Fundraiser aims to support Young at Art in Hermosa Beach
Rafael McMaster stands with a student work at Hermosa Design, which will host a fundraiser for the Young at Art program this weekend. Photo
Inspired by American Indians, artist Dale Chihuly began making “pick-up drawings” on blown glass cylinders in 1975. More than 40 years later, smaller hands in Hermosa are doing the same thing.
The project has been among the most popular selections this year for Young at Art, the South Bay nonprofit program that teaches elementary and middle school students half a dozen projects per year. But like Chihuly’s glass cylinders, Young at Art’s operations are fragile, depending entirely on the donation of time and money for its success.
This Saturday, in what its creators hope will be the first in an annual tradition, the Hermosa Beach Artist Collective will host a fundraiser at Hermosa Design to benefit Young at Art in the Hermosa Beach City School District. The show will feature a variety of art and photography donated by local artists, as well as collaborative works designed by Hermosa youth and parent docents.
Co-organizer Rafael McMaster said that he was inspired to put on the show by the experiences of his daughter, a second grader at View School.
“Without Young at Art, she she would not have art in the classroom,” McMaster said.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of Young at Art, which organizes art projects for all elementary and middle school students in the HBCSD, the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, as well as several private schools including American Martyrs and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Each year, a Young at Art organizing committee solicits proposals and selects projects for students.
Regina Patton, one of the Young at Art program directors, is now in her 17th year with the program. She originally got involved, she said, because a lack of arts education in her youth, and said that arts education serves a critical function for kids growing up in the South Bay.
“As a kid growing up, I was not offered any kind of art in elementary or middle school. Then in high school when I was allowed to take art, suddenly I became an honor roll student,” Patton said. “Art helps you know who you are. You may not be a banker or a real estate agent. Maybe you’re a creator.”
After the initial direction from the broader program, the individual school programs have to raise money for supplies on their own. Patton said the number of things needed — not just the actual project materials, but associated supplies like cleaning wipes — quickly becomes overwhelming.
“It’s a constant need to renew things,” Patton said.
Isabie Gombas, one of the co-chairs of Hermosa Young at Art, said that fundraising challenges have accelerated in recent years. Previous fundraising efforts, such as selling student-designed postcards, aren’t providing enough revenue.
“In the last couple of years, we’ve come across a financial difficulty because Hermosa schools’ population has expanded,” Gombas said. Along with higher docent fees, the change has put a squeeze on the local program. “If we rely only on families buying notecards, there won’t be enough.”
The Hermosa program has become resourceful, relying on other strategies like seeking project sponsorships from local families and businesses. Using the cultural production of its own students is a logical step. The annual Hearts of Hermosa fundraiser, which raises money for the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation, has auctioned off art projects from city youth for years.
McMaster saw the success that Hearts of Hermosa experienced, and recognized the idea could be expanded in a way that not only financially supports Young at Art, but underscores its mission of connecting art and community as well. Along with auctioning art, the event gives artistically inclined parents who may have never publicly displayed works a chance to do so. He ultimately envisions a “yearly event in which Hermosa reflects itself to the community.”
Rachel Burkhardt, Gombas’ co-organizer of the Hermosa program, relocated to Hermosa from New Jersey several years ago. She worked as a school teacher there, and helped fight to keep arts education in the curriculum. She was initially discouraged by the challenges Hermosa schools faced in funding Young at Art, but quickly took heart when she saw the depth of involvement from parents — and the response of district children. In this way, she said, the experience of providing for the program helps keep art connected to the place producing it.
“We pride ourself in getting high-quality art products. We want the kids to get as close to the real experience of creation,” Burkhardt said.
The Young at Art Hermosa Fundraiser runs May 5 -7 from 4 to 9 p.m. daily at Hermosa Design, 618 Cypress Ave.