May is National Foster Care Month!

View Flyer for project 3mpower event May 15 

This event is FREE and open to the public!

By Linda J. Steiner

If you ask Grace Meehan, student leader of  Mequon High School’s Kids4Kids, why her group is doing a collaborative arts project with children who are in foster care or youth aging out of the system, she’ll tell you it’s because there are a lot more similarities than differences among young people.

“People might have a bad connotation about kids in foster care,” she said, “but they’re still young like us, and they have bright futures.”

Kids4Kids, which raises money for and tries to increase awareness about foster care, has been involved since early this year in an undertaking called Project 3mpower. The project aims to build awareness in the public and camaraderie and self-confidence in the young people involved by artistically telling the story of foster life.

Under the guidance of instructors at the North Shore Academy of the Arts in Grafton, the Homestead students have been working along with children and young adults served by St. Aemilian-Lakeside, a 161-year-old social services organization in Milwaukee.

They have been creating a variety of artworks from painting and pottery to song, dance, drama and poetry. The works will be showcased at a culminating public event May 15 from 3:30 -5 p.m., at the Arts Mill Gallery & Boutique, 1300 14^th Ave., Grafton.

The project hopes to change the way the public understands and responds to the needs of foster youth. The name 3mpower comes from the goal of empowering three populations: foster and non-foster kids and the public.

“This helps them to see it’s not a bad thing to be in foster care,” said Jeanetta Watson, who is part of a St. Aemilian-Lakeside Independent Living Services (ILS) program that helps youth leaving foster care successfully transition to adulthood. Jeanetta worked at the last session, April 10, on a painting that will illustrate many of the emotions she experienced while in foster care.

“They seem like a nice bunch of kids,” she said about the Homestead students. “They want to participate and they wanted to learn about my experiences in foster care and how I felt about it,” she said.

Some of her experiences were met with surprise, said Jeanetta, who was in nine foster homes from the time she was 3 until she was 16.  “But we talked about how you’ve got to not worry about the bad, think of the good, and go from there.”

Another young woman in an ILS program, Kaitlin Harris, said the questions posed to her were good because, “a lot of people don’t know what it’s like to be in foster care, so I pretty much told them everything: going house to house, being in shelters. And everybody’s experience in foster care is different.”

“It’s a great opportunity, because some of the kids (in foster care) still don’t have resources, places to go,” said Jeanetta. “There’s a need to speak out.”

Grant Brogan, a Homestead freshman, said he got involved in the project because it’s fun. “And it’s a way to reach out to a different community and to help others. And you’re making new friends.”

A 9–year-old boy named Julio who is being assisted by St. Aemilian-Lakeside’s Family  Preservation Services, said it was pretty cool working with Grant. “He looks like Justin Bieber!” he said with a laugh.

“No matter where you grow up, we all have common interests, and it’s good to find those common interests,” said Patrick Tucker, also a freshman at Homestead.

As Unique Wilson from the ILS program worked on writing a song, she said, “It’s about hope and faith, not giving up, always having hope for tomorrow being a better day.”

Unique and Joann Hogan, another former foster young person served by St. Aemilian-Lakeside,  worked with Angela Mack, a performing arts instructor, on creating the song. The two young women do lyrics and melody and Angela is putting it to music.

“It takes a lot of vulnerability to write a song like this and it takes a lot of trust,” Angela said. “This is a song of encouragement to all people who feel like giving up.”

All the young people involved in Project 3mpower are looking forward to sharing their creativity with the public on May 15. The event is free and will also feature shopping at the gallery. For more information, contact Karen Johnson, division director of Community Services at St. Aemilian-Lakeside, at 414-465-5734. For more information on foster care and a variety of services to youth who must leave the system when they turn 18, go to www.st-al.org.

(c) Sheri Bestor March 18, 2011

A Note From the Founder Of NSAA 

Fueling creativity is among the many benefits of yoga and Unified Body Method™ classes. It begins with connecting… that of mind, body and breath.  These classes have then proven for me to be a place to make other connections as well… spirit to spirit connections. It’s where I met Karen, the parent advisor of Kids for Kids, a volunteer group of young adults from Homestead High School (HHS) that work together to make a difference for those within or transitioning from the foster care system. The group was founded six years ago by Karen’s daughter, Rachel, when she and a few of her classmates learned of the plight of two local foster children.

So Karen and I connected, sharing the common bond of this class, and learning about each other–me about her involvement in this great cause, and she about my involvement in NSAA.  Together, we created the 3mpower Program.

Once a month on Sundays, the Kids 4 Kids group of leaders from HHS gathers at NSAA to meet with a group of foster youth who travel north from Milwaukee’s inner city. Cooperatively, with NSAA staff, we work in all of the art’s media–exploring, uncovering, discovering–to tell the story of foster care, to empower on three levels: the HHS students, empowered to make a difference in the lives of foster youth; the foster youth, empowered to tell their story; and the public, empowered by knowledge about foster care when they will be invited to attend the final show–a gathering to share creative expression.

