The AT&T Foundation will give $25,000 to UAB’s ArtPlay, the Alys Stephens Center’s home for arts education, for an innovative new class that will help teach students to create a mobile application.
The weekly class, “Create an App,” will give middle- and high-school students the opportunity to use their creative flair while learning to design, develop and test a mobile application or “app” for ArtPlay. The class begins Jan. 18, 2012, and will be held each Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. through April 11 at the facility, 1006 19th St. South.
“Mobile apps are a great example of ways innovation is changing the world in which we live,” says Fred McCallum, president of AT&T Alabama. “This ArtPlay program is a great opportunity for students to gain real-world experience developing apps and experiencing that innovation first hand.”
Led by Teaching Artist Taylor Peake, director of MotionMobs, the students will determine the app’s functionality, its market in the public and other details through its development and launch. They also will work within a project budget to promote an understanding of money management. The class will act as a “client” of MotionMobs, a newly formed, local mobile app-development company with experience developing smart phone and tablet applications across major mobile platforms. The completed app will be submitted to app vendors to make available for download.
The Alys Stephens Center strives to make the performing arts accessible to the broadest possible audience by offering opportunities to get closer to the arts through its ArtPlay programs. ArtPlay, the education and outreach initiative of the Alys Stephens Center, endeavors to educate, inspire, and nurture creative growth and self-expression in people of all ages by providing innovative arts education programming in a collaborative and holistic environment.