Nine months ago, Marty Casey launched Show Me Arts Academy in response to the shooting death of Michael Brown and the subsequent protests in Ferguson. The program tries to reach kids in poor neighborhoods who may not respond well to sports, school or other activities.
“When we take that time out and we give that special attention, you literally see their whole attitude and their world just change,” said Casey.
The program launched last spring at Tandy Recreation Center in the Ville in north St. Louis.
Casey started the arts organization after Michael Brown's death to provide youth, from 12 to 18, with a chance to channel their frustration and energy more constructively when confronted with racial, social, and economic inequality. Casey, a singer and actor, used her connections in the St. Louis theater and music scenes, plus a chance encounter with St. Louis Director of Recreation Evelyn Rice-Peebles, to find the Tandy space and volunteer teachers. Since then, the organization has brought its performing arts workshops and visual arts classes to more than three neighborhoods. It is now preparing to start a session in the Grove.
The first session was funded by donations and by teachers and program administrators who dug into their own pockets. This new session is financed by a recently received $10,000 grant. The money will go to providing materials, T-shirts to create a team-like camaraderie for participants and stipends for teachers. Despite the recent grant, fundraising remains the organization’s most significant hurdle.
The class size and the number of children participating in any one session varies.
Originally, Show Me Arts teachers and administrators hoped to find a building so that the organization could operate after school and during vacations and the summer. This goal has changed into developing partnerships with different neighborhood groups; teachers then create programs that can last up to eight weeks at a specific location and are run after school or on weekends. They’ve conducted classes at the Dellwood Recreation Center and the Boys' and Girls' Club on Grand Avenue. It’s an approach the organization’s begun to embrace.
“I love the fact that we’re able to go into a community where we see a need and to go somewhere where they may not have had anything like our program before,” said Casey.
The program now includes social worker Gayle Abram, who works in the St. Louis Public Schools. Casey said she’s a welcome and necessary addition to the team, especially in helping the staff to handle difficult children.
“I feel like it would be unfair and even somewhat of an embarrassing situation, and even a turn off to what we’re trying to do, if we just overlook that child and act like they’re not entitled to a bad day,” said Casey.
Show Me Arts Academy’s next offering will begin Jan. 12, at the Adams Boys’ and Girls’ Club near the Grove neighborhood.
