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Young Audiences Donates Life-Size Playhouse to Nicholas House
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Emily Genetelli
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Local artist works with community, creates playhouse for homeless children - ATLANTA, Ga.– Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC), Georgia’s leading provider of in-school arts-in-education programming, donated a life-size playhouse to children at The Nicholas House during art activities at Target Free Family Fun Day held at the Woodruff Arts Center. The Nicholas House is a nonprofit agency that operates a transitional housing shelter as well as apartment sites for homeless families while assisting them in making the transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency in a structured but home-like environment.
YAWAC visual artist Karin Mervis helped children understand some fundamental principles of art and design (color theory, line, balance and symmetry) as they painted a 6-by-6-foot cedar wood playhouse. After five days of Mervis preparing the playhouse, the children were invited to use their creativity and paint in square sectionals that Mervis had previously outlined. As the young artists contributed to the playhouse, Mervis explained to them how public art projects engage the community and gives them their own sense of ownership in the piece.
“Experiencing the arts is vital to the overall development of our youth,” said Virginia A. Hepner, interim executive director of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center. “Arts activities, like our Target Day community playhouse, promote children’s individuality, bolsters their self confidence and improves overall academic performance. These events are enhanced for the children when they work with our professional artists who combine a passion for their art form with the desire and ability to educate and communicate effectively with young people.”
This was Mervis’ first time using a playhouse as a canvas for a community art project. She normally uses traditional canvases when creating community murals as an in-school residence program through YAWAC’s programming. The finished product remains at schools as a lasting legacy and tribute to the character of the school and the spirit of collaboration.
“Having a playhouse is every child’s dream,” said Yvonne Druyeh, operations manager and volunteer coordinator of Nicholas House, Inc. “Our children, who aren’t able to have the same things other kids may have, get to have such an awesome and fun gift birthed from the work of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, community members and their children. The kids at Nicholas House could not have been more thrilled when they saw the playhouse!”
Target Free Family Fun Day is a yearly family arts festival that attracts thousands to the Woodruff Arts Center campus and offers free visual and performing arts opportunities. Over 45 of YAWAC’s artists performed and led workshops throughout the Woodruff campus to entertain and educate the thousands of attendees. Activities included having caricatures drawn, making dream pillows based on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, making photographic images without a camera, making paper treasures from found and recycled objects and drawing classes led by YAWAC’s master illustrator artists. Families also enjoyed music, dance, storytelling, and puppet performances.
Hepner continued, “The Nicholas House shares our focus of establishing educational and life-long skills through their work with families – especially their Youth Services programs – making their Home the perfect home for the YAWAC playhouse.”
About Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center
Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is an affiliate of the nation’s largest arts-in-education organization, Young Audiences, Inc. and Georgia’s leading provider of educational arts programming. Since 1983, YAWAC has pursued its mission – to transform the lives and learning of young people through the arts – by bringing the power of live arts experiences in music, dance, theatre, literary, and visual arts to young people from preschool through high school. Each year YAWAC’s curriculum-based programs reach more than 700,000 students in schools, recreation centers, libraries, museums and other community venues throughout the entire state of Georgia.
About Woodruff Arts Center
Over the past 40 years, the Woodruff Arts Center has distinguished itself as one of the premier cultural centers in the nation, a unique institutional model where individual arts institutions unite to form a collaborative, inspirational, and supportive environment for the arts and education. The Woodruff Arts Center campus, located in the heart of Midtown Atlanta houses four renowned arts organizations including Alliance Theatre, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, High Museum of Art, and Young Audiences. Since 1968, Woodruff Arts Center has served more than 30 million patrons and annually offers more than 3,300 performances and exhibitions. In addition to its role as a cultural beacon and hub of the Southeast, the Center serves as a critical economic, educational, and social catalyst for Atlanta and the region. For more, visit www.woodruffcenter.org.
About Nicholas House
Nicholas House is a transitional housing shelter in Atlanta that helps homeless families get back on their feet and stay there. Through individualized case management, adult education and training, and powerful youth programs that stop the cycle of poverty, over 70% of Nicholas House families go on to remain fully self-sufficient. In its 28 year history, Nicholas House has helped over 1800 homeless families make the transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency in a structured but home-like environment. Last year Nicholas House helped 100 families comprised of 300 people—230 of which were children. On any given night in Atlanta alone, there are 1200 family members without a place to call home--800 of which are children. Nicholas House is committed to helping homeless families by addressing the root causes of their homelessness so they never become homeless again.
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CONTACT:
Emily Genetelli
404.733.4574
emily.genetelli@woodruffcenter.org
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