ANDERSON VALLEY AFTER SCHOOL YOUTH ART PROJECT

This spring, eleven junior high school students in Anderson Valley met two times a week and some Saturdays with artist, Melissa Meader to create art. A collaborative project through the 21st Century After School Program and the Arts Council of Mendocino County, this after school workshop focused on developing the basic drawing, design and painting skills necessary for creating a mural. Inspired by a presentation by older youth from the Rural Mural Project, these younger artists embarked on a project to created a series of small paintings, each of which depicted a different phase of the moon. These imaginative interpretations of the cycles of the moon and how they affect the ocean took each student through the steps required to create a mural painting. At the end of the eight week session the individual paintings were assembled and installed on a wall in the entry area of Anderson Valley High School, looking much like a patchwork quilt. "On the whole, I feel the program was very successful, already we are receiving positive responses from the faculty and student body to the mural." said Melissa Meader the lead artist/instructor for the program.

While many types of after-school programs provide important support to children's learning and social development, those that include the arts add a special dimension. Research has found that the arts can increase academic achievement, help decrease youth involvement in deliquent behavior and improve youths' attitudes about themselves and their future. Esther Viera said of her experience, "I'm happy that I got to paint something for our school and I'm glad that I painted something I really like and it makes me proud of myself." The goal of the program was to provide a positive, safe and creative outlet for these junior high students, several of whom who were disappointed at being too young to participate in the Rural Mural Project. When asked how she felt about spending her after school time in the program Anjelica Contreras replied, " At home I don't have much to do, check email, do homework and watch TV... being involved in something is great, gives you something to talk about, you have an activity you enjoy." The program also placed students together who didn't usually spend time together during the school day. They learned to work together as a team while making new friends.

In addition to being a successful prevention strategy for youth, the Arts Council hopes that this program will be the basis for developing a countywide Youth Arts Project. The participants were Anjelica Contreras, Brian Covarrubias, Megan Davis, Liliana Diaz, Yesika Jimenez, Denice Maldonado, Maria Daniella Martines, Yesenia Pena, Jaime Rangel, Amy Sutherland and Esther Viera.

At the end of the project one student commented, "...it's kind of cool to know that you did something that is going to be there a long time - that you can come back to look at it years later and say ... we did that!" This project was funded in part by the Board of Supervisors Youth Response Fund administered by the Community Foundation of Mendocino County.