The annual “Global Day of Giving” is upon us this holiday season and what better way to give back to your community then joining in on #GivingTuesday by donating to the organizations that make Santa Barbara a place we are proud to call home.
Noozhawk is teaming up with local nonprofits to encourage you to take part in the international day of giving on December 1st, 2020.
It is no secret that this year has been full of challenges. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic local nonprofits need your support now more than ever. Our Good for Santa Barbara Nonprofit Section provides all the resources you need to donate this holiday season.
In this interview, Noozhawk talked with Kathy Koury, Executive Director of the Children’s Creative Project and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Genevieve Badone Assili, Owner of LA MAMMA ~ Creative, to learn more about how the nonprofit brings together children and professional artists to share creative expression.
Children’s Creative Project — I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival
Question: What is the name & mission of your nonprofit?
Answer: The mission of the Children’s Creative Project (CCP) is to inspire and engage all students in the creative process through unique visual and performing arts education and cultural experiences. We collaborate with school districts, professional artists, and art organizations to ensure that the arts are included in every child’s education.
The CCP is best known as a trusted resource for connecting children to professional artists and the magic of creative expression. Last year its programs reached roughly 50,000 children in more than 100 Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo county schools. The nonprofit organization is a program of the Santa Barbara County Education Office and is governed by an independent and engaged board of directors.
THE PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
— 15,000 workshops conducted by resident artists reach more than 30,000 children in elementary school classrooms
— 400 performances presented by multicultural touring artist are experienced by roughly 40,000 students each year
— 2,000-4,000 students attend free annual performances by world-renowned touring artists that take place and are co-presented with the Santa Barbara Bowl Outreach.
Due to COVID-19 and school closures, our programs have been greatly reduced in schools districts that lack funding support. We need your support to continue to rebuild our arts education programs via online distance learning or in-person learning when schools can re-open.
In 1999, CCP’s pioneering work bringing professional artists into elementary schools to teach and perform was recognized as a national model by then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the report, Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education.
That same year CCP received “The Creative Ticket Schools of Excellence” award from the California Alliance for Arts Education. In 2015, Koury and CCP received the Santa Barbara County Supervisors & Arts Commission Arts Leadership Award.
Q: How long has your nonprofit been in service and whom was it started by?
A: The Children’s Creative Project (CCP) originated as a program under the Center for Community Education and Citizen Participation, then led by Bill Cirone who would go on to become Superintendent of Santa Barbara County Education Office from 1982 to 2017 and an enduring advocate for the importance of arts education. The organization began in 1972 with founder Felicity Harley when local artists started volunteering their time to provide free after-school visual and performing arts workshops to elementary school students at Franklin School. In 1975, the CCP obtained its own nonprofit status with noted community activist Nancy Alexander serving as its first board president. Kathy Koury, one of CCP’s original volunteer teaching artists, became its first Executive Director in 1977—a position she still holds today. Koury quickly began working with the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts to leverage government grants to expand CCP’s after school program to all Santa Barbara Unified School District elementary schools. She also used these funds to initiate residencies to bring artists into classrooms during the school day to serve more students in a more consistent way. As CCP’s programming took root, it began expanding, first into the South County school districts in Goleta, Carpinteria and Cold Spring, and eventually serving school districts in North Santa Barbara County and San Luis Obispo County. Kathy Koury also is responsible for creating the annual fundraising event—I MADONNARI Italian Street Painting Festival—that benefits the CCP.
Q: What was the inspiration behind your nonprofit?
A: Our Vision is the arts are an essential part of basic education and are seamlessly integrated into every child’s experience in every school, every grade, every day.
We Believe that the arts are universal, transcend all barriers, and connect all people. They reflect our cultural values, beliefs and identities, and help to preserve the many communities that make up our world.
Artists in schools enhance learning, they have unique knowledge, perspective, and skills to share with students, and through this special interaction, students…
– Have permission to experiment and take risks
– Develop imagination, skills, creative expression, artistic perception, and aesthetic valuing
– Develop self-confidence, self-esteem, self discipline, and cooperation with others
– Become future artists & audiences for the arts
– Acquire an understanding of artists, the creative process, and historical and cultural arts heritage
– Gain inspiration and joy, and an increased desire to attend school
– Improve critical thinking skills, focus and concentration
We Value the visual and performing arts by…
– Embracing the creativity in every child and working to ensure equitable access to the arts
– Respecting and valuing professional artists and expanding work opportunities for artists in schools
– Aligning our programs with the California Department of Education Visual & Performing Arts Content Standards
– Supporting proven research that involvement in the arts enhances academic learning and provides positive alternatives for youth
– Developing funds to support arts education programs in public schools
The history of the Children’s Creative Project (“CCP”) is infused with the belief that all children should have access to high quality arts experiences.
