The Urban Art Collab is an annual program that offers participants the opportunity to engage with art, culture, and history; develop workplace and team-building skills; and learn about a range of professional options and career paths. We encourage students to use their creativity and teamwork skills to create a musical recording that promotes positive social change.

The Reason Why

During my high school years, I always wished my learning experience was more like the schools on TV. For example, I would love to be challenged to do various arts like in Disney’s show Victorious, a fictional performing arts high school called “Hollywood Arts High”. The students in the show seem to enjoy their educational environment.

I think a great deal of that enjoyment stemmed from their school facilitating high quality art programming. If public schools replicated similar programming it would foster more creativity and ideation in the classroom, and drive student engagement.

“I never thought I was challenged enough in school, so I lost focus”

There’s a huge distinction between the quality of art programs available in public schools versus private schools. Attending both types of institutions at one point in my childhood, I can personally attest to that claim. However, the Georgia Council for the Arts report states that among Georgia public schools, 67% offer classes in both visual art and music. Only 3% of Georgia public schools offer classes in all five arts subject areas – visual art, music, theatre, dance, and creative writing. Approximately 4% of Georgia public schools offer no arts education. Most of these types of reports paint the same picture, students that attend public school lack the exposure to various art and technology. So what’s next? How do we create an educational environment like “Hollywood Arts High”? As the founder of Urban Poets, I decided that our organization should help take on that initiative by facilitating a free art program for the youth. We decided to create a music production program to allow high school students who have had limited access to computers and other technologies the opportunity to create new forms of art.

A FREE Art Program

Being born and raised in a lower income community, I have experienced how difficult it can be for families to afford private programming. Most of the art or tech resources available to young adults come at a price, a price many of our families can not afford.

I remember my first time attending a private art camp and it was amazing. This was during a time in my life when both of my parents were working, but that’s another story…However, I was able to enjoy a couple of weeks of indulging in art and other activities. I can remember feeling bliss and being inspired by the other kids around me. Sadly that feeling was short-lived after my father couldn’t keep up with the payments.

I always yearned to be in a creative space as a child. I thrived in environments that gave me some type of artistic outlet but never had the opportunity in my youth to experience another art program like that summer camp.

Black and Hispanic students lack access to quality arts education. I’m sure a lot of our youth go through similar situations. Many of the kids I went to school with wanted to attend a cool art camp but were unable to afford the cost. This is why our nonprofit decided to offer a free art camp. This way we can eliminate any barriers preventing our youth from reaching their creative potential. I believe that our program will not only give students a creative outlet, but increase math and reading scores, improve cognitive skills, and decrease youth at-risk behavior.

Low-income students who are highly engaged in the arts are twice as likely to graduate college as their peers with no arts education. 3.

The Challenge

When I was in school, you could label me as one of those bad but smart kids. I would lose focus and goof off so much when I wasn’t challenged, but if we had a test or group activity it was game time. For some reason, when I had to do work in front of others, I wanted to show off my skills and take on leadership, but in the traditional class setting, I would be so bored and inattentive. These experiences as a child made me realize that my brain was craving to learn more, but I lacked interest and motivation. While developing the Urban Art Collab, I thought about how I can use my past experiences to get students to challenge themselves to do their best in our art program. The students attending the fictional school “Hollywood Arts High” were paid actors, so clearly that was their motivation, but in reality, we have to drive student engagement somehow, so I decided to offer students rewards, and paid performance opportunities for their best work in our art program. I noticed that students may have an interest in unique art programs, but they could lack motivation if not challenged. Students' true competitive spirit kicks in when you group them into a team. Some of my best school memories occurred when my teacher let us work on group activities and contests during class. There's something special about peer-to-peer learning that enhances the learning environment, so I thought it was important to implement that type of experience during our art program. We want students to depend on each other to create a shared outcome, so we can reinforce collective thinking and team-building skills.

If I was given the opportunity in school to use my creativity, I didn’t hesitate to use it. I remember when I had to create a presentation for my biology class, and our teacher gave us complete creative freedom. I wound up creating a whole rap song about Darwin's Theory of evolution that I played in the background of my presentation. Not only was my class impressed with my song, but they had no idea you could add custom music to your PowerPoint. My project saved my ass… as I mentioned before, I was one of those bad, but smart kids. I was on the brink of failing her class, but since I surpassed her expectations with this one project, she gave me a mercy C+. My teacher was furious with me because I showed potential to be her A student, but I wouldn’t apply myself. Eventually, by the next semester, I was able to bring my grade up to a B, because I wanted to live up to her expectations, and since I stunned the class with a great presentation last semester, I had to continue to do great things.

I believe our art program will have a strong impact on students like my biology project had on me, because we are influencing positive behaviors and academic achievement by challenging the youth to use their creativity. Allowing students creative freedom to express themselves and showcase their skills will empower them for life. The Urban Art Collab will support youth development in various ways, but the most important benefits students receive from the program is an audience.

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