A recruitment event for those interested in being the first students in the newly founded Oconaluftee Institute for Cultural Arts (OICA) will be held Monday, November 20, 2006 at the Lift Café in Cherokee from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

The institute will offer an Associate in Fine Arts curriculum program that will focus on Native American art and culture, most notably that of the Cherokee. The AFA program will be offered through Southwestern Community College. Students who graduate from the program will be able to transfer to WCU as juniors pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. The focus will be on studio arts in visual, textiles, performance, cultural and technical studies.

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will provide tuition for students who are enrolled members of the EBCI. Others must pay their own feels and tuition, according to Barbara Putman, SCC dean of Arts and Sciences.

"While non-EBCI students will have to pay their own tuition and fees, tuition at SCC is a fraction of what it would be at a university or private college," Putnam said. "Also, with a faculty who place their primary focus on teaching, students at SCC and at the Oconaluftee Institute for the Cultural Arts will receive a high level of learning with quality instruction. This fine arts program will be singular both in its curriculum and in the one-on-one relationship students and faculty will have together."

For information on Monday's recruitment event or about enrolling in the OICA fine arts program, contact the SCC Arts and Sciences Division at 800.447.4091 or 828.586.4091, ext. 300, or visit www.southwesterncc.edu to apply.

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