Creativity instead of crime

Teens of all stripes are learning to express themselves - and get paid for it - rather than get in trouble.

By CHRISTINE GRAEF

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 10, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Becoming a professional artist begins with making a pinch pot. At least 200 of them, Lenzer Evans told aspiring sculptors in the opening class of the Youth Arts Corps apprenticeship program last week.

As a dozen pair of hands rolled lumps of clay into smooth pots, Evans, of St. Petersburg, said, "You will learn the properties and structure of clay and how it can be worked. In every class you will see your progression."

The program is run by the Pinellas County Arts Council at the Department of Juvenile Justice, 955 26th St. S, in a room filled with long tables and glazed vases, bowls, flying dinosaurs, clocks, candle holders, wall pockets, masks and animals.

The Youth Arts Corps/Juvenile Justice Arts Program was established in 1997 to keep youths from entering the juvenile justice system or from becoming increasingly involved in it. The apprenticeship program began last year with 26 students and one clay sculpting class. It has since involved more than 100 youths and expanded to include workshops twice a week in percussion, Web site design and theater, and a class once a week in creative writing.

Students must be 14 to 17 and maintain a C average to be eligible for $5.25 an hour as apprentices. Assistants must be 16 to 21. "We look for someone interested in the discipline they apply for and who have some experience with it. Those who have come to class and build their skills are good candidates," said Holly Hill, project coordinator.

Akeen and Wadi Lee have been in the program since it began. The 15-year-old brothers will participate five nights a week in all venues.

"You get to express yourself in a way other people recognize," Wadi Lee. "What you think about, you can put in action."

Akeen Lee added: "It's also a way to bring out personality in yourself. Even if you've had a bad day, you have something to look forward to. And this is something that can be used on resumes in the future." Classes are taught by local professional artists.

"Instructors have to have the skills, but they also have to know how to communicate it. Our whole focus is on youth development," said director Mary Ann Assiff.

Evans encouraged the students to critique one another's work.

"They'll learn to work together and know what they're looking at because they know what they've done. Through seeing what someone else has done, they'll see how they've solved a problem," Evans said.

The teamwork concept is applied to the other workshops. Sitting at a table and working on his pots, 15-year-old Sterling Wells of St. Petersburg said he also will attend creative writing. Another St. Petersburg boy, Kenny Hansberry, 16, said he will apprentice in the theater group beginning Friday night. Jamaal Moragne, 17, also of St. Petersburg, is interested in photography and drawing, which are not available at this time. He hopes to make a living as an artist and one day establish a program for teenagers like Youth Arts Corps.

Unlike the Youth Arts Corps' Artists Residencies program, which places instructors in detention centers and residential programs, the apprenticeship program is open to all youths. It's impossible to tell the teenagers on probation from those who are not.

"Art levels the playing field. I've seen rich, poor, black, Hispanic, all types of teenagers come together and form friendships," said Dana DeMartino, Arts Administrator/Arts in Education Coordinator for the Department of State. "We're now so much more aware of multi-intelligences. I've seen incredible changes in those who participate."

DeMartino said the Youth Arts Corps in St. Petersburg has become a model for the state.

The bulk of the $143,865 cost of the program for the year was provided by the Juvenile Welfare Board with additional money granted by the Department of Juvenile Justice, St. Petersburg Weed and Seed, the Florida Department of State/Division of Cultural Affairs, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, National Endowment for the Arts and Pinellas County Arts Council.

Finished artwork will be sold at area galleries and stores. The money will be put back into the program. Pieces also will be available for sale on the program's Web site at http://youthartscorps.org. For more information on the St. Petersburg program, call Holly Hill at (727) 893-2354.

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