Photos by Annika Cline
If Phoenix schools and youth organizations want more art programming, they can now call up an art caterer of sorts.
Art4All is a new mobile art program launched by Valley Leadership, in conjunction with the Phoenix Center for the Arts. While the Center for the Arts is just a walk or bike ride away for many downtown residents, its programming and classes are not as easily accessible to other residents Valley-wide.
Art4All program leader Michael Ponzio said this is where the Art4All van rolls in.
“Think of it as kind of a food truck, and there’s a lot of different flavors kids can experience within one program,” Ponzio said.
Last Saturday the program held its second event since its start, outside of C.J. Jorgensen School in south Phoenix. The event had four “flavors” of art – clay, bubble-water coloring, creative writing and hip-hop dancing.
The first event was the previous Saturday, April 12, at the Roosevelt School District Wellness Center, also in south Phoenix. That event was held in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club of America. Ponzio estimated they reached over 200 children through both events combined.
Two of those children were seventh grader Mackenna Martinez and her sister, Martina, who is in third grade. They came out last Saturday with their mother, Heather. The three spent some time at the clay station, making flowers and an Easter egg basket.
Heather Martinez said she is glad C.J. Jorgensen will have more access to art education because her daughters enjoy art.
“You never know who you may have in your family,” Martinez said. “You may have an artist.”
The partnership with Roosevelt School District is important, Ponzio said, because the district is one of the communities where little art programming exists.
Roosevelt School District Governing Board member Lawrence Robinson said it has been difficult finding the funding for arts in public schools. Despite an override last election that allocated the Roosevelt School District an extra $7 million a year, Robinson said the arts programs still struggle because of state budget cuts.
“If the state won’t do it, we will do it,” Robinson said of the district’s involvement with Art4All.
Outside programs like Art4All help to fill in budget gaps, but it would not be possible without transportation. In early April, Art4All announced Valley Metro would donate one of its 12-passenger vans to the program.
Program leaders picked up the van the day before the event at C.J. Jorgensen and were able to transport the supplies and art teachers from the Center for the Arts to the event. Phoenix Center for the Arts director Joseph Benesh said the van would have cost them $10,000 if they had to buy it on their own; and that is only a hypothetical statement, Benesh said, because they would not actually have been able to afford it.
The program pays for the supplies and teachers’ time as well. GoDaddy was the project’s first sponsor, donating $15,000. The program has since received donations from bluemedia and Wilhelm Automotive, as well as a $7,500 grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, Ponzio said.
Money is not only key to running the program, it is a key reason the program exists, Benesh said. He said some families are not able to afford to put their kids in art classes, and that was why Phoenix Center for the Arts wanted to partner with a free program.
“This is about making sure that nobody has to choose between art and food anymore,” Benesh said.
Benesh said the program will continue working with Roosevelt School District and the Boys & Girls Club of America. The goal is to reach 1,000 kids in the first year, Ponzio said, and so far they have secured enough funding for three years of programming.
Ponzio would like to see the program become involved in art events downtown, such as First Friday. Benesh said rural communities are typically hit the hardest by financial cuts to arts education, so he would eventually like the Art4All van to drive beyond the Valley.
Contact the reporter at ascline1@asu.edu
