COMMUNITY ART PROGRAM
Arts on Third StreetBY NADIA CHAHID ON FEBRUARY 21, 2014
Third Street Community Center is a Christ-centered, non-profit organization called to engage and inspire every individual who walks through its doors. This is Third Street’s mission statement. Third Street exists to create a stronger community for a better Greenville.
Walter Strathy is Executive Director at Third Street. In the past Strathy has been a director of outreach at Covenant Church, a founding board member at Certain Hope ministries and started a mentoring program for male youth lacking positive male role models. Strathy became involved with Third Street while working with the community on Chestnut Street when he was approached by the Rizzuti’s who asked him how he would feel about expanding and running programs at Third Street. The community center has been working to put together an art program so that members of the community, that would otherwise be unable to, can utilize the programs as a creative outlet. The idea for the program was a collaboration of the staff at Third Street. Creative Community Coordinator Laura Horn has been working to organize and prepare for the program. In preparation Horn has had to contact local artists to volunteer as course teachers. Some of the teachers are Ecu art majors and some are local artists. All of the teachers are volunteers. “We want art to be accessible to all people no matter what their income level is,” Horn said. Since art classes can be expensive, many people in the community do not have the financial resources to take art classes; the programs give them an opportunity to develop and discover their abilities. “When I tell parents that we can offer their child an art class for only five dollars their eyes light up because it is something they can manage and is reachable for them,” Horn said. Since the community center opened its doors, it has planned on actively advocating for the arts and providing outlets for creative expression. The programs offer art classes and workshops that are available to anyone in the community. There are various types programs being offered including those of visual, dance, musical, and dramatic arts. Some popular programs include Suzuki violin, which is a method of teaching violin to young children; Drum master, a class in which participants can learn how to build a drum set out of recycled materials, play them and have the chance to record their own music; Spoken Word, a class for those interested in improving writing skills and performing poetry. Arts on Third Street began on Feb 4. 2014. Classes are offered to people of all ages. Creators of the program hope that as a result new relationships will be formed. If the program continues to flourish, the community center hopes to launch an after-school program called Illuminate Youth Arts this coming fall. Illuminate is designed for K-12 students. “West Greenville will become a destination as opposed to a place that people avoid,” Strathy said. HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
|