ARTS: A Reason to Survive and Barrio Logan College Institute Visit Art Farm

A wonderful group of San Diego 5th-graders from ARTS: A Reason to Survive and Barrio Logan College Institute visited Art Farm yesterday for an afternoon of painting animals with Art Farm instructor Kris Finch; making nature journals; hugging alpacas; feeding chickens, and enjoying a BBQ in the woods. Both non-profit organizations support at-risk kids by providing free art instruction and educational mentoring.

Here's a little history on both organizations:

ARTS: A Reason to Survive was founded in 2001 by artist Matt D'Arrigo based on his philosophy that the artistic process can change and heal lives. From this modest beginning, ARTS has grown into a much larger organization with eight full-time staff members and a $950,000 annual budget. Talk about one dreamer making a difference!

ARTS provides free arts-based education programs to thousands of children "facing many types of life challenges" throughout San Diego County and at the Pat D'Arrigo ARTS Center in San Diego. As the ARTS website notes, many of the children and families served are facing some of life's toughest challenges: terminal or chronic illness; abuse and neglect; parents in the military serving overseas; physical, mental, behavioral, or emotional disabilities; self-image or self-esteem issues; parental divorce; substance abuse and recovery; gay and lesbian issues; socio-economic challenges, homelessness, and others.

Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI), located in Barrio Logan, San Diego, is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children by helping those "with the will, passion, and talent" go to college. BLCI provides free after-school mentoring and academic enrichment programs. Qualifying students must be a first-generation college-bound student. The program starts in 3rd-grade and continues through high-school. The program's goals are to:

• develop the sense of pride, worth, and self-esteem students need to be successful.
• support parent involvement in their children's educations.
• motivate students to excel academically and give back to their communities.
• educate families on how to gain access to college.
• and to achieve 100 percent college enrollment among it's students.

BLCI was founded in 1996 by Harvard graduate student (and Princeton alumnus) Kenny Rogers, who discovered that most college-track programs begin in middle or high school, by which time "to many students of color lack the fundamental skills to benefit from such programs." BLCI now has an annual $400,000 budget, a full-time staff of four and a part-time staff of seven. Graduating BLCI students have attended many well regarded colleges and universities, including Yale. Again, it's nice to be reminded that one individual who acts on an idea can move mountains.

Happy Campers Point the Way to Art Farm

Session Seven Campers at Art Farm last week formed a small but enthusiastic group of students. Here they are, showing off their nature journals at the entrance to Art Farm (for a closer view, click on image).

What's very rewarding from week-to-week is to see students blossom from their first, tentative day at Art Farm to feeling like they pretty much own the place and the animals by week's end. For many urban kids, this is their first immersion experience in a woodland habitat where they have the time not just to view animals and the nature that surrounds them, but to also spend time observing it all in close detail. The students take pride in knowing the names of the various critters and having a sense of their individual personalities. This is a different experience than passing by a cage, seeing a goat or an alpaca, and then moving on to the next exhibit. Art Farm is a 10-acres riparian habitat with a creek that runs year-round.

We have been very fortunate this summer in our instructors, Lori Mitchell and Kris Finch. Kris is pictured here with his painting students. He's an absolute natural at showing students how to break down form and render it in paint.

Now on to Session Eight and Nine, starting this Monday. There is still time to register. Then it's time to start planning for course offerings (for children and adults) this fall.

For more information, visit the Carlsbad Art Farm website at CarlsbadArtFarm.com.