ARTreach URGEWORKS Programs start this month. Our summer camp for youth at risk is sponsored by KBR and WE! 4500 W. 34TH ST. SUITE K. HOUSTON, TX 77092 CALL CHRIS FOR QUESTIONS 713.885.6990

Recently our organization received a generous donation of space, free rent for two years valued at $43,200 from The Warehouse Studios in Northwest Houston. We have been asked to match the facility donation with program development that will directly impact this community. We will be providing URGEWORKS Programs. These are our programs that represent urgent outreach targeting high risk youth in underserved communities. These ARTreach Programs work to turn youth away from drugs and gang activity by providing a safe haven in their community and exposing youth to positive people and creative alternatives to negative behaviors.

The URGEWORKS programs combine ARTreach teaching methods, mentors and positive role models, with relevant aspects of the hip hop culture to teach dance, art, music and drama. The programs promote learning and provide new and creative opportunities for youth at risk to be successful and contribute positively to their communities today and into the future.

It is true, ARTreach URGEWORKS Programs in underserved communities are utilizing professional street dancers and graffiti artists to actually help students stay off drugs, stay in school, and stay out of trouble. Our artists teach that through hard work and perseverance you can make your own dreams come true. The program teaches techniques in dance and utilizes fine arts curriculum that incorporates educational objectives that help students meet mastery standards in fine arts, language arts, history, math and science. The program also supports physical education, teaches about character and community responsibility, and promotes healthier lifestyles and safer communities.

The URGEWORKS Programs are urgent and they work! ARTreach is currently offering these programs weekly in 3rd Ward, and one day a week at The Warehouse in NW Houston. The Warehouse is located at the corner of 34th and Mangum in the heart of a Latino community much in need. The building is 6000 sq ft made up of 7 classroom and office space and a 3000 sq. ft. of air conditioned area for staged shows and performances. The Warehouse will house a recording studio and dance studio and offer free health and exercise programs to residents in this community. The Warehouse is also home to The Worship Experience Church providing services weekly to reach out to this community as well.

Our challenge through this gift in kind is to expand our ARTreach Programs immediately to serve the urgent needs represented by the youth in this area. We are accepting this challenge, because we know our URGEWORKS Programs WILL help the children and the families living in poverty and in this community. We also believe the additional benefits of full time ARTreach programming in this community will touch the lives of the elderly residents living alone and in need of companionship and social interaction that free art, music and movement classes will also provide.

This is a major project for ARTreach and we are starting it now. Our first goal is to expand programs serving children at risk from 10 hours a month to 30 hours a month by July. ARTreach will be tracking the increasing numbers of students and measuring the impact the ARTreach Programs are having in this community for the next two years. We will be producing short film documentaries that will capture our progress and share the results of an outreach program that we hope can be replicated by mission driven art groups and community leaders anywhere as a viable solution that truly supports the needs represented by children at risk.

We are asking for your support. Your donated dollars will be used to contract the ARTreach staff necessary to support the additional students. ARTreach staff is responsible for community relationships, curriculum development, lead teaching, and volunteer recruitment and artist training to expand and assure programs ongoing. Donations in any amount will help and are 100% tax deductible.

Donations are accepted online www.artreachonline.org using Visa or MC or Pay Pal. Checks are also can be made out to ARTreach and mailed to:
ARTreach
Warehouse Studio NW
4500 W 34th Street Suite K
Houston, TX 77092

We invite you to be a part of this important project and support the ARTreach URGEWORKS Programs at the Warehouse in NW Houston. Please visit our website to learn more about ARTreach and the impact the arts have on children at risk and others in need www.artreachonline.org

We are also in need immediate donations of art supplies including Crayola Markers and basic white drawing paper, Prang Watercolor sets, Watercolor blocks and paper, Liqitex Complete Classic Studio Acrylic set, Standard depth wrap around and gallery wrapped canvas sizes 16×20 ($25.19) up to 4 x72 ($429), Acrylic and watercolor brushes/ white or golden synthetic brushes, size 2- 32

We are also improving the studio and classroom space where ARTreach programs will be offered we are seeking donations that include Paint, Lumber, Carpet, Sound Equipment, Tables and Chairs, Office furniture, Computers

We also need volunteers to help, and skilled laborers for the flooring and carpet installation, painters and technicians for office computer and sound system set up.

