Local Nonprofits Offered Complimentary Design Services Through Community Service Initiative

In the last five years, students at The Art Institute of California — Orange County have completed over 100 projects for local nonprofits through the school’s Community Arts Resource Exchange Program (CARE). CARE is part of the school’s community service initiative to benefit the local community and give students real-world professional experience and fully-produced work for their portfolios, while exposing them to the value and reward of charitable work.

Organizations may apply for student assistance in areas such as logo development, poster design, creation of brochures, flyers, postcards, and other marketing collateral material, as well as interactive media projects, computer animation sequences, Web sites, and other projects that fit into the school’s curriculum.

To apply for project assistance from the school, local nonprofit groups should request an application from Veronica Orozco through email at vorozco@aii.edu or by calling 714.830.0221. You may also download a brochure and an application here.

Upcoming deadlines for applications:

CARE projects are carefully selected by the academic director and instructor to ensure projects are a good fit with the curriculum. Projects listed below represent only a sample of the work that has been done by students in the past. Other projects may be approved.

Culinary

• Culinary demonstrations
• Special event catering

Web and Interactive Media Design

• Multimedia projects
• Web site design

The Art Institute of California — Orange County offers the following additional degree programs that may be able to work with CARE clients. The academic director and instructor will determine if a project fits with the curriculum of the class.

• Fashion Design
• Fashion Marketing & Management
• Game Art & Design
• Industrial Design
• Interior Design
• Media Arts & Animation
• Visual & Game Programming

About the CARE Program

The Art Institute of California — Orange County developed the Community Arts Resource Exchange (CARE) program to provide students with opportunities to apply what they’ve learned in their academic programs to professional projects that support the needs of the community. The CARE program gives students real-world professional experience and fully-produced work for their portfolios, while exposing them to the value and reward of charitable work.

Southern California nonprofit organizations benefit by receiving pro-bono work from emerging designers, visual artists and chefs, with the comfort of having expert faculty members oversee and direct their projects. CARE projects save thousands of dollars for these nonprofits, allowing them to use their vital resources for other important community endeavors.

Nonprofit groups apply for assistance in areas such as logo development, poster design, brochures, collateral and marketing materials, Web sites, multimedia projects, special event catering and culinary demonstrations. The most important factor is that the projects support the school’s education programs.

The Art Institute carefully selects CARE projects that are a good fit with the curriculum. Clients are matched with senior-level design classes that, under the direction of an instructor, work with the community organization in a client setting to produce a high-quality, professional product.

Now in its fifth year, CARE has helped more than 100 Southern California nonprofits with professional design, media arts and culinary arts projects.