range to create art, put on a show, move their bodies, and travel where their imaginations will carry them. Guests can come any time before the party and stay afterward to explore all the playrooms at Art Beast. 

The party studio is decorated with festive paper lanterns. Tables are set up with table clothes, real plates, clothe napkins, real flatware, glasses and vases.  (Paper waste is kept at a minimum to reduce environmental impact.) Children decorate a birthday banner for your child, and make a craft to celebrate the day. As the party begins, the Art Coach leads a birthday circle where the parent passes around a photo of their child at each age, sharing a simple memory of each year to capture the journey to this birthday year. Once the party ends, we take care of the clean up.

Your Art Beast Birthday Party, like all the proceeds from Art Beast, also supports Tubman House. Tubman House provides 18 months of housing and wrap around services to young, homeless parents and their children. Having your party at Art Beast helps us fund the groceries, college textbooks, diapers, and dedicated staff that support Tubman’s parents and children. 

Birthday packages are $275. To reserve your birthday party, click here:  http://www.formspring.com/forms/?743818-zWYVuu6lty

Our first round of Fall classes just wrapped up. The new sessions begin November 2.  Between October 24 and October 31, explore the classes we offer for free!  This is a rare chance to try out a few classes and meet a few teachers without the extra expense.  We only ask that you call and let us know you're coming to the class so we can be sure to have plenty of supplies on hand and the environment set up for the right number.  Classes being offered next week and continuing through November and December: Tap Dance, Eco-Yoga, Hip Hop, Natural Childhood Crafts, Natural Childhood Toys, Storybook Art and Fingerplay, Early Art, Exploring Art with the Great Artists, and Acting Up!  If you decide you'd like to register for a class, mention this website promotion and get 20% off the price of a Class Pass or a class series.  (The Class Pass lets you come to Art Beast as much as you like and take up to 3 classes a week.  The individual class series includes only attendance at the class.)  Give us a call and let us know you're coming: 916-441-1233.

Purchase a 2 to 4 month Open Studio Pass by August 31 and each child included in the pass can enroll in a free weekly class for the duration of the membership.

The Fine Print:  Between now and August 31, any person buying a 2 to 4 month Open Studio Pass receives a free weekly class for each child under 7 in their family.  In other words, if you buy a two month pass, each child on the membership gets to enroll in one class a week for two months.  The only restriction is that each child must register and enroll in a class series by September 12. Most classes run 4 to 8 weeks.  If a series ends before your membership, you can enroll in another series of classes or attend our drop in sessions. 

Until September 12, your children can drop into a class a week to explore our offerings and decide which class they would like to try out for a few weeks. The advantage of registering for a series is that your child gets to develop a relationship with the teacher and the children committed to the class series.

As our classes cost $8 a session, this is quite a savings over the duration of a class series. We will not be offering this promotion again so act quickly to ensure you get this deal- and to ensure you can register in the class your child would like to attend.

If you are currently a member and your membership expires in September, you can extend your membership by 2 to 4 months to take advantage of this promotion. We will also apply the free class offer to the remaining days on your current membership.

We've included our calendar of Fall classes below. If there's any other classes you'd like to see us offer, let us know!

Fall Classes and Workshops 

Sunday 

• Family Workshop : Interactive Family Projects: 2 - 4 pm

Monday 

• Parent and Child Dance w/Jodie for 18 months to 3 years : 10 am
• Creative Movement I w/ Jodie for 4 to 6 years old : 10:30 am

Tuesday 

• Beastie Song Circle w/ Lida: All ages. Free to All: 10:30 am
• Eco-Yoga w/ Jennifer for 3 and up: 11 am
• Eco-Yoga w/ Jennifer for 4 and up: 4 pm

Wednesday 

• Baby Moves! w/ Jodie for up to 18 months: 9:30 am
• Mini Movers w/ Jodie for 3 to 5 years: 10 am
• Acting Up! w/ Jessica for 3 and up: 3 pm 
• Tap Dance w/ Jessica for 5 to 6 years: 4 pm

Thursday 

• Eco-Yoga w/ Jennifer for 4 and up : 10 am
• Beastie Song Circle w/ Ryan: All ages. Free to all: 11am
• Hip Hop I w/ Katie for 3 and up: 3 pm
• Hip Hop II w/ Katie for 5 and up: 4 pm

Friday 

• Storybook Art & Fingerplay w/ Sonja for 2 and up: 9:30 am
• Natural Childhood Toys w/ Sonja for 3 and up : 10:30 am
• Natural Childhood Crafts w/ Sonja for 4 and up: 11:30 am

Saturday 

• Early Art w/ Kelly for 3 and under: 10:30 am
• Exploring Art w/ Great Artists w/ Kelly for 4 and up: 11:30 am

Fall classes will begin September 13 and run until December 19, 2009.  No classes will be held on November 26, 27, or 28th.

Until September 13, Class Pass holders can drop in on any 4 classes each week.

The Beastie Song Circle is open to all. No registration is required.

ArtBeast Children’s Studio will open its doors Thursday, July 2!

The jugs of paint are full.  125 pounds of clay weighs down the round table. The shelves are full of objects both familiar and silly with which to create.  Our huge upstairs classroom lets the light pour in, as the grown ups relax and watch the children dig into classes carefully tailored to the young.  Play spaces offer nooks and props and inspiration for children to create new worlds for an hour or two.  

It will be noisy. It will be messy.  You will find yourself chasing your young one from the puppet theatre to the painting wall to the sand and water bar.  The bang wall, the tin can castle, and the loft will beckon as well.  In between, pinch pots and portraits and sculptures of mysterious reclaimed tidbits will join the ArtBeast gallery that’s recreated daily.

In our first week, we hope you will join in as we create paper mache beasties to suspend from the ceilings to become the official welcoming committee for ArtBeast.  Drop in classes will be offered from 10 to 4 every day for the first two weeks and will be included in the price of a visit.

We can’t promise the paint will wash out.  We can promise fun.