Forever Home Newsletter #4
KidsArts Forever Home Newsletter
An At-Most-Monthly Publication: April Edition
Introducing KA Alum Raquel Friedman Vargas
How do capoeira, popsicle stick art, and improvised dance in childhood help create the community leaders and artists of tomorrow? KidsArts alum Raquel Friedman Vargas, now Director of Operations at Design Studio 4 Social Intervention (DS4SI) in Dorchester, can tell you.
Raquel attended the afterschool program at KidsArts for several years in the 1990s, including at our first location in the fire house that later became JP Licks. “There was a wonderful improv dance class, which took place in a big room with mirrors everywhere,” she says “A teacher named Stone played an African drum with lots of different beats so we could practice tempo and pacing, plus get some energy out. It was great!”
Picture Caption: Raquel stands in the DS4SI space with a Maraca she made at KidsArts!
Maintaining substantial outlets for creative self-expression in her life became a successful template for Raquel, who sometimes struggled in academic settings. “Art always grounded me, and exposure to multiple modalities of expression at KidsArts was really formative.” she says.
These days Raquel helps run DS4SI, which uses art and design thinking to engage people in social justice practices beyond voting and protesting. “Creating a just society requires giving regular people opportunities to develop imagination and evaluative thinking. Both DS4SI and KidsArts are meaningful access points for that.”
At JP KidsArts, we couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, every enrollment period produces long waitlists to get into our programs. Once we renovate our Forever Home at 93 Sedgwick Street, we will be able to welcome more of the waitlisted families, up to double our current enrollment, while expanding our presence and reach into the broader community. Supporting self-expression and critical thinking is what we do every day. With your help, we will be able to do more of it!
Come see us at Wake Up the Earth
Come celebrate the successful organizing of the JP and Roxbury communities to stop a highway!
Saturday, May 2nd
Join us for the parade which begins at 10:30am outside of Curtis Hall and join us for the Festival 12-6 at Southwest Corridor Park at Stonybrook T.
You’ll find our table near the basketball courts!
Come see KidsArts’ Spring Play
Every year, all of KidsArts comes together to create a Spring Play to share in the creativity of our community! - It will be a great way to check out the great work our Teaching Artists and kids have been doing all year long.
June 7th at 5pm at 6 Eliot Street, Jamaica Plain, MA
Why am I receiving this email?
Your child attended KidsArts at some point, or you came to one of our events, or you live in Sumner Hill, or you donated to KidsArts in the past, or we met you while doing outreach in the community – however you’re connected to us, we thought you might be interested in keeping up with what’s happening with our effort to acquire, renovate, and move our program into the old Hollow Reed property on Sedgwick Street.