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2 Tyler summer art programs sketch paths to new career options

Arts programs can be a luxury, afforded only to those who can pay the price, but Temple's Tyler School of Art offers a full-scholarship program for Philadelphia high school kids to show them art can be their future.

Friends and relatives of students from the Tyler School of Art summer programs stroll through the gallery at which the students' work was displayed Friday.
Friends and relatives of students from the Tyler School of Art summer programs stroll through the gallery at which the students' work was displayed Friday.Read moreTYLISA C. JOHNSON / Staff

Patrice Davis always knew his daughter Treasure had artistic promise.

The 15-year-old had taken art classes in school, but wanted to do more. That's why she was ecstatic when her art teacher nominated her for Art Start, one of two four-week, full-scholarship summer art programs held in July at Temple University's Tyler School of Art.

In the Davises' Mount Airy neighborhood, such opportunities are rare, the father said.

"Other than school … she didn't really have the opportunity to go to any place to learn more about art," Davis said. "We really don't have that in most urban neighborhoods. This [program] is very good."

"She should be real proud of herself," he said Friday at Tyler, admiring a drawing by his daughter on display in a one-day exhibition of the work of 60 students for families and friends to view.

The exhibition was the finale of Art Start and DigiStart, created for high school juniors and seniors with artistic promise, who don't often have opportunities to improve their art skills outside class.

Laura Hricko, who leads Tyler's pre-college programs, said she wants students to know "this is a space for you, and going to school for art is a real thing," even if life circumstances dictate otherwise.

"And it can be really fulfilling," Hricko said. "We just feel so proud that we're able to welcome them into the school."

Many of the kids in the 26-year-old program are of color, come from underserved neighborhoods, and go to schools with limited or no art programs. Across the city, schools have uneven opportunities to participate in arts and music programs.

A 2017 analysis of city schools' arts programs showed that 90 percent of the Philadelphia School District's 220 schools have full-time art or music education, and 60 percent have both. Some schools have no arts program at all.

READ MORE >>> Some Philly schools have rich arts programs, and others have none. How do you fix it?

Without the scholarship, the program would cost about $1,200 per student, to cover tuition and supplies.

A December 2017 study by Eleanor Brown, a professor of psychology at West Chester University, found that "high-quality arts programming can decrease stress levels for children facing economic hardship."

In Philadelphia, where nearly 400,000 people live in poverty, arts camps can be seen as a luxury, available only to those who can pay the price. But the camps are an effort to break that accessibility barrier, Hricko said.

Ideally, she said, the program also would feed students into the art programs at Temple. On average, about three program alumni end up at the school each year, she said.

Art Start and DigiStart

In Art Start, about 40 students take a program that mirrors a freshman year at Tyler. They learn drawing, painting, sculpture, and other skills. In DigiStart, about 20 students learn animation, Adobe programs, photography, and more digital skills.

Most teens leave the program more confident and more prepared for life, said Rebekah Flake, an instructor at DigiStart for three years.

"It's really good career training," Flake said.

Each year, the program gets about 70 applications. Students must be nominated by an art teacher or guidance counselor.

The program runs on revenue brought in from Tyler's other tuition-based pre-college programs, Hricko said, but she hopes to fund-raise enough money to expand the program.

Janiyah Jordan, 15, a rising junior at Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker in West Philadelphia, plans to pursue art in college, but even if she doesn't, she says, "art will always be a part of my life."

For the exhibition, Jordan recreated half of a silver heart necklace she shares with her mother,  using cardboard, hot glue, X-Acto knives, charcoal, and paint. When she saw it hanging in the gallery Friday, she was speechless.

When Jordan's art teacher told her about the program, she didn't hesitate. "Of course I applied," she said.

When she was accepted, she said, "it was like a college acceptance letter."

READ MORE >>> How can the arts benefit kids from disadvantaged neighborhoods? 

As a child, Anthony Benedetto-Russ drew what he saw on television. He's wanted to do art ever since. In the fall, the 17-year-old will be a senior at MaST Community Charter School in Northeast Philadelphia.

Benedetto-Russ was nominated for DigiStart by his graphic design teacher.

"I like creative freedom, so I'd rather do something that I like. … And I can get paid for it, too," Benedetto-Russ said. "I don't want to work an office job, sitting in a cubicle being like, 'Man, I wish I was drawing right now.' "