Peoples Housing's
Community Arts Program 1993-1995

VI. A SUMMARY OF THE ARTS ACTIVITIES THAT GREW OUT OF OUR "OPEN DOOR" APPROACH TO BUILDING PROGRAMS

In the three years of its operation, the CAP has presented over 300 free events for the Howard Street community. Over 12,000 people have participated in CAP events. The activities fell into three broad categories: community unity, youth development and economic opportunity.

(1) COMMUNITY UNITY & SECURITY

Events and classes have included:

- The Family Arts Festival at the Howard Theater, including the
dynamic and popular "Drums of Rogers Park Music Festival in 1994.
- The All-Ages Open Mike Show at the Howard Theater.
- Rap, gospel, music, theater, poetry and talent shows.
- Weekly Farmer's Markets and Craft Fairs.
- Weekly writing, drama, drumming, tile making, clay and video classes.
- Weekly teen dances in the Upstairs Space at the Howard Theater.

All events and classes were free of charge, except the teen dances. CAP reached out to a wide range of organizations for collaborations and many groups used our space for their projects. Some of the groups we have worked with are:

* Kiwanis Park & Pottawattomie Park
* The Chicago Historical Society
* The Gale Academy and its Mural Project
* The Gale Academy Local School Council
* The Tavana Block Club - and a number of
* Arts Groups: Casa Guatemala, Music/Theater Workshop, Partners In Mime, Joseph Holmes Dance Theater, Dance Center of Columbia College, Merit Music Program, Ars Musica, Ba'hai Youth Workshop.

Over 50 people have volunteered time and materials to CAP. In fact, CAP provided the single most positive community organizing focus for Peoples Housing during 1995.

During the later part of 1995, we were beginning to meet with the block clubs, police, local neighborhood policing beat team, neighborhood leaders and parents about how the arts programs were the place to focus combined community energy to reach, deal with and employ our young eople. As Peoples Housing went out of business, this was the single most important unfinished piece of business of our program.

(2) POSITIVE YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Oba William King with Cee, teen winner of first Howard Theater Talent Show, Sept. 1994.	Oba with Mrs. Oliver, who recorded two tracks on "The Best of Howard Street."	OPEN MIKE NIGHT LEADS TO RECORDING...the record release party in early Sept 1995 was a wonderful community celebration and was recorded by a videographer from the Moody Bible Institute.

CAP instructors served as powerful mentors and role models for local youth.

Oba William King, the Director of our Performing Arts Program, became a trusted and honored person on Howard Street because of his dedication to young people and the energy hand spirit he put into the "All Ages Open Mike Shows" at the Howard Theater.

Oba helped a group of youth in the program organize their own leadership club, SUBS (Students United for a Better Society). This group of teens held car washes over the summer, took field trips and conducted their own events during 1995.

Under the guidance of Mr. King, young people in our drama and writing program have created original material and performed in public -- for pay -- at many venues:

- Dock Street Stage at Navy Pier
- Channel 50 "Kid's Talk" feature
- Guild Complex at the Chopin Theater
- Channel 19 cable television
- Barnes & Noble Booksellers
- Park District locations throughout Chicago
- The Howard Theater, "Saturday Show:"

Several young people have learned how to work sound gear, conduct grass roots marketing projects, organize and host special events, use computers and write for publications.  Oba has stayed involved in arts education and his program JUSTUS Arts Programs for Youth is at www.justusart.org.

---

CAP operated a vibrant summer arts academy in 1995 under a DHS contract, offering 7 class sessions each week, serving over 145 people and employing 7 local youth as Arts Interns to help with the classes.

(3) ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

CAP has created several micro-enterprises that hold great promise for learning AND economic development.

We produced a one-hour cassette album, "The Best of Howard Street, Volume 1". This album contains nine local people on 12 tracks. It is a vibrant mix of poetry, rap, blues and drumming. The youngest performer is 10 and the oldest is a grandmother who belts the old Billy Holliday standards. Local resident Gregory Crook produced this album in his living room.

We published a monthly community literary magazine, "The Written Word", which contains stories, poems and interviews by local youth. This project developed out of the Open Mike shows and is edited by local resident and freelance writer/graphic designer Sarah Beaudry, who also developed and taught our after-school writing class. Since the program ended, Oba and Sarah have published three issues of the magazine.

The Tile People was a small business start-up composed of kids and adults which has sold $5,000 worth of hand-made tiles from 1995 to early 1997. This enterprise grew out of the free tile making classes taught by north Rogers Park resident and visual artist/arts educator Kay Hauck. We had hoped to do tile murals and provide handmade accent tiles for Peoples Housing's next rehab project.

	Tile People organizer and instructor, Kay Hauck, and a young artisan at an exhibit of the group's work

THE TILE PEOPLE LIVE ON Kay kept the program going and she and a team of artists created a mural for Loyola University's Center for Urban Research & Learning. In fact, they use it as a welcoming image on their website. The president of Loyola University officiates at the unveiling.

Since CAP shut down in December 1995, Kay Hauck has formed The Tile People into a for-profit business. She continues to work with a core group from the CAP class. One 12 year-old, Ramon, has sold over $400 worth of hand made tiles in the first six months of the program. This remains a pilot project with great promise. Since the, Kay has gone on to grow The Tile People and received a number of private commissions, using many of the people she met at Peoples Housing.

In 2000 she established West Town Tile at the Northwestern Settlement House, in West Town, Chicago.

Not as successful were our attempts at creating retail outlets for crafts and hand made items. We struggled with a weekly Farmer's Market and Crafts Fair in the Comerica Bank parking lot on Hermitage, just off Howard Street. We were rained out and blasted by 90 degree plus days all summer long. We also took a beating with a cart we established at Navy Pier, called "Crafty People". The Pier was not open until mid-July and cart operators were required to be open 7 days a week starting in early June 1995 when few people were present.

Basically, our retail efforts were not successful and I believe that arts initiated efforts such as these should concentrate on the wholesale market. The space we had at our headquarters building also lent itself more to a workshop, assembly plant or light manufacturing facility.

With the early support of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), through a grant program called the Community Building Initiative, we were able to offer our artists small stipends to teach and undertake some of these ventures.

Next