'Any age is the right age to do art': Arts Commons hosting workshops for grade school students

In celebration of Culture Days, Arts Commons is hosting an event called Arts ReimaginED. Organizers invited 220 students from eight Calgary schools to learn about art from artists.

"Culture Days is a beautiful celebration," said Karen Youngberg, Arts Commons’ education associate director.

"Not only here in Alberta but across Canada, where communities are celebrating tradition, the arts, everything that makes a community whole and it's just not Arts Commons, it's Theatre Calgary, Calgary Philharmonic, Alberta Theatre Projects, Downstage, all coming together because we believe in celebrating the arts."

Youngberg said this is the second year for Arts ReimaginED and this year, eight artists are showing students their craft including stage fighting, puppet making, Bollywood dance, Indigenous drumming, beat boxing, cloud making, clowning, storytelling, beatboxing and stained glass art.

"These kids are doing it all and really getting to understand what the arts are and how they fit in," she said. "It's really important that the arts are inclusive and that we keep the invitation open."

Lety Sheldon is a Grade six teacher at the Light of Christ School and said arts affect the development of a child's brain and how they learn and engage.

"I'm hopeful that they will create some beautiful art, make some memories, and learn something and say ‘I remember when we did this and we were there, that was one of my best field trips,’" she said.

"I'm also hopeful that they're going to want to come back (to Arts Commons) and show their parents and their brothers and sisters."

Andrea Santos is a Grade six student who participated in a class learning how to paint using a stencil.

"I'm trying to make a flower, it's turning out good," she said. "I still like the colour, the good thing is we're here all together, we're like a family."

Rianne Intal is also in Grade six and learned about Indigenous drumming, but enjoyed all aspects of the event.

"This is a great opportunity to learn everything," she said. "Making clouds, learning how to do drums, it's a great opportunity to learn just anything about art, dancing, singing."

In another space, 10-year-old Emmanuel Gurmau learned about the art of stage fighting.

"Today here was really fun because we got to do like fake punches," he said. "We had to do something called, I don't really remember the name, but we did like fake punches and acting, it was really fun."

Culture days is celebrated from September 22 to October 15. Learn more about it at: www.culturedays.ca.