The Xavierite
A small, hand painted building sits on East 91st street in South Chicago. This is the home of the only art center open to all children on the south side of Chicago: South Chicago Art Center (SCAC).
In this building, many children of all ages are able to get off of the streets for a while and express themselves through art.
As visitors and students alike walk through the doors of the inviting building, they are greeted by smiling teachers and two fluffy white dogs.
The 600 square foot building is jam packed with art made by the small, creative hands of hundreds of students.
From self-portraits to puppets, to metal art, kids are given the opportunity to try their hand at any art project they could think of.
In the back corner of the warm and welcoming center is the humble office of Sarah Ward, the executive director of SCAC.
She is a woman that exudes love and care for her students. Ward is someone that wants to better the lives of children on the South Side.
The doors of SCAC opened on Sept. 11, 2001. After working with children in juvenile court, she decided that she wanted to get out of such a punitive system and into something that could have a more positive impact on the lives of children.
“I was starting to think about what could really change a kid’s life. It seemed that working with a kid that had committed a crime for once a week between the hours of 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. just didn’t really make sense to me. It seemed to me being a more stable person in their lives made more sense,” said Ward.
In the South Chicago neighborhood, as well as in other areas of Chicago, stability is something that students in the Chicago Public School system have a difficult time finding.
According to studies done by the University of Chicago, the turnover rates in Chicago Public Schools are staggeringly high.
In elementary schools, 67 percent of teachers will leave within five years. As for high schools, the turnover rate is even higher at 76 percent.
“In poor neighborhoods, attrition rate for teachers is always very high, kids move more than twice a year, people that are in their lives for a long period of time are very few and far between. I started thinking about ‘How do you create stability and help young kids flourish in a neighborhood where they have little to no opportunities for that?’” said Ward.
A stable and safe environment is something that Ward has successfully created. Many children come on a daily basis after school.
“It’s a drop in center, so kids come whenever they want. But we also have about 29 outreach locations. So, we reach over 3,000 kids a year. On any given day, we could be teaching 300 kids a day in the school system. Our programs are in 19 schools, park districts, libraries, community centers and at fairs,” said Ward.
One student named Dekiyah, 9, has been going to the center for about two years and attends just about every day, only missing when she has to go to an appointment.
She first heard about SCAC from her school friend, Chanelle, who has been attending for five years.
The Xavierite
SCAC is the perfect place to help young kids like Dekiyah, because they are able to try out different types of art and see what fits them best.
Each day, an art class is held at around 4 p.m. and focuses on different mediums for kids to work on.
On one particular day, students were learning how to use nature as an inspiration for clothing designs.
For Dekiyah, this was a medium that worked well for her, because one day she hopes to be a fashion designer.
Dekiyah is one of many children that look forward to walking through the doors of SCAC everyday.
During the summer, there are sometimes up to 35 kids at the center.
SCAC is not only an after school center or summer day camp, they are involved in art integration in local elementary and high schools such as, J N Thorp Elementary, Jane Addams Elementary, and Washington High School.
“We’re not replacing an art class, we’re actually integrating art into science, math, language arts, anything. Because when you’re learning those types of subjects, you’re learning with the left side of your brain. And the right side of the brain is your creative side. There are a lot of kids that are learning disabled, but are very creative,” said Ward.
Art integration works to help children be able to use all sides of their brain so they can get more out of their education.
“We introduce creative projects that have to do with those subject matters. It helps them bridge that divide or understand better what that subject is about, because they’re able to explore it on the right side of their brain,” said Ward.
This type of passion that Ward and her employees have for art is what keeps many students, like Anthony Steele, 24, coming back to the center.
SCAC has been a part of Steele’s life since 2001, since he was 11 years old. He has been employed by Ward as the studio coordinator as well as a teaching artist for the past three years. While he is modest and shy, his coworker, Laura Trejo, operations manager, boasted about his work.
“Anthony is really great at doing many things like sculptural work and drawing. He taught the class about self portraits,” said Trejo.
Steele is just one of a few students that came back to the center to work as teaching artists.
“Three of my teaching artists right now are students that were here in 2001 to 2003. I think that that speaks to the impact of the program that they’re teaching for me and that their careers are in the arts and they went to college. That makes a huge difference; most kids in poor neighborhoods don’t graduate from 8th grade,” said Ward.
Ward has successfully given children in South Chicago a place to turn to in order to get away from the negatives in life.
Nearly a third of South Chicago residents live in poverty and gang activity runs rampant in the area.
Within the next year, Ward and her team will be able to reach more students. They will be opening a larger space, in September 2015, which will be able to accommodate triple the amount of students that they are catering to now.
The new space, which will be located on 91st street and Commercial Avenue will be 6,000 square feet and include four studios, a gallery space, and even a kiln.
“Moving to this new space will afford us the opportunity to heighten our profile and it’ll also allow kids to go to it that couldn’t access the program before, because the train tracks are a dividing line for gangs. And the train tracks are right [near our current space] about a half of a block away,” said Ward.
Safety is an issue for a lot of residents in South Chicago and even more so for teens.
The simple act of just crossing train tracks could be potentially very dangerous.
“It’s scary for teens to come in here, because there are 12 active gangs in a 10 by 10 block area. So, for them to walk back here is terrifying for them. Being in that new location will allows us to serve so many more kids that can’t get over here,” said Ward.
Ward and her team at SCAC work everyday to provide stability and inspiration to the young community of South Chicago.
They work to give children a chance to be creative and express themselves in a more positive way.
“I think a lot of times in poor neighborhoods, people think that kids aren’t going to amount to anything. So, they don’t really try with them. I really believe on a deep level that anyone can achieve anything that they want to if they just try and reach out to the right people,” said Ward.
Lauren Dwyer
Deputy Editor-in-Chief