The stated purposes of the Academy are:• To provide for the advancement of artistic education;• To teach basic principles of art, music, drama, and dance;• To provide opportunities for the perfection of artistic skills through apprenticeship, exhibition, and performance;• To promote interest in and appreciation for the arts through community outreach; and• To elevate the general artistic standard.• The program at the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts is grounded in the atelier method of art instruction. Atelier training is linked to the renowned European academic schools of the Renaissance. The goal of the WAA is to bring this grand tradition to a new generation of artists can learn, practice, and develop skills in a nurturing environment. The core program focuses on developing the student's perception and the technical and visual skills necessary to support drawing, painting and composition. In addition, there is instruction in the use of media including pencil and charcoals and various paint and pastel media. Classes often address technical aspects of paints, papers and canvases, as well.Students develop skills in representing shape, proportion, and tonal rendering by studying plaster casts and still life displays. Ultimately, the focus toes to the structure and form of the human body. These essential elements of the method are a highlight of the curriculum, with the frequent use of live models--a method employed during the Renaissance and continued at the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts.