|
Rhinestone Cowgirl.
|
It’s 1 o’clock on a hazy summer afternoon: do you know where your daughter is?
Working parents of teenagers and small children may have an easier time answering this question: many of their children are at summer jobs, in day care or with a family member. Children approaching puberty, however, are often left to their own devices.
Even with cell phones, Web cams and other monitoring devices, a lot can happen during those long, unsupervised hours, from harmless but wasteful days spent in front of the television to experimentation with sex, drugs or criminal activities. These risks are often cited by lawmakers who support year-round schooling. However, as Julia Jones, sixth-grade teacher and board chairperson of the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative Inc., states, “You can’t learn everything sitting in a classroom. You need to be exposed to life around you.”
This summer, the collaborative decided to use the summer camp model to expose 17 girls, ages 10-13, to creative arts, self-awareness and the cultural offerings available in the greater Washington area. Five days a week for six weeks, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., collaborative staff transformed their building’s multipurpose room into an oasis of positive self-imagery and creative activity called Fluidity Outside the Box.
There are lots of camps and summer enrichment programs throughout the Washington metropolitan area, but most of them are located across town and are too expensive for the average Ward 7 family. This camp was different. It was close to home; used a small-group, single-gender format; offered multidisciplinary arts instruction; and cost nothing, thanks to grants from the University of the District of Columbia Institute for Human Service Delivery and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
We are the beautiful young ladies with focused minds.
We pledge to make good choices that will aid mankind…
These opening lines to the camp pledge establish the camp’s mission: to build healthy self-esteem and a sense of purpose within each participant. “Young girls seem to need the most attention at this age,” says Crystal Kemp, the collaborative’s outreach coordinator, community liaison and camp monitor. “They need to know that someone cares.”
Following the pledge, the girls engaged in a daily rap session followed by time to write in journals adorned with everything from ribbons and stickers to feathers and glitter. To guide their personal reflections, Kemp selected “Don’t Give It Away,” a young women’s workbook by popular motivational author Iyanla Vanzant. Each girl received a copy, which is full of affirmations like “I Am Made in the Image of All That’s Good” and self-awareness activities like “When I see myself I see …” and “I am beautiful because …”
By 10 a.m., their introspection gave way to creative movement. Each day, one of two choreographers led the girls through an hour of hip-hop dance blended with ballet or contemporary dance. “I learned how to dance more often,” says Ja’neisha Gray, a student at KIPP DC AIM Academy. “I like coming here because it’s something that can keep me occupied during the day.”
We will learn about life.
We will infuse the arts…
Visual arts workshops took up the hours following lunch and allowed the girls to interact with Ward 7 artists from several disciplines. “I’m really in favor of them working with the other artists and being exposed to different art disciplines as well to see if one of them resonates with the young ladies, and perhaps they’ll pick that up as they move forward,” notes Ward 7 arts commissioner Marvin Bowser. Shanta Bryant, who attended a dance camp last summer, says she liked being able to participate in so many different arts activities in addition to dance.
Ceramist and mixed media artist Deidra Bell showed the girls how to make acrylic earrings and bracelets, while Eva Thompson taught them to make pillows and jean purses. Even 92-year-old craft artist Ira Blount showed up to lead workshops in calligraphy and origami. “My favorite activity was doing the [paper] cranes because it was hard, and it was fun at the same time,” says rising seventh-grader Loren Love. “It involves a lot of folding, not just cutting it up and pasting it together.”
They also designed their own t-shirts and hats, which several young ladies named as their favorite activity. “We got to paint on them and show our design, our technique and style,” Shanta explains. During the workshops, the artists shared tales from their own lives with the campers, including the ups and downs they endured along the path to fulfilling their dreams. “These kids are learning at an early age, set your goals and don’t let anyone deter you from your goal,” says collaborative chair Julia Jones.
Most of the camp’s activities were structured around the theme of mosaic art. Executive Director Wanda Aikens introduced the girls to a historical role model named Alma Thomas, a Howard University-educated mosaic artist from the early 20th century. The mosaic theme emerged in several craft projects the girls completed, including customized picture frames, mini-mosaics, and their most elaborate project, designing tiles for the collaborative’s ongoing public art project: redesigning planter boxes in “downtown Ward 7.”
We will create for us a future that’s creative and bright …
Each Friday, the girls “broke camp” and traveled to one of the area’s numerous museums, including the Smithsonian’s Museum of African Art and the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture in Baltimore. During their visit to the Banneker-Douglass Museum in Annapolis, they even met acclaimed fiber artist Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither, creator of the Obama Quilt.
Lashonda Gillis says the field trips were a highlight of her daughter Ta’Naisha’s camp experience: “She wants to be there every day. She comes home and talks about the daily activities.” Gillis learned about the camp while enrolling her son at IDEA Public Charter School. Kemp was there recruiting families for the camp. “My daughter likes drawing, and I thought that would be something for her to do,” Gillis recalls, “and I thought [Crystal] would be a good mentor for my daughter.”
Kemp has been pleased with the growth she’s witnessed in the girls during their six weeks together. “When I first met them, most of them were really shy,” she recalls. “Now, they seem more open and more willing to talk. I want to see them become outgoing and ambitious and motivated.”
Fluidity Outside the Box is what we are all about
Exposure to the arts and its intellect
We pledge to make our future ROCK!
On Aug. 20, during the camp’s closing program, the wider community will get a chance to see just how much the girls have learned. The girls will treat the audience to dance performances and art displays, while the collaborative staff shares highlights of the summer via PowerPoint and video. “We want to encourage the stakeholders in the community to get involved next summer or in the future in the young people’s lives,” says Kemp.
Jones wants to see the camp follow the girls throughout their school years. “We want them to become positive role models for other young ladies. They can share this experience and say, ‘Hey, maybe you all need to come to Fluidity Outside the Box next summer.’” Gillis is ahead of the curve in that regard. She was so impressed with the collaborative’s camp that she helped arrange for her two stepdaughters to attend the camp as well and wants to re-enroll her daughter next summer. “Crystal’s more interactive with the parents,” she says. “Whatever goes on, she calls me. I haven’t gotten that before [at other camps].” |
