City of Newberry

Charleston County Parks Adapts Programs, Events During Pandemic REC-MOBILE TURNED ARTS MOBILE:

NAC TAKING ART TO THE PARKS

By: Sharon Graham, Arts & Special Programs Coordinator, City of Newberry Parks, Recreation and Tourism

Newberry Arts Center’s (NAC) Art in the Park was an idea that came about after attending a Creative Placemaking Workshop in Columbia in 2019. The topic that stood out the most to me was about “taking art out into the community and to the people.” This sparked something deep inside me! As someone who grew up with two siblings and working parents, no transportation to summer camps – not to mention the price for three kids – I knew I just had to take the art to kids that could not make it to summer camp because of various issues. Thus, the beginning of our Art in the Park program. Our athletics crew with the City of Newberry’s PRT Department was already taking the “Rec-Mobile” to area parks Monday through Thursday with a range of outdoor activities free of charge for local kids. That left Fridays available for art! What an opportunity! On Fridays, we loaded up the Rec-Mobile with art supplies instead of sports equipment and headed to the park. WOWW … we were totally amazed at the number of children that showed up! For six weeks in 2019, NAC staff along with volunteers met every Friday at Marion Davis Park to take art to kids in the area. We had kids from ages 2-16! We were able to identify and offer scholarships to some of the Art in the Park kids for our Summer Art Camps at NAC as well. This was an outreach program that supported our mission – just what we had been looking for! We were so excited!

Then came the summer of 2020, along with COVID restrictions, and we were not able to have Art in the Park. We were so disappointed, as were the families that had been looking forward to the program again that year. Now in 2021, Art in the Park is back and better than ever! With such a great group of volunteers, as well as the kind generosity of donors, we have been able to bring in guest artists for several of this year’s programs. Our first one for the season brought in 37 (yes, 37!) kids and the guest artist was Diann Price Williams, a children’s author. Again, through the generosity of donors we were able to provide every kid with a free copy of one of the books from her “Gran Ma” series entitled, “Gran Ma On Freedom Is Not Free.” Other artists appearing at 2021 Art in the Park are Tiffany Gary, who is presenting a program on “Painting through Emotions,” and Christy Buchanan, a folk artist who will be leading the kids in their very own painting party. Other activities include a recycling project, newspaper and magazine art, watercolor and a weaving project. This has been and continues to be such a rewarding experience for our agency. It truly makes our hearts happy to see these kids leave with an art project of which they are so proud!

WITH SUCH A GREAT GROUP OF VOLUNTEERS, AS WELL AS THE KIND GENEROSITY OF DONORS, WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BRING IN GUEST ARTISTS FOR SEVERAL OF THIS YEAR’S PROGRAMS.