Contact Arts-Kids at: info@arts-kids.org or 435-615-7878

Press Releases

The Park Record Oct 21, 2000

Program Nurtures; Builds Confidence Through Expressive Arts

For nine weeks in each semester of the school year, small group of children meet after school to participate in Arts-Kids—a program based in the expressive arts designed to build social skills, explore creativity, and develop tolerance, understanding, and confidence.
While the structure of the class may be centered around the project at hand, the purpose is in the process. children are encouraged to evaluate there experience more than the finished product. In the process of creation, children are asked to take creative risks, work together, and most importantly, communicate.

For Program Director Pat Drewry Sanger, the cost of a program focused on small groups of children is a vital investment. "People say that it's a lot of money for one child. But the prevention makes a difference. We inspire them to feel confidence and make a difference in their lives."

Sanger, a child/adolescent specialist and advanced practice psychiatric mental health nurse, had years of experience as a psychotherapist and community health educator before she started Arts-Kids. Her experience working with children from inner cities in Virginia inspired her to design a nurturing environment where children could express themselves. "The kids I worked with in Norfolk were exposed to a lot of violence. I remember walking on a beach in Virginia, with one child in particular in mind, thinking what did this kid need that he wasn't getting in therapy. This idea came to me I was thinking about how wonderful storytelling and artistic expression were as art forms, and I thought of using art as a way to let children express themselves. This idea of using art or having children interact with real artists was based on kids of 9 or 10 having already shut down emotionally, becoming hardened to empathy or feelings for others. This one child in particular told me when he was nine that he wasn't gong to let anyone hit him anymore. If you even looked at him cross-eyed, he went after you. an arts environment can be a way of learning how a child is really seeing the work without the child having to verbally express it. It can be a way for the child to get that emotion out."

According to Sanger, children selected for the Arts-Kids program may not necessarily have emotional or behavioral problems. School guidance counselors, teachers, or other helping professionals refer children to Arts-Kids. "They could be having trouble finding a place where they belong in school or in their home environments. It may be that they have behavioral problems. some are shy, some are very creative. Some are learning English as a second language. Some are learning how to be tolerant of others with diverse backgrounds.

Sanger explains the program's goal is to provide an experience in the expressive arts through activities centered on visual arts, movement, music, and drama. The purpose of the small group format is to create an atmosphere of connection and trust between all members, and to give a sense of belonging both as an individual and as a group member. This small environment helps to dissolve barriers of fear, prejudice and stereotyping and create mutual trust and understanding. Each week the group led by a professional guest artist for 1-3 sessions, depending on the project. each group has a trained facilitator and 3-4 trained community volunteers.

Judy summer, Artistic Director for Art sKids, is a professional artist and certified expressive arts facilitator who has taught in the public school system in California. According to Summer, the theory Art sKids is based upon stems from person-centered expressive therapy. Summer explains that the strength of person centered expressive therapy is based upon unconditional positive regard. "The concept is honoring the individual as having the power within themselves to heal. This process allows them space in which to discover themselves.

Sanger articulated that often, working to help children accept themselves helps them become more accepting of others. summer agrees. "Many times people who don't conform to their environments are ostracized or left out. One of our goals is to have these children learn to accept and love that part of them that is different."
Summer's daughter, Robin friedman, an artist who helps with Art sKids programs is also a certified expressive arts facilitator. Friedman stresses that it is very important that people understand that Art sKids is not an art enrichment program.

Although Arts-Kids may spark an underlying talent or interest in the arts, arts are used to stimulate creativity, strengthen character ad build self-esteem. There's an intention that's bigger than the actual creation of the project," said Friedman. "While classes are structured around the creation of certain projects, within the process is the intention to work with children on problem solving, following directions, working on social skills and personal development. You can't just label this as art education."

Summer explains that Arts-Kids programs are structured so that each project touches on an intention, be it understanding another culture, learning to work as a group, or following directions. "We try to foster creative thinking. We have the children write down their intentions for the day or for themselves. We try to give them an area in which there isn't a right or a wrong, to build a trust of the process."

The process itself is more important than the finished result. Summer remembers one child working on a clay activity who formed 20 or more different mini-sculptures from the same ball of clay. "He would make one object, destroy it, and make another. At the end of the class, he didn't ave anything to show for it, but he was ecstatic. He had enjoyed the creative process, taken risks, and was rewarded even though he didn't bring anything home."

Friedman explains that encouraging children to build confidence is an important goal for art instructors and volunteers. "If something is really creative, of course we praise it, but we try not to put an emphasis o the finished project. We try to ask the kids what they learned while they were working, to identify the problems they solved. For the other kids that may not have succeeded, encouragement more than praise is important."

Summer relates an occasion in which she was reminded that for many, the joy of creating lies in the process. "My most interesting experience was working with printmaking. This table of boys made an incredible mess — they mixed all of their colors together to make a muddy brown. All the other children had created these bright colors. One of the boys from the table held up his muddy green print and began telling the other children about how it was a dark forest, and all the little lines were trees. And they all saw it. It was very humbling for me. When this child held up his paper, all the children shared the value of it and we all learned something."

For Arts-Kids to be successful, the program must be integrated into area schools, nurtured by community arts organizations and non-profit arts groups, and assisted by volunteers.

The Park Record Oct 21, 2000