Maarten Jacobs finds the extracurricular programs at Grant Middle School in Syracuse to be lacking in arts education. The after-school clubs he has worked with in the past have been strictly tutoring or sports-related.

Fortunately for him, a new art initiative entitled ‘smART’ will join Syracuse University student mentors with children from Grant Middle School to foster artistic skills.

As the co-founder of the program, Jacobs is also the project coordinator of the Northside Collaboratory, a community organization devoted to revitalizing the North Side of Syracuse. The Collaboratory readily partnered with SU to support smART after they weren’t able to secure funding for an after-school arts program.

‘I am excited to offer real, tangible art projects that can really be something they’re passionate about,’ he said.

The name ‘smART’ came about after an e-mail coincidence.

Robbi Farschman, co-founder of smART and the director of the Office of Engagement Programs at SU, had brainstormed a list of possible names for the program (including smART), she e-mailed Jacobs but accidentally left off ‘smART.’ Jacobs then e-mailed her back, suggesting the very same name she had forgotten to mention.

Farschman liked the idea of a long-term project. After placing ads for smART, Farschman received about 25 e-mails of interest from SU students.

Thanks to Farschman and Jacobs, their new endeavor received the Weed and Seed Grant of $15,000 for supplies including digital cameras and paints. Although the Collaboratory is receiving the grant through the Syracuse Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) controls the distribution of the grant.

Annie Smith, an art teacher at Grant Middle School, is excited about the opportunity for the children to work with SU students and be creative outside of the school setting. ‘With state budget cuts, the first programs cut are in education, but kids are what you have to invest in…they still have room to change and grow,’ she said.

Jean Fahey, a Syracuse business owner of a dance outfitting company, agreed to let the program use the downstairs portion of her space free of charge; all smART has to cover is heat and lighting.

Now filling the space is the Our Northside Community Gallery, which celebrated its grand opening in December. The storefront space, located at 745 N. Salina St., is street-level and therefore allows passers-by to view the artwork that the children create displayed in the windows.

‘I like what they’re doing, they’re really motivated…I like the idea of a gallery down there,’ Fahey said.

The program will run for nine weeks, from Feb. 9-April 16. From Monday through Thursday, the group will focus on four different modules: photography and creative writing, sculpture, material arts and printmaking and lastly, ‘Assembly Required,’ a program where students build artwork.

Each of the participants in the program – including the founders – has expertise in at least one of the areas. Jacobs has experience in graphic design, photography and silk-screening.

During a planning session, the mentors were able to help formulate their own ideas for the program, combining bigger projects with smaller, easier ones. Among other projects, they plan to engage the children with block prints, tie dying, felting, decoupage and silk screening.

‘Hopefully, the students will have the immediate gratification of finishing at least some projects in one session,’ Farschman said.

Syreeta Herbert, a sophomore fashion design major said, ‘Art is a really important, unique way to express yourself, art is whatever is coming from you.’ She had always enjoyed working with kids, and had participated in the SU Literacy Corps until she had to take time off.

‘I miss my kids,’ she said.

Which is why she is so excited about the opportunity to work with the youth of the Syracuse area, especially on creative projects.

‘The gallery that we will be working out of will be great for the community and hopefully the kids will find they have a hidden talent or a real passion for art and that would be a great outcome, even for just one kid,’ said Kathleen Calella, a freshman public relations major who will be working on sculpture projects.

To conclude the program, the event previously known as MayFest -now called SU Showcase – will be a special occasion for the children participating in smART as well as the mentors. The middle-schoolers will be able to come to campus and take part in the festivities with their mentors while showcasing their work to the SU community. Following the event, the artwork will be moved to the Our Northside Community Gallery.

If all goes well, Farschman said she hopes to continue on with a new session of smART during the summer to keep the youth engaged, as well as another session during this fall.

‘The program is something different than academics, which is so overdone, we get art so infrequently,’ Smith said. ‘smART has stumbled onto a void that needs to be filled.’

smorgens@syr.edu

Published on February 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm