Parks craft new arts programs: arts and crafts programs in recreation settings still prove to be important after 30 years.

When the time comes for belt-tightening in public schools--as it frequently does, arts education is often the first to go. The numbers tell the story--federal budget plans for 2006-2007 propose slashing an additional $35 million off arts in education support--while the No Child Left Behind Act's results-based emphasis on testing and standards leaves little room for unquantifiable arts learning.

It's a gap that's proven a perfect entry point for another important part of our civic lives: our park and recreation systems. Just about every sizable public park and recreation department offers art classes these days; most of those during the summer (typical fees are between $50 and $100 for four to six weeks of classes), but often as part of after-school programming.

"Our art classes are a great way to reach out to the public, to get them to experience our parks in different ways," says Lauren Patrick, a marketing associate for the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. "In this era of latchkey kids, we can provide the extra-curricula activities that so many elementary and middle schools no longer can," echoes Melissa Moffett, community developer for the Tacoma School of the Arts, an arts high school that works in partnership with the MetroParks Tacoma to offer arts and crafts classes to younger kids.

Partnerships are a popular way for parks to step into the arts education breach. This fall, for example, the New York City Parks & Recreation Department plans on bringing 250 children from 10 recreation centers citywide to the Museum of Modern Art and The Whitney Museum of American Art for tours, followed by visits from museum employees who will lead interactive workshops on drawing and sculpture.

Smaller park and recreation departments have turned to institutions of higher learning for help, while still others rely on franchised arts education outfits. Some parks buy guidelines and kits provided by materials suppliers, others hire artists-in-residence. Programs can be as sophisticated as teaching the fundamentals of digital photography, or they can be as simple as making macaroni picture frames.

Indeed, in many ways, such arts and crafts programs have changed little through the years, says Hy Schwartz, vice president of sales and marketing for S&S Worldwide, a supplier of crafts materials and projects. He should know. Remember the wallet you made dad for Father's Day--the one sewn from two pieces of small leather and some vinyl stitching? The materials most likely came courtesy of this Connecticut-based company, which began as a manufacturer of leather goods.

"Thirty years ago, our customers--recreation directors, camp supervisors and the like--were hoping to spend about $1 per kid per project. Today, they're hoping to spend, well, about $1 per kid per project," Schwartz laughs.

"But on the other hand, things are constantly changing. We spend an awful lot of time thinking about and researching trends and colors and attitudes and hot styles for the purpose of making someone like the park and recreation professional a hero. If you show up with a boring, no-fun crafts project then the kids are going to lose interest. If the project is too difficult or a few kids have to share materials because they're too expensive, then you don't get the benefits. But if you can offer these kids something that allows them to express their creativity and doesn't frustrate or bore them, then you've potentially created a lifetime crafter or artist. And if that happens--well, there's nothing more rewarding."

For a program to really generate neighborhood excitement and participation, especially when kids' attention spans are shorter than ever before, instructors need more than just the staples like paper, paste and pencils. S&S Worldwide's Web site, for example, sells hundreds of arts and crafts kits, designed in-house.

"For a long time, we've organized craft projects in what we call "group packs," says Schwartz. "We realized that convenience was the key, not buying each piece separately and figuring out the recipe sizes."

Teaching art to kids is a special talent that governs park and recreation arts and crafts camps, although not everyone addresses the issue by buying pre-assembled kits. In Tacoma, Wash., for example, teachers at the Tacoma School of the Arts identify qualified teens who might be interested in teaching art to middle schoolers at summer camps administered by the park system.

Those students then work with their teachers to develop a curriculum, order art supplies and learn pedagogy. "It's a win-win-win for the high schoolers, the middle schoolers they teach, and MetroParks," says Moffett. "We were up to 13 camps this past summer, which was our second year, with 125 attendees and 10 student teachers." The one- or two-week long class schedule is pretty intense, particularly considering it involves 17-year-olds teaching 11-year-olds: classes are offered in video production, sculpture, abstract art, and drawing.

MetroParks Tacoma also runs other programs in partnership with the high school, using its facilities and adjunct instructors for everything from adult pottery classes to two-day family workshops on making Halloween masks and holiday crafts.

