Painter JoAnn DePolo has gathered a group of teens under a tree in Cleveland's University Circle neighborhood to plot out a mural that will go on public display later this summer. It's going to be filled with symbols of America. For the past two years, DePolo has spent her summers trying to help aspiring artists find themselves.
DEPOLO: No other artist was offering help to me when I started. It was trial and error. So, I try to give them a little bit of guidance that I didn't have. It's all about confidence in yourself.
Nearby, some other students are singing. Another group is getting acting lessons. It's all part of a six-week summer program called Art Works, run by the arts advocacy group, Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio. The Art Works program is based on an idea that co-founder Deborah Ratner saw in Chicago, where high school students were paid to apprentice with professional artists.
RATNER: The program in Chicago was to get the kids off the streets. To get them involved in something that would nourish their souls and expand their view of the world. At the same time, they would be learning from mentors who were established artists and they would be getting paid. It would be an alternative to, perhaps, a job at a fast food restaurant or packing bags at the local grocery store.
ArtWorks was started in 2005 and, this year, 120 apprentices were chosen for the program, out of several hundred who applied from nearly 60 high schools across Northeast Ohio. Program manager Kristen Rothman Rothman says ArtWorks attempts to change perceptions about the supposedly "impractical" nature of the arts.
ROTHMAN: You know, sometimes people say, it's just the arts. It's nice, but what is that going to get you? You're going to be waiting tables the rest of your life, according to the cliche.
One could also argue that, in a time when art programs often fall victim to school budget cuts, it's only smart to reframe art education as a form of job training.
ROTHMAN: I'll be honest with you, it really has come down to that in a lot of cases. But, we firmly believe the skills that you learn just by being in the arts, by working in an art form, the creativity, the problem-solving skills that are inherently in any art form, are skills that are required to do any job that you going to look at in the 21st century.
In addition to learning how to paint, sing and act, the students are also taught some basic work skills --- how to dress, how to behave, how to handle a job interview, even how to file taxes on that summer salary you're going to be making.
ROTHMAN: They make $7.30 an hour for 30 hours of work per week. And for most of them it is their first paycheck.
Along with that paycheck, the students get some financial literacy lessons about spending vs. saving, and the dangers of credit card debt. Teacher JoAnn Depolo says it's a combination of aesthetics and discipline.
DEPOLO: We need to prepare them for the workplace, and that would be --- starting on time, being responsible for their duties and tasks, and being accountable to a supervisor.
And if you goof off?
DEPOLO: It's the same as any other job. They'll have warnings, and then, if it's not corrected, they'll face the consequences. This is preparation for life skills.
ADOGNRAVI: I hadn't had any real jobs before ArtWorks,
Rachelle Adognravi's a tenth-grader at Cleveland Heights High School.
ADOGNRAVI: ArtWorks was my first real job where I actually got paid for a certain amount of hours and stuff.
And it's got her thinking that…just maybe…she could pursue a career that would involve her drawing skills.
ADOGNRAVI: I've been thinking about that for, like, ever. But I hadn't really found out a way to actually do it yet.
Between now and the end of July, the ArtWorks apprentices will spend their summer days picking up the skills…and the confidence… to try and make that happen.
ADOGNRAVI: I still have back-up plans, of course, but I would really like to be an artist.
