After-school program has scholarships
Joy Garrett, a 14-year-old Gibbs High School student, displays a recent painting she made at the Youth Arts Corps at Wildwood, called “Neptune.”
By Ryan Ritter
St. Petersburg—Free after-school program in Midtown! Youth Arts Corps at Wildwood has money for scholarships.
“Our biggest need is to get the word out about how important and critical the program is,” Sonya McAlister, a supervisor at Wildwood, said. “We have so much to offer.”
The after-school arts program hires professionals to teach at-risk children. Pinellas County youth between the ages of 12 to 14 are eligible for the scholarships, according to the program’s Web site. Scholarships are available to students living in households with annual incomes below 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Or, if the youth lives in one of 10 zip code areas outlined in the required application. Students can stay in the program at Youth Arts Corps up to age 18.
Most of the zip codes outlined in the application are in Midtown. Activities at Arts Corps are comparable to those offered at paid programs.
“I’ve taught classes at the Arts Center and it surprises me how much people will spend to learn the same things we teach here for free,” Kimberly White, outreach and program development director, said.
White has a master’s degree in fine arts from the Royal College of Art in London. She taught classes at the Youth Arts Corps before accepting her new position in December.
“The program shows children how to use fine arts and gives them valuable job-training skills and a support network,” White said. “It is a positive place to come and it’s free.”
The Youth Arts Corps does more than serve the community by offering free art training. Its main goal is to help the children discover and advance skills, while fostering an environment where students believe what they do matters.
“Many kids come in struggling and they need to be challenged,” McAlister said. “Youth Arts Corps gives them a voice and presents them with a challenge.”
Many of the children entering the program come from difficult backgrounds and may not feel like their community cares about them. The program’s philosophy, then, is to create an environment where children learn how to think critically, express opinions and communicate skills.
“The children learn how to act and interact in environments that may be foreign to them,” McAlister said. “We try to expose them to new experiences.”
New experiences refer to the various workshops administered by the Corps. The organization hires professional artists to lead these workshops, covering approximately 15 different mediums of art. Children who excel at a particular medium can enter the advanced programs. Similar to an actual hiring process, the child goes through an evaluation test and interview before stepping up. In addition to artistic talent, the student is required to demonstrate job-related skills, such as reliable attendance and proper behavior. The advanced programs challenge students and give them an opportunity to earn money through their artwork.
“The Youth Arts Corps gives children the ability to dream big in a way where they can still see small visions come to light,” McAlister said.
The results of the organizations big goals are hard to miss. Every room in the Wildwood building is full of vibrant art of all kinds. Many of the program’s graduates also decide to stay at the center, either as volunteers, teacher’s assistants or even teachers themselves.
Akeem Rogers, who attended the program as a teenager, is now 20 and still volunteers at the Youth Arts Corps at Wildwood. As a volunteer, he does whatever the instructors need him to do, but he is also still able to learn some valuable skills.
“I’m trying to learn video production,” Rogers said. “I’m able to incorporate the things I do here with other stuff I do.”
The artistic skills the children learn at the Youth Arts Corps are enhanced by the positive environment the staff maintains and the various connections the children are able to establish with the local art community. Given everything the program has to offer, the fact that the community is unaware of the opportunity is what keeps the organization from giving out all the scholarships they have to offer.
