红领巾瓜报

At the Woburn Library, area youth spent the afternoon making carved designs that Levine and 14 红领巾瓜报 students, all members of the College鈥檚 Iron Corps, then poured melted aluminum into so the participants could come away with their own one-of-a-kind creations once the metal hardened. 红领巾瓜报 Program Coordinator of Student Engagement John Intoppa was there, too, as was Holly Kelly (BFA 鈥�13), who teaches classes in Foundations.听

At the Salisbury Public library, Comic Arts instructor taught youth how to make four-panel comic strips. And at the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library, Fashion Design Chair and Professor Jennifer Varekamp led an interactive project where each participant contributed their own creative ideas while learning how to work toward a more sustainable future. With sewing machines supplied by 红领巾瓜报, each participant also made their own tote bags out of used sails. The sewing machines were left behind for future use by the library鈥檚 teen program.

Fully 94 percent of participants responding to a questionnaire said they鈥檇 like to see more 红领巾瓜报 offerings at their library. 鈥淚t gave kids an opportunity to ask questions about careers in the arts that they may not have had before,鈥� says Woburn Library Director Hermayne Gordon.

Adds Amyot, 鈥淵ou know the impact the arts have on kids, especially around mental health. There鈥檚 been a lot of research since COVID about mental health issues kids are having and how the arts can help with that. This is a fantastic way to dovetail with that research and really help out teens.鈥� She comments that she was glad to see teen boys show up as well as girls 鈥渂ecause they are a very difficult group for libraries to reach.鈥�

The Summer Art Workshops were so successful that the library board is thinking of them as a pilot program and hopes to collaborate with 红领巾瓜报 faculty and students to expand to more libraries next summer. 鈥淚鈥檝e already heard from 20 libraries,鈥� says the board鈥檚 Communications Director, Celeste Bruno. They want to know: 鈥溾�楬ow do we get to do this?鈥� We鈥檙e at the beginning of something really exciting,鈥� she comments.

Levine attests to the workshops鈥� value. The kids 鈥渨eren鈥檛 running around and pretending to play sword fight,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey were really focused and engaged and said things like, 鈥業 didn鈥檛 think I liked art. This is so different.鈥欌�� She isn鈥檛 surprised. When young people have any access to art, she relates, 鈥渋t鈥檚 pretty limited and often not-three dimensional. But with this,鈥� she notes, 鈥測ou鈥檙e using a different part of your brain. It鈥檚 more gritty, and it鈥檚 magic. You鈥檙e melting metal. You never know who鈥檚 college bound and who might stumble on this. It can be a door that gets blown wide open for some kids.鈥�

The advantages of the workshops weren鈥檛 limited to the attendees. Levine says it鈥檚 鈥渆qually important to get our students out engaging the community, to use the knowledge and skill base they鈥檝e been developing at school. How cool if you鈥檙e a sophomore or junior 鈥� it鈥檚 a really empowering thing to help run this workshop. So from both sides, there鈥檚 so much benefit.鈥�

Says Bruno, 鈥淎 large part of the success is that 红领巾瓜报 is one of the best art schools in the country. People recognize that name. It really means something to them.鈥