Thank you for your support! Please contact me anytime for details about this program and to discuss other ways you can become involved and help.

Terri Bieber
ARTreach, Executive Director
t.bieber@artreachonline.org
Cell 713-444-1897
Office 281-392-5341

Please contact our ARTreach URGEWORKS Program Director, Chris Gamez for more information. Become a Mentor through Art today and volunteer to teach dance, art and music to children at risk.
Chris Gamez
info@artreachonline.org

info@urgeworks.com

ARTreach has completed a 12 session Urban Arts program at Eiland Elementary in the Klein School District. Eiland is a Title I school with 670 children. Eiland lacked sufficient funding for enrichment programs and could identify a high number of children at risk. Funding for this Urban Arts Program was made possible in part by a grant to ARTreach from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the new TCA Arts Respond Grants Program supporting education and children at risk.

Chris Gamez is the Project Director overseeing the development of ARTreach Urban Arts and URGEWORKS Programs supporting children at risk. He and his team of dancers worked two hours a day for six weeks to teach 40 1st-3rd graders to dance. Both groups successfully choreographed their own routine and performed in front of an audience of teachers, family members and school administrators on the final day of the program. The Urban Arts Dance program supports TEKS objectives for math, and promotes team work. This program reinforces character traits related to perseverance and respect. There is also an anti-gang and drug abuse awareness component associated with this program.
All ARTreach programs support educational objectives and social skills development. The impact of this program and its success can be measured by improvements in the student’s overall grades, behavior or attitude based on report cards, conduct reports, teacher surveys and testimony.

ARTreach has just completed a 4 week pilot at the Pregnancy Help Center. The organization was piloting a dance program called “Nurturing Pathways for Babies” taught by certified instructor Erin Stanley. This is a creative dance program for new mothers and their infants developed to enrich a baby’s cognitive and physical development by using baby exercises, musical instruments and sensory rich creative play products.

The ARTreach Pilot is giving new mothers an opportunity to experience the joy of dancing while strengthening their bond with their baby at no cost to the Pregnancy Help Center. Erin Stanley generously donated her teaching time and materials to support the pilot. ARTreach is measuring the impact of the program and collecting testimony and responses from the mothers selected to participate in the pilot to support future funding.

New mothers registered for the program initially as an opportunity to get back in shape, bond with their infant and make new friends. There were additional benefits in that the program teaches a range of new parenting skills, how to make healthy choices, and how to find time to take care of yourself and your baby. The program also teaches a new mother how creative movement, play and touch will activate an infant’s central nervous system. These networks interconnect rapidly from birth to four years of age. The brain doubles in size during the first twelve months of life and achieves 95% of its adult brain weight by the age of four. During these years, the foundation is laid for eyesight, language, gross and fine motor skills and emotional and intellectual capabilities. Movement, play and touch contribute significantly to the healthy development of a baby.

The outcomes in this ARTreach pilot were positive. The class was well received and each client has requested that the program continue. This is motivating both ARTreach and the Pregnancy Help Center to seek sponsors to support ongoing classes at the center. They are hoping that by combining their resources they can fund the program and continue to offer it free to Pregnancy Help Center clients. General community interest is high enough that the classes will be open to anyone who wishes to register and pay just $12 per week. The organizations are seeking $725 in matching funds to sustain the program in 2010.

