By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
The class of 2015 has joined the real world, and not all graduates aspire to traditionally parent-sanctioned careers.
“It’s always this stigma or this almost laughable moment when someone says, ‘I want to be an artist,'” says Ebony Simpson.
Simpson is executive director of the Newark arts organization City Without Walls. She wants to make sure artistic kids don’t shy away from their passions, and aren’t flying blind either.
The organization’s Art Reach program is now in its 23rd year of pairing high school students with professional artists for a semester-long crash course on the industry.
“If this is your career track, you have to take it seriously from now on,” Simpson says.
That means addressing everything from training and technique to economics and networking. Students and mentors are painstakingly paired based on their artistic mediums of choice.
Tamika Bradshaw worked with high school junior Denisha Griffin. She said their discussions went far beyond a shared love for acrylic and oil paints.
“Having to buy your materials, what it looks like in the studio, what it means to prioritize your time,” lists Bradshaw. “So we did talk about it, but for the most part, we actually were in it.”
That’s what makes the experience unique.
“It’s a closer relationship between the mentor and the mentee,” says mentee Gerard Burnett. “In school, they don’t really go as in-depth on what you’re supposed to be doing…but he taught me more into it, like how to mix the colors and to make it pop.”
The take-home lessons are substantial, but so is the commitment. City Without Walls offers students a stipend to offset costs and help compensate for time that might otherwise be spent at an after-school job.
“We want you to be an artist first,” explains Simpson. “We don’t want you to…stop mid-way because you don’t have a way to your artist studio, you don’t have money to get supplies.”
For students and parents concerned about financial stability long-term, New Jersey Arts Education Partnership Chairman Bob Morrison points to the acquired skills you can’t see displayed on canvas.
“In a poll that was published by Business Week, they identify creativity as the number one skill that they were looking for in today’s workforce,” says Morrison. “There’re a number of fields that students that have artistic training can go into.”
Simpson agrees. And her takeaway to parents and teachers on this hot June night is this: “There’re so many careers that lend themselves to art that students don’t know exist… If your student comes to you and says that ‘I want to be an artist,’ don’t laugh them away.”
The Arts Reach program culminates in this gallery show of students’ works alongside their mentors’. The exhibit runs through July 9.