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September-October 2010 News
Chameleon has begun fall programming with the Office of Homeless Liaison at Connelly Hall Kansas City Kansas and with the Jackson County Family Court adjudicated youth programming. In September Chameleon continued its professional consulting and teacher/social worker training. Hugh Merrill presented the Chameleon process of using the arts to support social justice to the Mid-America Assistance Coalition 25th Annual Training Conference at the Kauffman Center and then presented to One Homeless Night Out, a reflection on homeless youth at Synergy.
Chameleon’s Super Intern
Chameleon intern Brennan Ponder originally hails from Birmingham, Alabama but currently works and resides in Kansas City, Missouri. He is currently a senior at the Kansas City Art Institute, pursuing a BFA in Printmaking with a minor in Community Arts. Brennan began teaching at Chameleon in the summer of ’08 and has since progressed in this role by initiating, developing, and managing new programming at the Jackson County Family Court and Jackson House, as well as organizing a show of work produced and currently on display at the YWCA in Kansas City, Kansas. Brennan curates and shows at the Keyhole Gallery most First Fridays and aids in urban development projects through Artplay. He plans to expand his social work beyond graduation and find appropriate integrations into a broader studio practice.
Jackson County Family Court and Jackson House
For the last three months, Chameleon Youth Arts has offered much needed arts programming to the detention center at Jackson County Family Court and to neighboring Jackson House. Amidst school board cuts, Chameleon stepped in and offered intensive study in a variety of media ranging from plaster to quilting. For three days a week, three hours a day, adjudicated youth were encouraged to foster creative thinking, develop self esteem, and explore positive alternatives to the problems they face upon release. The work produced culminated in a collaborative show with Jakki Cafarelli, entitled Attention: Detention, currently on display at the YWCA in Kansas City, Kansas. The opportunity to display provided both a view to the public inside the minds of adjudicated youth and the means to promote art as a viable career path for participating young artists. To follow this past success, Chameleon will partner with ArtPlay to establish a communal garden for Jackson House residents in conjunction with proven arts instruction. Programming is scheduled to begin early October under the guidance of Brennan Ponder.
Exhibition of Summer Arts Programming
Chameleon interns Brennon Ponder, Cortney Jarisch, Jakki Cafarelli worked with the Jackson County Family Court and the KCKS YWCA and curated the exhibition ATTENTION: DETENTION, which was on display September 10th through October 6th at the 6th Street Gallery inside the YWCA. An opening reception was held on Friday, September 9th (KCKS 2nd Fridays).
The exhibit showcased two Kansas City summer youth programs sponsored by Arts in Prison Inc. and Chameleon Youth Arts and Development. The community arts programs, led by Kansas City Art Institute students and alumna, provided programming to at-risk youth and youth detention centers that focused on developing self-esteem and creative problem-solving. Both programs celebrated the arts as an alternative form of expression, empowering participants to make healthy decisions that foster hope for a more positive future.
Coming in November and December
- Opening of Connelly Hall and Office of Homeless Liaison KCKS Public Schools Programming
- Regional Homeless Liaison Conference, Hays, Kansas
- National Association of Educators of Homeless Children and Youth, Houston, Texas
- One Homeless Night Out, November 12
- Holiday Toy and Gift Drive for Homeless Youth