Partnership Projects

GiGi’s Playhouse

After five years we are excited to bring back our partnership with GiGi’s Playhouse a Down syndrome achievement center. The nonprofit organization provides free programs that are educational and therapeutic in nature to individuals with Down syndrome from birth through adulthood, their families and the community.

GiGi’s Playhouse, Inc.

Our Mission and Purpose: To change the way the world views Down syndrome and to send a global message of acceptance for all.

Our Vision: To see a world where individuals with Down syndrome are accepted and embraced in their families, schools, and communities.

Our Niche: We change lives through the consistent delivery of free educational, therapeutic-based, and career development programs for individuals with Down syndrome, their families, and the community, through a replicable playhouse model.

Our Promise: A lifetime commitment to families.

Thirteen of our Junior design students were paired with a teenager with Down syndrome from ages 14-18. By developing a relationship with them first, the students began to better understand their individual likes and needs.

Our new friends will grace the runway with their custom garments designed by our talented students.

Studio project sponsored by Ginny Caldwell.

CreatiVets

Our mission-based approach differentiates us from other programs, and partnering with CreatiVets is providing another opportunity for purposeful design. Eight of our sophomore design students will be taking inspiration from artwork created by four military veterans that will highlight how art, fashion and music can come together in the gift of storytelling.

CreatiVets’ goal is to offer opportunities for relief and healing for the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country. The organization has served veterans from all 50 states, and their purpose is to use various forms of art, including songwriting, visual arts, music, and creative writing, to help disabled veterans cope with service-related trauma (i.e., post-traumatic stress, or PTS) by fostering self-expression in a way that allows them to transform their stories of trauma and struggle into an art form that can inspire and motivate continued healing. Through compassion, CreatiVets is helping veterans live again.