Free Arts and Enrichment For Inner City Children: Holidays at Imagine

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Holidays at Imagine

Our amazing Imagine Clubs have gone above and beyond this season. A huge thank you to Imagine FM for putting together Christmas goody bags for every one of our students. Rose Avellino, Jess Straub and others worked hard to put the gifts together, and it made our children soooo happy! Also, a big thanks to the Spaghetti Warehouse for giving us a great discount on our Holiday Dinner excursion. The children were able to practice manners and etiquette which they learned the evening before with Miesje Havens of the Refined School of Protocol and Etiquette. Finally, Imagine JD is doing a winter coat drive and will deliver the jackets to future IMagine students at the Spanish Action League! Thank you, Joe Hall for all you do!!! We are on break and will resume regular programming on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010. See you then!

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WHO WE ARE...

WELCOME TO IMAGINE SYRACUSE!

Join the fight to give all children equal access to arts and enrichment!

“…The child must know he is a miracle,

That since the beginning of the world

There hasn’t been,

And until the end of the world

There will not be,

Another child like him.”

-Pablo Casals, Spanish Cellist and Conductor, 1876-1973

For the last year, Imagine Syracuse has provided free after-school arts and enrichment to more than 60 children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old in the Near Westside neighborhood-- the 9^th poorest census tract in the COUNTRY.

Between school budget cuts and no proximity to enrichment in the neighborhood, children who grow up here have had little or no access to the kinds of creative and life-affirming opportunities afforded suburban children. Until now.

Joining forces with Huntington Family Centers, Inc.’s daycare program in the heart of the Near Westside, Imagine Syracuse provides hands-on experiences and workshops in the visual and performing arts, dance, poetry, music and career exploration. In exchange, our children gain a sense of accomplishment, develop positive life skills, and inspire hope in the struggling community around them.

We are proud of what we have accomplished as a community of volunteers, families, children and caring professionals. We have seen the power of dance, painting, sculpture, music, poetry and art empower children to find their own voice, establish their own form of creative self-expression, increase their own confidence and use it to change their lives. As a result, their families, their schools and the community around them are richer, more vibrant and more inspiring.

Our goal: to capitalize on existing community and personal assets in this vibrant neighborhood, bolstering their efforts to provide an impermeable net of positive support and innovative programming for school-age children.

Imagine Syracuse currently offers programming in the following areas:

MUSIC i.s. (Imagine The Music: Imagine Syracuse’s Young Musician’s Project) – Inspired by El Sistema USA, the Young Musician’s Project seeks to use classical orchestral music training to strengthen inner city education and help children build better lives and healthy communities. Music Director/Syracuse Symphony Orchestra Director of Education Bob Allen teaches basic percussion and choral music with an eye on creating a full youth orchestra.

LIFE i.s.(Career and Community Connections) – Weekly guest speakers and/or field trips designed to expose children to career opportunities and experiences outside their typical environment.

DANCE i.s. (African Dance, Hip Hop, Ballet) –Dance teams are positive support networks that build self esteem, skill and community. Hip Hop, Krump (both positive forms of physical expression of emotions within the African-American culture), and Ballet and Modern Dance are led by trained Syracuse University students. African Dance is led by artist and musician Etse Nyadedzor from Ghana.

ART i.s. (Imagine Me, My Family, My Neighborhood, My Dreams) Students are invited to explore these aspects of themselves and their world through digital photography, mural painting, graffiti as art, digital filmmaking and editing, sculpture, storyquilting and poetry.

Yes, we’ve already seen anecdotal results marking great changes in attitude, behavior and commitment in the children we serve.

But we know we can do better.

Approximately 99% of elementary and pre-K children on the Near Westside live in poverty. Many of these children are being raised by single parents, grandparents or other relatives. Many live in homes or apartments that are shared with other families, or go home to dark, empty apartments at night. Tragically, these children spend their youth navigating the physical and emotional hurdles of poverty, hunger, substance abuse, domestic violence, gang activity, crime and poor health care.

The majority of the families we serve have at least one working parent who spends every day navigating public transportation to get to their first, second and sometimes third job, looking for childcare, and trying to get food on the table.

At the end of the day, their children still face a daunting 33% graduation rate from their neighborhood high school.

The facts stand: children from low-income families are more likely to fail, and be allowed to fail. Children born into poverty are likely to continue that cycle of poverty. How can we bolster these families’ efforts to raise proud, productive children? How can we capitalize on their children’s innate talents and dreams?

