PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The crowd was clapping a steady rhythm, cheering louder and louder. Music was pumping, as was 5th grader Isaac C.’s heart.
Dressed in his new black uniform with red stitching across the back, he extended his right hand as a fist and held his left hand flat. He prepped, he prepped, he prepped.
With a smash, Isaac broke his fist through a painted board. A metaphor of what he hopes to see changed in his neighborhood — violence broken apart and eliminated.
“I want people to stop killing people,” said Isaac, “no shooting, no fighting, no war.”
After School Arts, an arts and community building initiative, held their closing ceremony in Columbus Theatre, Wednesday June 17.
The program meets biweekly at Reservoir Avenue Elementary School and offers lessons in music, dance, karate, acting, and fine arts including photography, painting, making collages and drawing for children in grades 3rd-5th.
Fifty students participated in ASA during the 2008-2009 school year. Thirty tutors were involved in teaching the various art forms. The program is free for the students, funded by donations from individuals and churches in the community. This year’s program cost around $2,000.
The closing ceremony unfolded with a free, donated dinner, a gallery of the students’ artwork and a performance showcasing the various disciplines the students learned.
Flashes filled the gallery as parents and relatives snapped photographs of their children’s artwork.
“Give children an opportunity and they will run with it,” said Cheri Olszewski, a mother of Christina, an ASA tutor. “Children’s artistic abilities amaze me every time. What they teach these children will stay with them forever.”
The performance was tucked in a small theatre behind the larger auditorium of Columbus Theatre. An estimated 250 people attended the event, filling every seat, the spaces along the walls, in the aisles and on the floor around the stage.
The performance came to a close with 5th grader Idallace Cortez’s original hip hop song about her life and family, accompanied by a live band made up of ASA tutors and music students.
As she chanted, “L to the O to the V to the E! I said L to the O to the V to the E!” the whole audience rose to their feet and joined her.
“I was absolutely beside myself,” said Linda Sylvia of the program’s closing ceremony. Sylvia’s face lit up as she spoke of her daughter Nyree’s achievement through ASA. “It’s been a great year and a wonderful experience. It’s so important for these kids to see and do something positive. I can’t wait for Nyree’s little brother to participate in this program.”
Two-and-a-half years ago, Andrew Mook, who coordinates ASA, found out that the arts and music program had been cut from Reservoir Ave. He and his artist friends from a church community saw the need and decided to establish this program.
“88% of the students and families at this school are below the state poverty line,” said Mook, “we often get tapped into kids who have a really difficult home life and risk of gangs and violence in their neighborhoods.”
“The Arts create an environment where the kids can be honest and intimate with themselves and with others,” said Mook. “It can help them wrestle with their personal challenges beyond talking about them, which is hard enough. While teaching them art we’re creating connections and friendships with these kids.”
Mook and others involved in ASA meet monthly with the principal of Reservoir Ave to observe academic growth. “It’s incredible,” said Mook, “We’re seeing calculable growth in their grades. They become comfortable and exposed to their own learning style as they engage with material.”
Mook said he is very excited to see the positive repercussions of ASA permeating the community as a number of elementary schools have asked to replicate the program.
Donald Chamblee the grandfather of 5th grader Jaqueasja Chamblee agreed that the knowledge of the arts these children receive impacts their future. “These children have been encouraged to be creative and are very talented. They are going to be successful. And 20 years from now they’ll come back and give to this community.”
That is exactly the cycle After School Arts hopes to establish.
0 Responses to “After School Arts (Part 1)”