Art Students Showcase Web Design Skills

Art Students Showcase Web Design Skills
It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes hundreds of student volunteers to raise Web sites for community-based non-profits as part of The Art Institutes' Annual National Webraising event.

To help celebrate National Volunteer Month, interactive media design students from Art Institutes across the U.S. will raise Web sites for non-profit organizations and go live with launches on Monday, April 18, 2005.

Art Institutes participating in this year's event include schools located in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Brookline, MA, Phoenix, Portland, Dallas, Orange County, California, San Diego and York, PA.

Based on the Amish concept of a barnraising, a Webraising demonstrates the power of neighbor helping neighbor as students aid local, community-based non-profit organizations by creating Web sites, or in some cases, re-launching existing sites to improve appearance and function.

Dr. Ameeta Jadav, department chair for Interactive Media Design at The Art Institute of Atlanta, originated the first Webraising event and is the spokesperson for the national effort. According to Jadav, "Web sites are as important to the world of non-profits as to the business world. They make it possible for the non-profit to fulfill its mission more effectively by bringing the message to a broader audience."