Research strongly suggests that minimizing investments in arts programming to bolster math, science and language programs in our public school system will not strengthen our children’s academic performance and commitment to school. In fact, in a study published by leading cognitive psychologist Eric Oddleifson in “The Learning Revolution,” there is rigorous evidence that schools that dedicate less than 25% of the school day to the arts produce students with academically inferior abilities.

Imagine Syracuse is a key component of citywide efforts to strengthen the Near Westside community by creating bridges to opportunity for its most valuable resource – the children. As children prosper and grow, so do families, and so do communities. Our new model brings an army of arts and child-focused organizations together under one roof to share space, staff and resources and become a resource to the neighborhood families, schools, and numerous, struggling after-school daycare programs.

The key word is COLLABORATION. We asked community members to define their needs. They answered:

1. More opportunities for the children

2. A community center where this rich, culturally diverse neighborhood can gather, organize, create commerce and find ways to sustain itself.

As a result, we have identified and are pursuing funding to purchase and renovate a 35,000 square- foot building in the heart of the neighborhood where we can truly work together with some of the city’s best dance, art and music organizations to provide life-changing opportunities and alternatives for low-income children and their families.

Imagine Syracuse has provided this pilot programming on the Near Westside since March 2009 FOR FREE. Our success has encouraged us to incorporate, form a Board of Directors and apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit status. Early financial support has come from churches and private donations.

As a result, children in our community will achieve:

1. Better academic performance and enthusiasm for learning and school

2. Fewer behavior issues in school and at home

3. Improved confidence and self esteem

4. Improved standardized testing results in core curriculum within the Syracuse City School District.

5. Increased high school graduation rate for children in the Near Westside neighborhood from Fowler High School

6. Increased student participation in community projects and service.

Now, YOU have the opportunity to get in the game:

Investing in the proper education of a child’s mind, body and spirit RIGHT NOW can change the course of a life. We are asking for your investment today, knowing the returns are great.

Contributions will directly serve our mission of providing day-to-day art enrichment programming, teachers and weekly educational field trips.

Contributions to Imagine Syracuse are an investment that will produce life-changing dividends to the children we are serving, and the community they live in.

Join this fight today to keep Imagine Syracuse alive with your tax-deductible financial gift. Donate now at www.imaginesyracuse.com, or send a check payable to Imagine Syracuse, Inc., 7000 Old Quarry Road, Fayetteville, NY 13066.

Thank you!

Jessie Keating, Executive Director

Imagine Syracuse

www.imaginesyracuse.com

315.243.6204

Jessie.keating@imaginesyracuse.com

CONTACT INFORMATION / PROGRAM SCHEDULE:

Executive Director:

Jessie Keating

jessie.keating@imaginesyracuse.com

315.243.6204

ART i.s (Imagine My Story)

Co-Directors: Rebecca Jackson/Betsey Sipple

becky.jackson@imaginesyracuse.com

betsey.sipple@imaginesyracuse.com

THURSDAYS, 4-6 p.m.

MUSIC i.s. (Imagine Syracuse Young Musician's Project)

Director: Robert J. Allen

robert.allen@imaginesyracuse.com
Tuesdays 4-5

Wednesdays 4-5

LIFE i.s. (Career and Community Connections)

Director: Jessie Keating

jessie.keating@imaginesyracuse.com

Mondays 4-6 p.m.

DANCE i.s. (African dance, hip hop, ballet)

FRIDAYS time tba

Imagine Syracuse Enrichment Donor List

Shades of Orange Art Studio • CNY Karate • Arise at the Farm • Stephanie Breed/Books are Food For Thought • Poet and Teacher Rachel Guido DeVries • Certified Foreign Language Volunteer Teachers/East Syracuse Minoa High School • DeWitt Community Church • Waste Management, Liverpool, NY • Time For Art® 44-artist curriculum • Volunteer Art Historian Betsey Sipple • Volunteer Certified Seymour School Teacher Becky Jackson • Feats of Clay • CNY Gymnastics • Everson Museum • Syracuse Stage • Spaghetti Warehouse • Nojaim’s • First Student Transportation • Della Brown of Tacolicious • Theresa Giles • Barbara Jean Golden • Syracuse University Sorority/Fraternity network • Syracuse University Athletics Department/ Chris Gedney • Refined School of Protocol And Etiquette – Miesje Havens •

DONATE HERE!

Help Imagine Syracuse find a kidney for our dear friend Dottie Clark!!!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Holidays at Imagine

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