PORT TOWNSEND — An intensive after-school arts program that will provide students with experience and a portfolio will begin under the auspices of the Jefferson County Family YMCA on Jan. 3.
“There is a real call for something like this here for young adults,” said Jim Funaro, executive program director of the YMCA at Mountain View Commons, 1919 Blaine St., Port Townsend.
“We put together an after-school environment that focuses on arts and academics and keeps the kids in a warm, safe place,” Funaro said.
Funaro described the program as a bargain. For $100, students from 12 to 18 years old can participate in a five-day-a-week, eight-week after-school program that combines a variety of artistic disciplines.
It differs from the Y’s current after-school in that it is for older students — the present after-school program is for children from 6 to 12 years of age — and is focused on both arts and academics, Funaro said.
Arts will be taught Tuesday through Thursday.
On Monday and Friday, students will receive academic support, both in the form of instruction about study skills and through tutoring.
Each day, students will gather in the gym, where they will find group activities from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
At 4 p.m. — after all the students have arrived — arts activities will begin and continue until 5:30 p.m.
Students can remain at the YMCA, with a staff member available, until 6 p.m., Funaro said.
Funaro said that the addition to the YMCA’s offerings was not a response to the formation earlier this year of the Community Arts and Recreational Alliance — or CARA — to provide arts instruction.
Instead, the Y’s new program is “a response to what I’ve heard in the community from adults and teenagers” and also to the results of a city survey, Funaro said.
He said that 15 students will be the optimum number for the class, at least in its first iteration.
The class has three instructors. Yvonne Pepin-Wakefield, Carol Heath Stabile and Karen Sisk are all experienced educators and/or artists.
The three have developed a program outline that will, according to Stabile, “explore relevant themes through writing, drawing technique and color exploration.”
Students with apparent artistic aptitude are welcome, but Stabile welcomes those who feel that they have no talent.
“This type of program has not been offered in Port Townsend with this caliber of instructors,” Pepin-Wakefield said.
“This is not an arts and crafts class. There will be a measurable output.”
Pepin-Wakefield said the program is necessary because “with the cutbacks in the arts here, students are not getting the opportunity to create solid bodies of work.”
While the instructors have a class outline, they have resolved to use a flexible syllabus and concentrate on where student interest guides the curriculum.
The first excursion will be a Jan. 8 trip to the Seattle Art Museum to see the exhibit of Picasso masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso in Paris, currently showing through Jan. 17.
The field trip will be at no extra costs for the students.
Following this, potential topics include self-portraits, food, graffiti and comic book art.
“We will let the kids decide where they want to go,” Stabile said.
The Jefferson County YMCA is a branch of the Clallam County Family YMCA. Funaro has said that money raised in Jefferson County for YMCA stays in the community.
For registration and information, phone 360-385-5811, or visit www. jeffymca.org.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
