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ArtLab – Learning The Business of ArtIf Sandina Tanguma ever stands before the world with an Oscar in her hands, the little people she needs to thank just may include the entire state of Colorado.The 18-year-old Denver resident is among a dozen teens expected to participate in this year’s ArtLab, an apprenticeship program run jointly by a city agency and a private nonprofit gallery, and funded in part by the Colorado Council on the Arts, a state agency.Sandina Tanguma ArtLab’s goal is to help young creatives bypass the “starving artist” phase of their careers, said Stella Yu, director of Arts Street, the Denver economic-development program that collaborates on ArtLab with PlatteForum, a nonprofit arts center that connects youth + art + learning. “It’s very much a hands-on way for kids to learn the business of art,” Yu said. “You do a lot of training as an artist in college, and then it’s, ‘Oh my gosh, how do I do the work of art, how do I get my work out to the public?’ Then they spend two years as waiters and waitresses. What we’re trying to do is short-cut that.” That sounds good to Sandina Tanguma, who already has experienced more than her fair share of poverty. “I have been homeless before and lived in shelters,” she said. Her mother Leticia Tanguma and grandfather Leo Tanguma are well-known locally as mural artists--some of Leo’s work hangs near the baggage carousels at DIA--but “it is still kind of a struggle for us to make the rent money,” Sandina said. Sandina wants to become a documentary filmmaker. Using a little digital recorder, she already has begun work on as-yet-untitled pieces on homelessness and media portrayals of women. As an ArtLab participant, however, she will experience an integrated approach to both making and presenting art, that even includes such mundane things as writing press releases and filling glasses at openings. The ArtLab teens will apprentice with three of PlatteForum’s Creative Residents --one working in digital storytelling, one in poetry, and one in sound/video installation--helping them do whatever it takes to mount a successful exhibit. “They’ll begin to see how an artist makes a living as an artist,” Yu said. Sandina said she’ll have no problem swapping creativity for collaboration when that’s what her mentors need. “Even if you’re not creating every day, it is a form of creating something, getting something done, seeing the whole picture come together,” she said. “It’s very important to learn everything you can.” In addition to their experiences at PlatteForum, the teens also will contribute directly to a five-by-twelve-foot mural on an environmental theme that may go on display at the Pepsi Center. The picture will become part of the Art Miles Mural Project, an Austria-based effort to promote peace by creating thousands of murals--maybe even enough to go for a Guinness record by wrapping art around the Egyptian pyramids. Sandina Tanguma has been home-schooled for several years, largely to give her the flexibility to snag apprenticeships. But ArtLab was designed with traditional high school schedules and financial needs in mind. The apprenticeships will begin during the spring semester with two-hour shifts on Wednesday afternoons; at the end of the semester each participant will receive a stipend of $150. As many as eight can stay on through the summer, and they will earn an hourly wage of about $6.50, Yu said. The summer portion adds a teaching dimension: The youth will work with Emily vonSwearingen at PlatteForum, to assist in teaching the Art Explosions (events for over 350 kids ages 6-13) and Scott Slack (another PlatteForum Creative Resident) to create a digital film documenting the ArtLab project and their experiences. “So they’re then mentoring our younger kids,” said Judy Anderson, executive director of PlatteForum. “Stella and I don’t know about any other art program happening in this way, where our missions are similar enough and different enough to create a perfect forum for collaboration.” The project won support from the Colorado Council on the Arts as part of the new YouthReach program. According to Executive Director Elaine Mariner, “Studies show that extended involvement in arts learning programs can actually improve a young person’s chances for academic success. Through YouthReach funding we support a small number of programs like ArtLab that really make a difference in young people’s lives.” If trying to blend art, administration and education in a single youth program sounds ambitious, well, it’s supposed to be. “We are really pushing them up a whole other notch here,” Yu said. “When we get through they can run the program and I can retire.” |