The Interactive Art Institute is an after school program for students to engage in authentic technology-based learning in a playful, fun, and scholastic environment. It provides advanced UX research, design, development, and entrepreneurial training for students and community members of all ages. It is a startup incubator for the younger generation of students and community resource center for those interested in learning more about science, technology, engineerinng, interactive arts, and math (STEAM). This after school program is slated to occur between 3PM-9PM during the week, and from 7AM-9PM on the weekends to accomodate working families' schedules. The program is slated to cost ~$500-1000/month depending on the services offered.

The Interactive Art Institute will create an educational space for students in the age range of 5-25. All traditional subjects will be covered and augmented with science, technology, engineering, interactive art, and math (STEAM) projects guided by their teachers/mentors. The school will follow state regulations with regard to daycare.

The program will strive to determine which teachers are most effective for the students and employ a mentorship model where students will have the same teacher/mentor for multiple years. It is hoped that they will develop a meaningful relationship similar to what you might expect at a university where a student interacts with a professor for multiple years. Students will be encouraged to conduct original research on their ideas building on their passions, interests, and entrepreneurial ideas.

There will be many different types of technology to choose from and the students can pursue technology that is aligned with their interests. The students will be encouraged to develop their own learning principles and learning technologies that their peers can use. The after school program will follow the legitimate peripheral participation model of mentorship and scholarship, where students gradually gain expertise through genuine interaction with experts in the field.