Des Moines Arts Festival

Cowles Montessori Parent Group (CMPG) will be once again running one of the four nonprofit-run beer and wine sales tents at the Des Moines Arts Festival, and again this year we will also be running the Iowa Craft Beer tent! Volunteering at the festival is fun and easy – it’s a great way to get to know other Cowles parents at one of the biggest events in Des Moines, while raising money for fine arts programs at Cowles. In 2013 we made over $14,500 (more than the three previous years combined)! In the past, the booth provided has money for:

·  The Des Moines Metro Opera presented “Sid the Serpent” at Cowles

·  The Lower Elementary classes went to “The Nutcracker” performed by Iowa Dance Theater

·  The Windy City Players performed “Tom Sawyer” at Cowles

·  Two classes saw “To Kill a Mockingbird” at The Des Moines Playhouse

·  The Pre-K classes attended “Eric Carle – Treasured Stories” at the Civic Center

·  The Des Moines Playhouse conducted Pre-K drama workshops at Cowles

·  The Lower Elementary classes saw “ImaginOcean” at the Civic Center

·  Shakespeare is Elementary led a week-long class on Romeo and Juliet for the Upper Elementary

·  It funded visiting artist Pam Dennis to work with Cowles students

How much time? Each new volunteer needs to complete a one hour training session, and then shifts at the booth are typically 3 hours long. You can work up to six hours in any given day.

Who can volunteer? Anyone 18 or older – anyone who might want to have fun while making money for our kids at Cowles! Get a group together to work a shift – Volunteers do NOT need to be Cowles affiliated to come join in the fun – family or friends, the more the merrier!

When is the training? There will be a total of four one-hour training sessions on two days available (Location TBA):

·  Tuesday, May 20th at 5:30

·  Thursday, June 5th at 11:30

·  Monday, June 9th at 5:30

Training is required to volunteer! If you’ve volunteered at the Cowles tent before, you don’t need to go through training again – you just need to sign a waiver form (attached and in the office at Cowles) by May 30th.

When and where is the festival? The Des Moines Arts Festival is June 27-29, at Western Gateway Park.

Where do I sign up? Go to http://desmoinesartsfestival.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=4251 All new volunteers will get a free Cowles T-shirt!

If you have any questions, please contact Melissa Winters at melowinters@gmail.com or 865-9086.