In Blacksburg, Va., Jack Leahy, community center supervisor for the Parks and Recreation Department, turns to the huge student and instructor base of Virginia Tech, whose campus increases the town's population of 18,000 threefold. Drawing from such a talented pool allows the department to "do a little something different," according to Leahy.

"Our after-school art classes and Saturday morning art camp devote each week to another art form, including small sculptures, painting, drawing, mixed media and photography," he says. Classes are divided into two age groups, 6-10 and 11-13. "We used to do more crafts," Leahy continues, "but now we're more apt to do real art lessons."

In a bigger city such as Boston, things by necessity run a little differently. The park and recreation department there has a 10-year-old summer program that each year hires three or four artists for the summer, dispatching them to a small sampling of the city's nearly 250 neighborhood parks.

"This summer we were in 13 parks," says the Department's Patrick, "with the same artist at the same park each week, so the kids can really become familiar with the instructors." The program runs only in the summer, Patrick adds, because being outdoors is part of the point. "We feel it's really important to give the kids structure when they're not in school," she says, "and to give them creative ways to play outside."

Instructors develop their own curriculum, but dip into a common trunk of goodies before each class. Classes range from watercolor painting to jewelry making to basic arts and crafts projects like, yes, making picture frames out of macaroni.

The Bartlett Parks District in Illinois, which oversees 38 parks serving a town of 40,000, works in yet another, more centralized fashion, offering an extensive selection of arts and crafts courses at its modern and well-equipped Community Center. In contrast with the other parks featured in this article, it's found that looking outside for both supplies and instructors works best.

"For years, we've been working with the Young Rembrandts franchise," says Courtney Suffredin, recreation supervisor for the park district. "They provide local art instructors that they've trained in their methods, and they bring everything with them and set it all up. We've thought of hiring a few full-time art teachers ourselves, but it's hard to find the quality. This way, they're already screened and trained."

Young Rembrandts stick to a structured step-by-step methodology developed to teach one thing only: the fundamentals of drawing. "It's very good," says Suffredin, "but it's cyclical and then it's over. We get a lot of repeat students year after year and I think they became disappointed that each time was exactly the same. It comes with the territory that arts and crafts programming is going to be cyclical--but still we started thinking we needed to offer more variety."

This year, Bartlett added the offerings of Abrakadoodle, a similarly-modeled franchise, to its mix. "I like them because each week they study a specific artist--everybody from Monet to Picasso to O'Keeffe to Warhol--and then produce a work in his or her style," Suffredin says. "It's a great way to explore different styles, techniques, and media. Another great thing," she adds, "is that they have programming for kids as young as two years old, with finger painting, gluing, all of that stuff--but that still incorporates the masters. By the time they reach three, they're ready to start working on canvas. It's pretty advanced, and the kids think it's really cool."

But the lessons go beyond technique, says Suffredin, and help instill something more important than artistic ability--confidence. "I think that's the most important aspect of any arts and crafts program: to get the child involved in the whole process and to help him to understand that he doesn't have to paint or draw perfectly. It's all about learning to express themselves, and valuing that expression."

Arts and Crafts Assists in Gulf Coast Relief

NRPA has partnered with S&S Worldwide, of Colchester, Conn., to assist in the ongoing relief and recovery efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Eleven agencies in Mississippi and Louisiana will receive more than 215 recreation items worth more than $2,400. S&S Worldwide matched funds raised through relief efforts to contribute more than $31,000 to the effort.

The recreation items to support fall programming are scheduled to arrive this month. The following agencies benefited from these gifts:

City of Bay St. Louis; Miss.

City of Biloxi, Miss.

City of Lake Charles Recreation Department, La.

City of Slidell, La.

Gulfport Leisure Services Department, Miss.

Long Beach Parks and Recreation, Miss.

Moss Point Parks and Recreation, Miss.

New Orleans Parks and Recreation, La.

Ocean Springs Park, Miss.

Pascagoula Parks & Recreation, Miss.

Petal Recreation Department, Miss.