Muncie’s Cornerstone Center for the Arts has spent the last few months preparing a new ceramics center for the students who take classes at the downtown organization.  As IPR’s Val Jones reports, the upgrades the space were made possible by local foundation funding.

Ceramics is one of the most popular classes at Cornerstone, with nearly 2,300 students a year.

Jessie Fisher is the Director of Education and Communication at Cornerstone.

“It’s named after Jasen Combs, who founded our ceramics studio at Cornerstone back over 15 years ago. He started using his own equipment, his own kiln, his own wheels. If it weren’t for him our program wouldn’t exist.”

Fisher also says that ceramics students at Cornerstone get the same opportunities as other students for financial assistance, a part of the non-profit’s operating strategy.

“Anything from being a low income household with multiple children, a single parent, to receiving any kind of government assistance, food stamps, low income housing, social security income disability – things like that are what we look at to provide scholarships for people.”

Classes in the new ceramic center begin next Monday.