It has already been a tremendously rewarding experience, watching these two groups of young spirits from diverse backgrounds connect, working together through the arts.  Sometimes, getting everyone engaged takes creativity, as some of these youth are struggling with basic needs–securing their next meal or a place to sleep at night.  But soon after they enter NSAA’s doors, magic happens, and just for a few hours, there’s a new focus.  Painting, drawing, writing original poetry, creating music, sculpting…together, these young people share the message that learning about differences connects us to how similar we all really are. Connections.

Foster Care Month is in May. Stay tuned to learn when we will present Project 3mpower’s final exhibition.   I imagine if you come, you and your family may be inspired, learning a little more about a group of people who struggle without the same benefits of a close family as we do. But also about how the arts can help close a gap called diversity.  We all have creativity from within, and while expressed in own individual manner, it’s a connection we hold common. No matter what language we speak, the arts are universal.

Also, you might be inspired to try a yoga/Unified Body Method™ class. It’s no doubt, a form of art. It fuels creativity. And You never know what kind of connections you’ll make.

( More on classes…… )

I’m so proud of the cast and crew of Beauty and the Beast, both the CPAC team and the Schauer Center Team! When I see everyone working together I’m reminded again about the impact of our mission– to reach even beyond the arts. 

We are nearing our grand opening of the Arts Mill. I look forward to our community enjoying this new division of NSAA. We still have opportunities to volunteer and donate. There are two naming rights still available. (Send me an email if you are interested in learning more about this sherib@northshoreacademyofthearts.org). 

Our Kids4Kids project will be launched soon. Kids4Kids is a program where Homestead High School Students work together with the mission of helping foster kids. We will be joining them in an exciting venture that will culminate in a presentation for the community. Stay tuned for more information. 

Camp Rock and Hairspray are beginning within the next two weeks. I’m looking forward to being more involved in these shows as our focus at NSAA continues to be on programming through enriching opportunities. 

Visual Arts, Imagine Me, Dance Classes, Zumba, upcoming UBM and Yoga, CCC and Paul McGill.   (He’s coming this Monday–you won’t want to miss it)….we strive to offer you a wide array of opportunities in the arts so that there is something for everyone! 

As winter continues to blow its beauty, I hope you are able to find the moments to appreciate your unique creativity and how it helps you to see the world in vivid light. 

“When we are writing, or painting, or composing, we are, during the time of creativity, freed from normal restrictions, and are opened to a wider world, where colors are brighter, sounds clearer, and people more wondrously complex than we normally realize.”– Madeleine L’Engle

Perhaps you may not know that North Shore Academy of the Arts (NSAA) expands far beyond the reach of our Grafton facility.  Our instructors have been traveling to other cities for quite some time to bring PREMIER ARTS ENRICHMENT PROGRAMMING in the visual, performing and literary arts. 

NSAA has brought fine visual and performing arts programming to Bayshore Town Center in Bayshore.  Our Stagekids directors have been traveling to the Hartford Schauer Center for several seasons putting on high quality productions.  Our instructors have taught music and drama in Pre-K facilities in Mequon and Germantown.   Our performers have performed in Cedarburg, Mequon and Bayshore for various key events.  We have gone into public  schools to present assemblies and have fulfilled the need for arts enrichment in a private Milwaukee high school.   We have worked with Nicolet and Homestead high schools. 

With the 10 year anniversary of NSAA, we expect to continue expanding to fulfill the need for high quality arts programming in Wisconsin.  We are excited to launch our 2010-11 season.  If you would like for us to join you at your facility, in your community, on site at your location please email info@northshoreacademyofthearts.org  attn: Sheri or Paula to discuss your specific arts needs.  For more on CATERING THE ARTS grab a brochure!

“Becca” began with NSAA Stagekids when she was just a small child.  The first show that she was in was the “WIZARD OF OZ”.   After almost a decade and many, many more shows at NSAA, Becca ended her last Stagekids role as “Dorothy” in the WIZARD OF OZ. 

Becca is returning for NSAA’s 10 year anniversary production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” as one of the lead narrators.  This is despite the fact that she is also the lead role at Mequon Homestead High School’s production of “Annie Get Your Gun”.  As if that weren’t enough, she has some other major “out of state” auditions coming up.  “I’m never home,” Becca told us last night.  She works hard and her dreams are big.

Becca is is a shining star of NSAA.  She is a great student, role model, hard-working, ambitious and talented young girl who has an amazing future in front of her.  Keep your eyes on this gal.  She is going places!  And NSAA is glad to have had a part in developing the talents that she exudes today.

Please go see Homestead High School’s “Annie Get Your Gun” Feb. 25-28 then a month later our 10 year Anniversary “Joseph” Production at the Cedarburg Performing Arts Center March 25-28. 

As always, thank you for supporting the arts.  Arts programs build strong leaders such as this fine young lady.