East Side Arts Council
Background and Purpose
The East Side Arts Council (Arts Council) evolved from a grassroots call for neighborhood revitalization. A coalition recommended creating a neighborhood arts organization, and in 1991 the Arts Council was incorporated.
The mission of the organization is to collaborate with the East Side community and artists to celebrate and experience the arts. They do this by offering professional arts programs year round that celebrate the diversity of the neighborhood, linking to learning in schools and community centers, and building appreciation of the arts in the East Side of Saint Paul.
The core program areas are school partnerships; after school and summer youth programs; community events; and urban design and arts advocacy.
The Arts Council is governed by a nine-member board and employs 2.75 FTE staff: an executive director, a program associate and an administrative assistant. Annually, the Arts Council contracts for the services of more than 120 artists, is assisted by about 45 volunteers and serves over 10,000 people.
Current Request
This request from the East Side Arts Council is on behalf of the East Side Learning Collaborative (The Collaborative) for second year funding for Kidventure, free daylong camps for all out-of-school days for East Side youth from Kindergarten to high school.
The Collaborative is an organized network of over twenty community-based organizations who work together to strengthen and connect out-of-school-time learning opportunities for youth in the Payne Phalen and Dayton’s Bluff neighborhoods. The partners include non-profit arts organizations, faith-based communities, libraries, Metro State University’s Center for Community-Based Learning, youth leadership and environmental learning organizations, subsidized housing communities, the City of Saint Paul and the Saint Paul Public School District.
Kidventure began its first year of programming in 2007-08 with programming in several sites on non-school weekdays and a 10-week summer camp. One hundred Kindergarten through 6 graders and twenty high school students participated in the first year.
Last year The Saint Paul Foundation supported the program with a capacity grant to bring in a coordinator to provide professional development and planning time for the youth workers. This allowed the Collaborative to focus on developing funding sources for continuing the program as an on-going East Side youth development effort.
Also, in 2008-2009, the Collaborative focused on deepening their relationship with the children by encouraging them to sign up for multiple camp days. Their strategy for doing this was to have registration in September for the whole year’s camp options, as opposed to inviting families to register for each day individually. 151 youth participated in the No School Day Camps while 133 youth participated in the summer camp. Thirty youth came to 30or more of the 49 sessions.
The Collaborative is now seeking support for the 2009-2010 school and summer program. Funds would be used to increase staff time for the Arts Council program coordinator, to increase professional development opportunities, and to continue the Kidventure coordinator position, needed to build long-term sustainability.
It is recommended that the board approve a grant of $15,000 to the East Side Arts Council to help finance the budget of Kidventure.
The Archive
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