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August & September 2008 News
Chameleon Quest Plus Camps 2008
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For the past two summers Chameleon has provided and assisted on 11 arts and educational camps for the KCMO School District’s Quest Plus post summer school program. The camps are three weeks long and facilitated by some of the best artist/educators in the city. The camps cover visual arts, Hip Hop, dance, theater and creative writing.
During the summer of 2008, Chameleon partnered with the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in the Crossroads led by Holly Swangtu, the Community Christian Church with the Hip Hop Academy led by Jeremy McConnell, Tony Aguirre Community Center led by Heather Lowenstein, St Marks Child Development Center led by DeAnna Skedel and Staci Pratt and Chameleon’s dance camp Led by Ryan McCord-Bey. The camps provided hundreds of young people with creative, educational activities and a safe haven in which to grow. Many of the children in the camps have both parents working outside the home and would be left without adequate supervision, increasing their risk of becoming involved in dangerous situations. Chameleon is proud of the partnership with the KCMO School district and hopes to continue to provide after school and summer programming in 2009.
Chameleon Youth Arts Interns Emmamarie Clark and Maliah Rodriguez, from the Paseo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts wrote their impression of the Hip Hop Academy Arts Camp for the Chameleon website:
How do we make it through this hard world we live in? How do we make it through and get a fresh beginning?" declares Marjorie Cobb, a first-time student at the Hip Hop Academy summer Quest Arts camp located at 4601 Main Street in the thriving Plaza district. "It's very inspirational," Marjorie admits truthfully. "The kids that go here get a better understanding of what Hip-Hop really is."
So what is Hip-Hop, really? A lot of people have the idea that Hip-Hop and rap alike are all about sex, violence, and drugs. The Hip-Hop academy strives to change that idea, starting with changing the attitudes of the children around them. "We aim to keep it positive,” says Jeremy McConnell, one of the proud founders of the Hip-Hop Academy.
You can definitely tell that the aim is there. One of the first things you see when you walk into the academy is a sign that states "The Hip-Hop Academy does not use the phrase 'I can't do it...' Yes you can!" There's also a board in the front with various issues the kids can rhyme about like, marriage, abortion, even global warming. Off to the side is a makeshift dance studio where you can clearly hear the beat of almost constant music and the shouts of dance steps. Go a little further and you’re at the art room where the students are learning about the art of graffiti/mural painting and spray paint stencils. There is also a stage with turn tables and the equipment for recording songs. The technology these kids have been exposed to is amazing...from djing to emceeing and break dancing for three weeks these kids get an excellent education on the "real" art of Hip-Hop and...for three weeks, a safe haven, where they can freely express themselves and let go.
Spend just a couple hours with these kids and you realize they've got talent--from Robert Schuler's expertly drawn Yu-Gi-Oh card, to Lasha Henderson's hilarious rhyme about being bored, "I'm in my room looking so bored/ I'm asking myself do I really got friends/ do they just want to be trends?" For Lasha Henderson, the best part of the program is being able to express herself. "I want to be positive. Hip-Hop doesn't always have to be violent," which is a true statement that can not only apply to these children while they're taking classes at the Hip-Hop Academy, but it can also apply to the children in any form of normal daily life, from school, which doesn't have to be violent, to the community, which is only violent if you chose to make it violent.
The Hip-Hop Academy in a way has given the children a choice on how to live their lives. It has opened their eyes to the fact that they actually have the choice. You don't have to be like everyone else, or act the way that they think you should, just because they say. You can work hard to prove yourself, to make what you know as normal, extra ordinary. Like Briana Addison says, "Be the emcee light of my young emcee mic." You go, girl!