Gallery 37

-By Veronica Vyazovsky

It seems that the third largest artistic community in the country now has something more than cows and furniture to rave about. The Public Art Program a part of Cultural Affairs has brought many interesting exhibits to the streets, such the world famous "Cows on Parade."

However, the real story in the city is the competitive art scene for high school students who attend Chicago Public Schools. With prime gallery space, including exhibitions in the Loop and in the Gallery District of River North, these high school art students are getting opportunities a lot of professional artists never had.

Non-for-profit art education programs such as Gallery 37, Urban Gateways, Marwen and Streetlevel Youth Media, to name a few, have stepped up to the challenge of developing programs that are an alternative to street violence, and a supplement to the often absent art programs available in most Chicago Public Schools.

Often these art classes have only one room, with only one teacher to cater to the needs of all the art students, whether they are interested in ceramics, video, or painting. Non-for-profit organizations are making this amazing art explosion possible with co-sponsorship from the City of Chicago, and corporate sponsors such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and Gap Inc., which are all long time contributors to these art programs.

"We identify organizations and programs that embrace youth development principles, focus on academic achievement---both in and outside of the classroom---and expose young people to the arts,"said Dotti Hatcher, Gap's senior director for the program.

Gallery 37 is perhaps the best known of these art programs. This year it will be celebrating its 12th anniversary. The program started out as an apprenticeship summer program for talented Chicago Public School students; they were recruited, trained and paid to produce artwork in mediums such as painting, drawing, sculpture and poetry. Today, the program has expanded to a year-round program that takes place in six different locations.

The Gallery 37 schools program offers after-school-jobs to youth in 32 Chicago Public High Schools. According to a teacher in Taft High School, students are dismissed from school at 1:00 p.m. so they can go downtown to take part in this program. The Gallery 37 downtown program offers job training in eight different disciplines including Painting Studio, Culinary Television Show, Latin Dance, and Poetry Studio.

Often these programs are run with other arts organizations. Street Level Youth Media is an organization that has been around since 1995, and focuses on working with inner-city youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication and social change. Streetlevel Youth Media, partners with a division of Gallery 37, called Tech 37, a studio that trains students to work with digital and computer equipment to produce Websites, videos and documentaries. The documentaries are provocative because they seek to engage youth in dialogue regarding issues of class, race and street life, according to Jesse Mcclellend who works for Marwen, another not-for-profit arts organization started by Steven Berkowitz.

"From the few films I have seen, these movies made by kids really explore tough issues, than after seeing the movies, kids want to talk about what they saw, which is amazing to watch," said Mclellend.

Although Marwen is a separate enterprise from Gallery 37 and Street Level Youth Media, the mission of the organization is similar: to provide high quality arts education, college planning, and career development programs free of charge to Chicago's under-served youth, assisting about 2,200 students annually. The center is located in the heart of River North Gallery District, with two gallery spaces, one for alumni and teachers and one for current students, six work studios, and college career center. This year Marwen has collaborated with Chicago Public School in order to offer teacher programs, which include field trips, take-home teaching manuals, and projects and discussion for implementing activities in the classroom.

Universities such as Colombia College and the Art Institute of Chicago both offer summer classes to high school students in hopes of recruiting more students to their particular schools and fostering general interest in the arts.

This year, the Asian Cultural Affairs Department at Colombia College sponsored a scholarship contest for high school students entitled, "Create Your Future: FreeStyle Arts Competition." The contest was marketed to art teachers, academic communities, local organizations such as Gallery 37 and Urban Gateways and community newspapers. The purpose of this contest was to encourage Asian-American high school students become involved in the arts by showing them-and perhaps more importantly their parents-the possibilities for careers in the arts. Yuchia Chang, the Assistant Director of the Columbia College Asian Cultural Affairs Department, believes the initiative was very successful.

"Next year, maybe we will have more serious students, and then they and their parents can see, that there are jobs related to art, and your child doesn't have to be doctor or lawyer," Chang says.

Laura Ellsworth, a Development Director at Urban Gateways, a 40-year-old non-for-profit organization, located in the heart of the Loop makes the best case in explaining the importance of these types of programs. According to Ellsworth, Urban Gateways and the City of Chicago have changed together through time, making a huge impact on the residents of the city.

"We have connected millions of students, teachers and parents who have no access to the arts to Chicago artists, cultural centers, and performing art venues, increasing the number future artists and art appreciators living in the city," says Ellsworth.

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Students at Marwin Gallery, NFP Art Center.