Q: How has COVID-19 impacted your nonprofit?
A: The Children’s Creative Project has been dramatically impacted by COVID-19.
As of November 2020, due to school closure, we are serving only 10 schools instead of more than 100 schools during a normal school year and 50,000 elementary students. The school closure as of March 16, 2020 resulted in our 57 Resident Artists who provide instruction to classrooms having to immediately stop working. In addition, scheduled performances by touring artists were cancelled.
Q: How is your nonprofit primarily funded and what are your greatest needs?
A: We hope the public will provide donations to support and rebuild our arts education programs, or contribute to our I Madonnari Festival with donations or by sponsoring a street painting to promote their business, organization, or to celebrate a friend or family member.
Our nonprofit is funded with earned income from school districts, donations, grants, and our I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival fundraising event. Income from these sources has dropped dramatically due to COVID-19.
Reduction of income from the prior school year to the current school year as of November 2020:
— Earned income from schools is reduced from normally $560,000 to only $67,000 this year.
— Grant income from foundations is reduced from $159,500 to only $22,125. Foundations are focusing their support on COVID-19.
— Fundraising income from our I Madonnari Festival is reduced to 55% compared to the 2019 year.
Q: In what ways does your nonprofit utilize its funding?
A: The Children’s Creative Project utilizes its funding to:
— Provide visual and performing arts education programs listed above for school children.
— Provide work opportunities for Teaching Artists who present workshops and for Touring Artists who provide performances.
— To support our administrative staff of three persons who implement our arts education programs.
Q: Describe the changes that have been made to staffing models and internal operations due to COVID-19. Are there changes that are expected to last beyond the short term?
A: Major changes have been made due to COVID-19. Program Resident Artists who provide classroom workshops are having to alter the way they teach by presenting live virtual or pre-recorded workshops for students. For our program of Touring Artist Performances, we are offering virtual performances that are live zoom or pre-recorded. For these performances we are continuing to offer a $200 Arts Credit to every public school in Santa Barbara County to offset performance fees.
The other major change made in 2020 was that for the first time in 34 years we couldn’t hold our annual I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival at the Santa Barbara Old Mission. Instead of cancelling, we wanted to turn this unfortunate situation into a new opportunity to give back to our community during this difficult time, so we reinvented the delivery of what had become one of Santa Barbara’s most beloved traditions, by holding our very first online festival.
Our online festival featured chalk masterpieces by both invited artists & sponsored artists done in private locations like driveways and parking lots. Last May we brought the festival’s beloved “Kid’s Squares” to our community by distributing over 1,000 free boxes of chalk to children via “drive through” hosted by Village Properties. Children and families participated by sharing their chalk art on our social media, this popular community driven event resulted in a title wave of colorful art splashed all over the sidewalks & driveways of Santa Barbara neighborhoods, bringing creativity and beauty in the midst of a pandemic.
This new festival platform was very well received and viewed by thousands of people from around the world. If required due to Covid-19, we plan to continue the festival online in May 2021, in lieu of our in-person festival held at the Old Mission.
Q: What types of fundraisers and/or programs does your nonprofit run?
A: The annual I Madonnari Festival benefits the Children’s Creative Project and our arts education programs. The CCP’s production of I Madonnari draws audiences of up to 25,000 during the three-day Memorial Day weekend. Held at the Santa Barbara Old Mission, more than 200 artists and young people work to create the festival’s dramatic, large-scale street paintings using colorful chalk pastels on pavement. We anticipate presenting an online festival again in May 2021, but we hope to return to the Old Mission if the COVID-19 requirements will allow this to take place.
Q: How do people get involved/volunteer for your nonprofit? What protocols have been implemented for volunteers due to COVID?
A: There are many ways to get involved and/or volunteer with us! Anyone interested in volunteering with the Children’s Creative Project or at the I Madonnari festival can contact Bryan Kerner.
Q: Can you share one or two stories of individuals whose lives have been changed because of your organization?
A: “It’s been said that there’s no depth to education without art, and that couldn’t be more true. Arts education isn’t just instructing kids to make, do or replicate, it’s about the creative process, giving each student access to what’s possible.
Art, whether you’re the artist or the viewer, gives one the power to confront, explore & challenge how we think about the world, while simultaneously fostering a deep appreciation for beauty, culture and authenticity.
When I reflect on what had me choose a creative path, my participation in the Children’s Creative Project is one of the experiences that shines the brightest. I have countless childhood memories of musicals, plays, art and dance that are powerfully woven throughout my childhood.
I’m forever grateful, as those lessons & experiences continue to enrich my life.” – Genevieve Badone Assili.
Click here to support Children’s Creative Project — I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival’s mission to bring visual and performing arts education workshops to students and donate.