Triumph and Transition
Interview with founder Vivian Doublestein
The Master’s Academy of Fine Arts is the pioneer and leader in arts instruction from a Biblical and historical perspective. Serving the homeschool community since 1990, we continue to uphold the same vision we have always had: to raise a tribe of “Discipled Artisans” who through skillful use of their artistic gifts will reclaim the cultures of the world for God’s purposes. (website)
Location: National reach; office in Loganville, GA
More info: www.mafa.net
What is your mission?
To reclaim creativity, restore knowledge, and release artisans.
Who is the project designed to serve?
Students between the ages of 5-18 and their parents. Homeschooling families have been the main utilizers.
What are your primary activities?
Our signature educational program teaches the arts in their historical contexts. Each year we concentrate on one time period of the arts (ancient, medieval/renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, or modern). Students attend weekly classes in history, art, music and drama so that they are gaining a full perspective of the arts in their historical context.
We have traditionally met in churches and have anywhere from 40 to 200 students per location. The teachers are either parents or people from the community who have degrees in the arts, or who are working as professionals in their field.
What is the history of the project?
The Master’s Academy started in 1990 as a small homeschool group at Stone Mountain Community Church (GA). Claudia Tschupp, the wife of our minister of music at the time, was instrumental in helping me to plan and develop the opening phase of the program. After that I was joined by a small group of people who had the same passion to develop something like this. The church graciously allowed us to use their facilities for a season, but as we outgrew the facility, we moved to other church locations in the metro area.
We had originally envisioned having fifty extremely talented students attend our weekly classes, but God had other plans! We started with 115 students who had never seen printed music, never been to the theatre, never been to a museum and never been to the ballet. So we scrapped what we had put together and started over, developing the program weekly as we went along.
After five years, the program started to expand and soon there was interest in MAFA in 48 states. From 1990-2010, more than 35 locations were started.
During that time, we also added a more advanced high school program, in which students “majored” in art, drama, or music, and took worldview courses as well as continuing their historical context studies. We did a pilot project for college-level students to continue their studies, using the original model and focusing each year on folk culture, high culture, pop culture, and transforming culture.
When the economy started to head south in the past couple of years, the program took a nosedive. It was a combination of cost factors for the families, but also the fact that the model had run its course. When we started the program it was literally one of the only homeschool groups in the country offering a weekly program for students to attend. Now, the homeschool market is flooded with such programs and parents have multiple choices. As a result, we are retooling the program and redesigning it for the next generation of students.
What are your current programs?
We currently have four locations still operating under our original model. Within those locations we have elementary, junior high and high school levels. We are currently working to develop virtual models of our program in order to reach more students at a much lower cost.
Where have you seen the project bear fruit?
We have seen such growth in the students as they started to “connect the dots” from what they were seeing in the arts to their historical contexts and cultural ramifications of what was being created.
Our students have gone on to excel outside of our Academy. Former students have won prestigious awards, been cast in plays and motion pictures, and had other professional successes. Savannah College of Art and Design automatically gave our students scholarships. Nearly 60% of our graduates went on to study the arts in college, and many have gone on to work in arts-related industries.
The parents were an unexpected area of “fruit.” Many parents had no arts background themselves, so they saw their extremely gifted artistic children in a new light when they suddenly blossomed in the correct environment.
They also learned how to better parent the creative child. This has been my greatest joy. I’ve seen parents suddenly have a huge weight lifted from their shoulders as they realize that they are not failing as parents, they just have a jewel that needs to be fashioned in a different way than the rest of their children.
What were your leadership challenges?
For me, the biggest challenge was that the project did not end up being what I expected it to be. I expected it to be a program for the kids at our church, 35-50 at the most. By the time we had schools in multiple states, I suddenly realized that I had something way more than I had bargained for. It became a constant rat race to get ahead of the curve in creating training programs for the staff, managing curriculum, and trying to make sure that everyone was on the same page all of the time.
I am by nature a visionary creative person, yet I was suddenly thrust into a very administrative role. That was what took the greatest toll on me. It has taken me more than three years of “sabbatical” to recover my lost vision and creative energy once again.
Where do you envision the project going in the coming years?
In the next few years I see us taking our material into an online program that will be accessible not only to the homeschool market, but also to private schools and public schools, day care centers, arts centers and even preschools. While the live locations worked for a generation, the economy is forcing us to shift our model so that we are not having the costs of providing facilities and multiple staff people at each location.
How can someone get involved?
They can certainly email me: Vivian@mafa.net. They can also join our newsletter on the website.
Vivian Doublestein is the founder and Executive Director of the Master’s Academy of Fine Arts. She is also a freelance accompanist in the Atlanta area as well as a private piano teacher.
