YMCA Arts Program Examples

Here are some examples of Ys offering new arts programs and new arts facilities.

• The YMCA of Redlands, Calif., hosts the Great All American Youth Circus, in which kids and teens train and perform a live circus event. Kids and teens train in all aspects of the circus, from performing tricks to stage construction and preparation, running the lights, doing makeup, developing costumes-everything the circus requires is carried out by Y youth.
• The John C. Cudahy YMCA in Milwaukee is the first U.S. YMCA facility to be built as a dedicated arts center. Offering a unique blend of programs including visual arts, music, theater and dance, it has also become a resource for schools and organizations that are unable to provide these types of programs.
• The YMCA of Columbia-Willamette in Portland, Ore., recently opened the first phase of its new 20,000-square-foot Child Development & Arts Education Center, which it hopes will become an epicenter for the arts in southeast Portland. The first phase of the $1.3 million facility includes a theater arts space, arts studios, workshops, classrooms and more - supporting and oversee by professional artists.
• The Duncan YMCA Chernin Center for the Arts in Chicago provides visual arts and theater programs as well as hosts theater performances for young audiences featuring established companies like Chocolate Chips, The Terrapin Theatre and the Children's Theatre Fantasy Orchard.
• Seattle's Metrocenter YMCA turned a cafeteria into the Triangle Art Gallery, where 14- to 21-year-olds exhibit and sell their art. The installations change every two months, and to participate, youngsters must complete a Y program that teaches them how to install and curate their creations.
• The Jim and Mary Winston Family YMCA in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., and the local library host a youth program, Color Your World with Books. The popular eight-week program features music, puppet shows and storytelling.
• The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Metropolitan YMCA has created a partnership with Celebration Cinemas to create the IMAX Theatre Experience for 500 disadvantaged students, grades K-5. The program allows students to learn about a subject, research the topic, and complete educational curriculum prior to attending the actual movie. The high-tech components of our curriculum will stimulate an interest in current and relevant topics, and education in the visual arts, and a will be new experience for many of these children.
• At the Valley of the Sun YMCA in Phoenix, Ariz., child care participants have helped create mosaics in a community garden, Jardin de la Gente (The People's Garden). This not only gives the children a chance to create art but to see art valued by the community and see themselves contributing to it.
• The YMCA of Grand Island (Neb.) offers theater classes for young children in which there are no official performances but the children use drama methods to expand their imaginations, explore issues, and become accustomed to the dramatic arts.
• The Mississippi Gulf Coast YMCA and the Jackson County Children's Services Coalition received a grant from the state arts commission to provide arts programming for youth in juvenile detention.
• The Virtual YMCA in New York City offers a virtual book club which motivates children to read at home.