Youth Venture

A community program with the purpose to increases art accessibility and awareness for children in Rochester.

We came up with the idea in 2007 when one of our group members who tutored and did art projects with children in the Rochester City School District, saw how talented the children were and how important it was that they had the opportunity to create art.
So, we decided to devise a way for children to use their own work to raise funds for cultural events in Rochester. Our project involves collecting artwork from children in the Rochester city school district, printing it onto canvas bags, and selling the bags to raise money for art events and supplies for children.
We collected several paintings from one of the elementary schools in Rochester and then several Rotaract members who silk screen T-shirts on their own transferred the art onto screens. Then we all put on our crummy clothes and got together in the art building to ink the designs onto 100 canvas bags. Once the bags were made, we sold them on our campus, at a farmer’s market, at a local indie clothing shop, in a theater, and even online through Facebook. People at school and in the city loved the bags, and we sold them all within a month. Once we had the money, we met with the art teacher who gave us the kid’s artwork, one of the young artists, and our independent theater, The Little. We decide to use some of the money we made to buy movie tickets for the children and the Little Theater donated tickets for the parents who accompany the kids.
This meeting took place in the offices of the Little Theater, which is about a block away from the school we are working with. While we were there, they gave us a tour of the theater. The boy who came, whose art was on our bags was in 5th grade, and his name was Abdul. He’d never been to the theater before, and he was exploring every corner with big eyes and an excited smile the whole time. That was really fun to see because it made us realize that our project really can excite kids and expose them to some of the great places in Rochester that they live close to but may not be aware of or appreciate. And through the news letters written by little theater and sent out to about 2000 people in Rochester, we got great feedback and called the people’s attention to children’s art work.
We have several goals for developing and expanding the project this semester. First of all, we are going to make more bags, as well as other products such as T-shirts or iPod cases. This time, though, we would like to involve the elementary school students when we silk screen and sell the products. This way, we will actually be equipping them with entrepreneurial tools and clearly showing them that they have the ability to create and market products without having to be famous designers or wealthy businessmen. Plus, we think the kids will have a great time anticipating the success of their own creations, getting positive feedback, and actually generating a profit themselves rather than receiving handouts from some unknown college club. It’s kind of like a lemonade stand, but on a bigger and more economically sustainable scale.
We have several plans for the money we raise through the bag sales. First of all, we would like to set aside money every month to buy tickets for some cultural event in Rochester. This month, it is film night at the Little Theater. Next month we might focus on music, and take the kids to a show at the Eastman Theater. Or we might take them to one of our playhouses, or to an art exhibit geared toward kids.
We would also like to work with local art organizations and put some money towards workshops for the kids. We could set aside Saturdays for them to learn specific art techniques, develop acting skills, learn dances and music, or maybe explore art from other cultures. We could then host art competitions and put together exhibitions for the children’s work as well.
With the third portion of the money we raise, we plan to buy art supplies for art classes in the elementary schools. To do this, we would work closely with art teachers to identify areas that are currently funded inadequately.
Right now, we see All for Children’s Art becoming a long-lasting program that will better connect our school to our city while integrating art, business, and education in a way that is interesting for the kids and relevant to their real lives.