SETSE Arts in the Community Program at W.C. Reid Center
6-Weeks ~ Fridays, February 4, 2011 - March 11, 2011
3:30PM - 5:00PM
Winter 2011 / Cycle 1 SETSE Workshops take place in the Art Room
Selected Youth in the WC Reid Center Afterschool Program are working with Cleaster Cotton, Artist and Founder of SETSE (Self-Empowerment Through Self-Expression©™.) Cotton is implementing a 6-week arts project that contributes to the growth and development of community children.
Randy Shaw, Director ~ WC Reid Center
February 2011
A message from the heart…
The first impromptu, hands-on SETSE workshops took place in my living room, with neighborhood children, over 30 years ago. And, to this day, I hear from some of those children. They reach out to me and speak words of gratitude for those memorable times. They say those moments of kindness and creativity helped them with their identity and life journey.
Art and community programs saved my life and the lives of many of my peers, as youth, growing up in inner city Brooklyn, New York. After school and summer programs got us off the streets, involved in positive activities, and gave us life skills which we use daily, and which feed my work in the arts, academic, and in community.
We are all artists at birth. Many of us are taught otherwise, when our creativity is stunted and not nurtured by our family. My relationship with art is like the love of my mother, unconditional and eternal. Art is my journey to freedom. I love the powerful healing qualities of art and the way it embraces and joins people across the planet like ‘global glue.’ Art nurtures children to grow into creative, productive, well-adjusted adults and grows adults into innocent children with uncharted imaginations.
My dream…
It is my dream that this SETSE programs grow garden after garden of young artists who bloom into the global arts scene and visually tell their grassroots stories. I also see those artists returning to communities to give back… creating a beautiful cycle of creativity and compassion. It will surely take a village to run this program, as its twin mission is to bring 'Unity to our Community.'
It is my dream that this SETSE programs grow garden after garden of young artists who bloom into the global arts scene and visually tell their grassroots stories. I also see those artists returning to communities to give back… creating a beautiful cycle of creativity and compassion. It will surely take a village to run this program, as its twin mission is to bring 'Unity to our Community.'
In gratitude…
To the Parents of the children, the budding artists: Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to contribute to the holistic growth and development of your children. Please know that along with love and kindness, art-making skills, self-esteem building, critical reasoning skills, and academic strengthening comprise the core and fiber of our programming.
To Randy Shaw and the WC Reid Staff: Thank you so much for your warm welcome, care, and attention to details.
5 Walnut: You rock! My heartfelt gratitude goes out to you - our flagship sponsor and sponsor of the SETSE Winter 2011 / Cycle 1 for stepping up to affect positivity in our community by providing creative resources for our children.
Cleaster Cotton
Founder SETSE
Contemporary Primitive Artist
2011
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