Introducing Arivva
Pierce Center for Arts & TechnologyArivva seeks to transform lives. We start by providing visual arts programs for high school youth and post-secondary career training for local workers.
Arivva’s organizational groundwork embraces anti-racism. Our mission is empowerment through mentorship and learning. We cannot stay silent when we witness Black lives being devalued, degraded, and destroyed in our communities and across our nation. We are doing the work. We know we have a long way to go. We have to work together. There are things all of us can do to fight for racial justice. We invite you to join us in our commitment to listen and lead with courage, compassion, and humility so that life and lives can flourish in our communities. Black lives matter.
Arivva is a place of opportunity offering youth arts and adult workforce development programs.
Arivva is the first replication of the highly successful Manchester Bidwell Corporation in Washington State.
Our Mission
To transform Pierce County by connecting high school students and adults-in-transition to the opportunities and environment they need to build a better future for themselves, their families, and our community.
Our Vision
We envision a community that sees everyone as an asset, where problems become opportunities to create hope, respect, and belonging, and where every person has a pathway to success.
Our Philosophy
Environment shapes behavior
All people are assets
Creativity fuels enterprise
What We Do
Arivva seeks to transform lives. Our focus is on education and workforce development. We start by providing visual arts programs for high school youth and postsecondary career training for local workers.
But we don’t stop there.
We provide scholarships to all our students and remove barriers to access such as evidence of financial stability and prior achievement.
Arivva is a locally governed nonprofit organization incorporated in the State of Washington. Arivva is linked with the National Center for Arts & Technology (NCAT) and an expanding network of centers across the U.S. to adapt the Manchester Bidwell model of empowering educational environments.
Arrive
Get here, show up, and reach for it. Arivva’s students, staff, partners, and friends alike come to Arivva with strengths, talents, and abilities. Everyone is an asset. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Achieve
Do, accomplish, and realize. Arivva is about making and reaching goals in a culture of respect and dignity. Nobody succeeds alone. When Arivva’s students succeed, we all succeed.
Advance
Make progress, grow, and get ahead. With commitment comes learning and growth. At Arivva, together, we can make goals a reality. Then it’s time to celebrate and move on. Go for it!
Building on a brilliant model
Arivva is modeled after Pittsburgh’s highly successful Manchester Bidwell — an internationally recognized arts and education center founded by the renowned innovator and MacArthur fellow, Bill Strickland. Bill has spent the past thirty years transforming the lives of thousand of people through Manchester Bidwell. He’s shown countless others how they can build on their passions and strengths in order to dream bigger, set the bar higher, and achieve meaningful success.
Our Programs
No Cost, Full Commitment
Our high school visual arts and young adult job training programs are offered at no cost. This includes tuition and supplies. We are grateful to the support of our donors who make this possible. We embed mentorship and personal development into our programs to set our students on a path to success.
Youth Arts for High School Students
Are you interested in the arts? Do you want to develop key social and leadership skills? Arivva partners with public high schools to provide after-school visual arts programs for local students in Parkland. After-school programs, coming soon! Check back here for more information.
Demand-driven Job Training
Arivva provides a second chance for our community’s unemployed, underemployed, and transitioning adult workers. We offer career training only for occupations that have strong demand in the local market. This allows workers to achieve financial self‐sufficiency with a living wage job.
Arivva is a place of hope and opportunity.
Arivva envisions a world‐class facility filled with cutting edge equipment and materials our students need to master the fields they are studying. We will surround them with art, plants, natural light, and beauty. Why? We believe that environment shapes behavior, so we are planning an incredible place to nurture the incredible people who walk through our doors.
We aim to open in Parkland in 2020. Keep an eye on this site for updated information.
Stay Up to Date.
Youth Voice in Action at Arivva
Our colleagues at ConnCAT posted a great piece in their June newsletter about the importance of youth voice through after school and summer programs. Students were recently interviewed by a DC News reporter—who also happens to be a teaching artist at ConnCAT. They...
Arivva Responds to the Coronavirus
Starting May 11, 2020, our incredible visual arts teachers will begin piloting our Digital Photography class – our way of staying connected and supporting our students. Learn more here.
Falling in Love with the Problem
These are tough times filled with COVID-19 disruptions. At Arivva, like our colleagues at WMCAT, we don’t have a “how-to” document for alternative solutions. But someday, when social distancing is behind us, we will be ready. Read more about “falling in love with the...
August 2020 Virtual Ceramics Class for Adult Students
Monday, August 3rd, 2020, 5:30 PM –
Thursday, August 20th, 2020, 7:30 PM
September 2020 Virtual Ceramics Class for High School Students
Monday, August 31st, 2020, 3:00 PM –
Thursday, September 17th, 2020, 5:30 PM
These are no-contact classes, taking place entirely online using Zoom!
Connect With Us
For More Information,
Please contact Executive Director, Dr. Dan Bissonnette, at dan@arivva.org.
Small Actions x Lots of People = Big Change
Arivva is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, incorporated in 2016, serving students since 2018. We are actively seeking a combination of legislatively directed funding and donations from regional foundations, businesses, and individuals to secure ample funding and establish our long term endowment.
Join us in creating opportunities, building futures and launching careers.
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Pierce Center for Arts & Technology, dba Arivva
Corporate address: 618 North Yakima Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98403
Send inquiries to info@arivva.org
Arivva complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. See https://civilrights.findlaw.