Project Launch:

Arte Cultura Boruga, a new art club for kids in Boruga, Dominican Republic met over summer vacation to learn to draw Taino pictures, learn about the process of making art and pottery, and to learn about Dominican culture and history. With a $500 grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program, the kids who participated received a hands-on learning experience and they created their own artwork with clay and paint while learning about historical artistic methods. The classes incorporated culture, education, and history to provide local youth with the skills and experience needed to be successful artisans. Students turned simple clay into pieces of art and made flower pots, ash trays, plates, vases, wall decorations, lamps, lanterns, and other art pieces. The students not only gained artistic knowledge, but were educated in the history of their homeland, as most of the art depicted aspects of the Taino culture. By the end of the course, the youth could make art and sell it for a profit. Many may go on to open their own businesses and will make a living off of their works of art. These youth will have gained a marketable skill that will help them and their families socially and economically.  The kids in the class now feel so proud of all of their artwork and have a heightened sense of creativity, artistic expression, and even authority in public speaking. The participants got so much out of the program that parents in the community are now asking for more art classes so that more children can flourish artistically. Now the entire community shows more interest in youth development and the hope is that the art class participants will pass their knowledge and enthusiasm to other youth in the community.