Today we’d like to introduce you to Kara Kapczynski.
Kara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We’ve been open since 2006 and what we set out to do was to provide the community with top-notch teachers for classes in the arts at an affordable price, with all group classes priced $15 or less per hour of class. Most people pay $10.62 to $15 per hour for a group class and private lessons with one teacher and one student (that means it’s not a group class) are available for an additional fee. When I say top notch teachers, I mean 4 of the current staff members have completed a Master’s degree! When I say small, I mean 3 to 10 children in a kid’s group class and 5 to 8 adults in a class for adults. Did I mention that all the art supplies to do the art classes are included? We don’t advertise much in order to keep our prices affordable to the people in the community, so our customers usually find out about our place through friends or through fantastic online places like atlanta.voyagegems.com!
Our school was originally supposed to be called, “Vinings School of Arts.” We’ve always had three classrooms, so from Day 1 in April 2006, we’ve offered Fine Arts (drawing, painting, sculpture-making, clay work), Spanish Language Arts/Spanish Language Study (6 levels for kids, 2 levels for adults) and Music/Instrument lesson for piano, guitar and ukulele. When the website was established, it became www.viningsschoolofart.com and that’s why it’s called simply Vinings School of Art.
We’re now offering more than 50 classes per week and more parties than every before and just finishing our 12th year. This summer will be our 13th year of still offering the community these amazing opportunities to learn, grow and create at an amazing price!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Our biggest challenge has been with marketing and getting the word out about the great quality of our classes and our affordable prices for those classes. Once people find out about our place, they enroll! The world of 2018 is so different in terms of social media than the world of 2006. When we started construction of our facility at the end of 2005, having an informational web site was all that the Vinings School of Art needed to have. Now we need to connect with the people in the community through more than just a web site and we need to keep the online class information and schedules up-to-date and the class content fresh, new and exciting. It’s not just word of mouth any longer. People find out about us via the Internet and they enroll and pay online for our various classes, courses and day camps.
Vinings School of Art – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
What makes us proud is:
– we have students that used to attend as children, and now 12 years later those same students attend as adults!
– the youngest students are age 2 and the oldest students that take classes are 85!
– we have students whose families are from so many different countries.
– we are located in a safe community and that people feel safe when they come to the Vinings School of Art.
– that we can offer 1-hour and 2-hour classes at such a good value that people drive over an hour just to attend.
What has kept our facility open all these years is:
– we hire our staff as employees, not as contractors, so they work year round and continue to teach the classes;
– we are not a franchise, so we don’t need to charge our customers extra just to pay for franchise costs and fees;
– that we have people in the community that support creativity, learning and the arts.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
All the people at the Vinings School of Art work together to make the student experience successful on a daily basis. Last month was successful because Sandy, who has attended our adult classes since 2012, enrolled in an adult class for April, saying that since she works and takes care of her mother, she needs the creative outlet that we offer. Last week was successful because Ella’s mom told us that although her child had been attending our ART camps for years, she said that the art work that we taught her daughter during her school break was better than ever. Last weekend was successful because Jenna’s dad found us online and drove from the other side of Atlanta to bring his daughter to a Daddy & Me private painting class before her surgery. Today was successful because we used papyrus paper that was given to us from someone from Egypt, to teach students that came from as far away as Turkey, with a teacher originally from the Czech Republic who has been an employee for over 7 years, and a parent who is from India wrote a facebook review that said our facility is “more like an International school because people from different countries join here and explore their talent.”
Pricing:
- One time one hour children’s art class, including supplies to do the class, $15.
- ART + Spanish package: $85 every 4th week for 1-hr ART + 1-hr Spanish per week for 4 weeks ($10.62 per hour of class)
- One time 2-hour step-by-step painting lesson, including canvas, for children $25 or for adults $25
- Group piano lessons, limit 4 children per one hour class $15 per student per hour (students grouped by level)
- Children’s Spanish (6 different levels available) $50 every 4th week from when you enroll, age 3 to 14
- Children’s party (canvas, sculpture-making, clay jewelry, or art with wood) $215 for up to 10 kids, $265 up to 15
- Adult private party $25 per person, minimum 6 adults for a private party, $25 each additional person if more than 6 people
Contact Info:
- Address: 1675 Cumberland Parkway #102
Smyrna, GA 30080 - Website: www.viningsschoolofart.com
- Phone: 678-213-4278
- Email: inquiry@viningsschoolofart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinings_school_of_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinings.school.of.art/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/vinings-school-of-art-smyrna
Image Credit:
Kara Kapczynski for Vinings School of Art
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
