In Community Arts in Practice class we were assigned a
project to get us out into Spokane and volunteer at an organization supporting
the greater community. For this Shared Art Project we (George and Annika)
collaborated with the North East Youth Center, a non-profit “educational and
recreational program for children ages 5-17” (spokaneneyc.com). NEYC’s mission
is to “provide at-risk youth with culturally enriching and stimulating
educational and recreational opportunities that build self-esteem and teach
basic life skills”.
We were introduced to their facility with welcoming
smiles and kindness. The kids we were working with were all between the ages 3-10.
The activities we had them do were to braid bracelets and decorate thanksgiving
gift bags. Because braiding is a slightly
advanced task, that activity turned into the kids just choosing their fabrics
and having us braid for them. But it was still fun to see the excitement in
their eyes as we assisted them. The gift bags were more around their area of
attraction and capacity.
You could tell that the kids were excited to do
something new. Although there is a significant age difference between the
elementary age group and us college kids, it was so humbling to be able to
share a connection with them. It’s especially important to make sure that kids
this age- in their developmental stage- are encouraged, active, and attended
to. We felt honored to be helping such a positive group of people and hope to
do more things like this in the future.
Go you guys for working with a varied age range, that can be challenging. I'm glad you still got to do the bracelet project even though it may have turned in to more of you helping them than you anticipated. It sounds like you were able to hang out and talk as well, which is especially cool. I agree with you that after doing our shared art project, it definitely left me wanting to do more art in the community. There are obviously tons of opportunities to get out there and work with kids, and retirement homes seem to be welcoming, but I'm curious what outlets there are for adults in the community to plug into creative outlets.
ReplyDeleteSounds like it was fun!
Working with that wide of an age range was definitely a challenge. It was a blast having to adapt to the abilities of the children which we were working with. I believe adaptation and patience are two must have skills when working with community. Whether you are working with children or working with the elderly, you must be prepared for anything. More often than not, when working with community there will be cataclysmic happenings which you have to overcome to enable the completion of the project. If you aren’t prepared to handle the worst, then you just aren’t prepared. Always remember, prepare for the worst, but pray for the best!
ReplyDelete