For many students, back to school means back to Art With a Heart. Inside their east-side studio, in what used to be Hazel Hendricks School 37, students in the After School Art Enrichment program are clustered around their instructor at a table, surrounded by an eye-popping choice of art materials. The studio is part of what’s known today as 37 Place, a neighborhood center in Martindale-Brightwood that provides public access to a range of life-changing services.
The program at 37 Place caters to Art With a Heart’s vision that all children, regardless of background, should have access to a high-quality art education. Founded in 2002, Art With a Heart was the brainchild of teaching artist Carol Conrad, who started the program as a summer camp for 100 kids. Since then, the organization has grown to serve well over 3,000 students each year — with both in-school and out-of-school programming.
Art With a Heart provides a range of art programming to reinforce evidence generated from studies, such as a 2009 study at UCLA that evaluated 10,000 students throughout 10 years and showed how art was more likely than any other after-school activity to improve success in an individual’s career, relationships and civic engagement during early adulthood.
The need for art programming is prevalent, but in Indianapolis’ Near Eastside area, only one in three students attends an after-school program, with most programs being full. That’s where Art With a Heart steps in, creating opportunities for those bright-eyed students in Martindale-Brightwood and elsewhere across the city of Indianapolis.
On the east side, art classes are offered after school at the Elizabeth Odle studio, Art With a Heart’s location at 37 Place. The studio operates through “choice-based” curriculum, meaning students get the opportunity to learn about and use everything this refurbished classroom has to offer — from clay and a kiln, to fiber art and digital media. Since not everyone can get to the studio, Art With a Heart operates after-school programs in youth-serving locations around the city.
Art With a Heart’s in-school art classes take place at 13 public, charter and parochial schools around the Indianapolis area. These classes, known as Creative Classroom Connections, are taught to students in pre-K through first grade. The curriculum and support for the lessons are provided by Art With a Heart, but the class is taught by students’ classroom teachers. Activities are art-based but also reinforce core subjects, such as English, math and science.
Teachers also receive boxes of art materials so kids can stay after school and work through activities in a multicultural curriculum that builds art skills as well as understanding of geography, history and sociology. Other out-of-school programs include summer camps, homeschool programs, Family Art Nights and Saturday studio.
For more information about Art With a Heart, visit artwithaheart.us. Art With a Heart is currently enrolling Saturday School and homeschool programs, both of which operate out of the 37 Place studio. For more information on these two programs or other out-of-school programs, contact Kaitlyn Akin, director of out-of-school programs, at kakin@artwithaheart.us.