To conclude this pilot series, ARTreach teaching artist Stacy Baer came to the Pregnancy Help Center on December 12th to teach the moms that they can use their hands, feet and creativity to make a treasured keepsake that can be enjoyed for years to come. She showed them how to make ceramic plates using their baby’s hand and foot prints as the basic design. Stacy was teaching “Art with a Purpose”. This is an ARTreach Vocational Workshop that can spark the entrepreneurial spirit by demonstrating how easy it is to use your own hands and creativity to create an income for yourself.

“Nurturing Pathways for Babies” and “Art with a Purpose” are programs that the Pregnancy Help Center would like to offer weekly to PHC clients. The organizations have been working together for two years to develop programs that will creatively address difficult issues facing young mothers and mothers coping with crisis pregnancy.

ARTreach and PHC are participating in the Alliance of Charities fundraiser being held at Fish City Grill in LaCenterra in Cinco Ranch on Tuesday, January 19th. Please mark your calendar and come for lunch or dinner on that day. Fish City Grill is donating 15% of the proceeds to support the cause. Donations can be also made to Pregnancy Help Center or ARTreach at any time and can be designated to support these programs.

The Several Dancers Core presentations are made possible thanks to a grant from the Houston Arts Alliance’s Touring and Neighborhood Arts Program.

The Several Dancers Core’s touring project with ARTreach involves visits to senior centers in the Houston/Harris County area for performances, lecture-demonstrations, and workshops for seniors. As part of the program, CORE Performance Company will offer a performance, a workshop, and a discussion or dialogue conducted at the conclusion of the presentation.

CORE Performance Company, the professional dance company of Several Dancers Core, will be working with ARTreach, visiting Providence Place Retirement Community in Harris County Precinct 3 on Friday, 13th at 11:45-1:00 p.m. and Katyville Healthcare Center on Monday, November 16th, 10:00 a.m.

The CORE Performance Company will perform excerpts from its current performance repertory in a lecture-demonstration format, and a workshop program called Elder Stories. Through these presentations, participants are introduced to and engaged in the concept of movement as a form of communication. The dancers, all accomplished teaching artists, give participants background information on both dance and on the content of specific pieces. Performances which may be part of the lecture-demonstrations include Weaving the World into Flower, a program adapted from Corazón Abriendo: Heart Opening, 2007’s premiere work that grew from the company’s work with the indigenous Maya in Chiapas, Mexico; and excerpts from THREE, CORE Performance Company’s most recent repertory work by three acclaimed choreographers: Cumulus by Beppie Blankert, Tus Pasos by Alicia Sanchez and Charmed Romantics by Polly Motley.

Seniors who participate will also be part of a post-performance discussion, during which they will be encouraged to ask questions about dance in general and the performance in particular, to respond to what they have experienced, and to make connections between the performances and the part movement plays in their own lives. By recognizing their own movement styles, participants will begin to develop a respect and awareness of their bodies as well as an increased cultural awareness. Elder Stories solicits stories from the seniors about their childhoods, their work life, their families, anything of importance to them. The dancers of CORE Performance Company then translate these stories into movement, often involving the Elders themselves. This program engages the movements of the past and the movements of the present in a way that has been proven to captivate the attention of seniors who participate.

To learn more about the Several Dancers Core visit http://www.severaldancerscore.org/ to learn more about ARTreach visit www.artreachonline.org

Coming to
Providence Place
Friday, November 13, 11:45-1:00
20300 Saums Rd
Katy, TX 77449
281-647-6470

Katyville Health Care Center
Monday, November 16, 10:00-11:30
5129 E. Fifth Street
Katy, TX 77493
Telephone: 281-391-7087 ext. 110
Fax: 281-391-1756

Contacts

Terri Bieber
Executive Director
ARTreach Katy (281) 392-5341 cell (713) 444-1897
t.bieber@artreachonline.org
Joy Graham
Fund Development Manager
Several Dancers Core
jgraham@severaldancerscore.org
Atlanta – 404.373.4154 phone | 404.377.1815 fax
Houston – 713.862.5530 phone | 713.344.1160 fax

presentations coming to Katy