Main Idea




 


Main IDEA Fall 2018 Newsletter

8th Annual Summer Program!

THANK YOU again to all of our incredible volunteers, supporters, and donors who made Main IDEA 2018 happen! Because of YOU, 45 Worcester youth ages 8-12 were able to enjoy FREE full-day art classes in music, dance, drama, creative writing, and visual art! Additionally, your support more than DOUBLED our Teen Leadership Program this year, helping us empower and mentor local teens to lead, create access to the arts, and building positive peer relationships with younger youth in the neighborhood, ultimately investing in building a stronger community in Worcester for years to come! We are especially thankful have launched a partnership with Y.O.U., Inc., hosting 3 of their teens from the Bruce Wells Upward Bound Program as interns for our Teen Leadership Program!
Because of your support, 45 local youth participated in art activities such as learning the ukulele and hand drum, creating an art mural, writing and performing original drama skits, learning hip hop and breakdancing choreography, and writing original stories! Our students also were given FREE lunch each day, competed in a Gaga Ball Tournament, received a free t-shirt, and built empowering relationships with positive adult role models!

  • 45 Youth Served (ages 7-12)
    • Reached our Capacity!
    • 58% Main South residents
    • 22% residents of surrounding area of Main South
    • 58% returning students
  • 17 Teens in Leadership Program (ages 13-17)
    • 65% were Graduates of our Summer Program
    • 113% increase of Teen Leaders from last year
  • 16 Volunteers (ages 18+)
    • 13% were Teen Program Graduates
    • 44% Clark University Student Volunteers

Friday Night Showcase

The program culminated with our Annual Friday Night Showcase on the last day of the program. Students were given the opportunity to demonstrate what they learned during the week for family, friends, donors, supporters, and city stakeholders! Keynote speakers included City Manager Ed Augustus, City Councilor Sarai Rivera, and Casey Starr of the Main South CDC. During the course of the night, families and guests were able to meet the volunteer staff, enjoy a free ice cream, and learn more about Main IDEA and upcoming programming and events! During the performance, students from drama class performed an original skit written by another team from Creative Writing Class, and the evening ended with an art mural created by all 45 of our students hung for display while students from each team performed with singing, playing ukuleles and hand drums, and choreographed dancing!

IDEA Hub Half-Day
Summer Program

Thanks to the generous support from donors like you, last June we also partnered with Creative Hub Worcester to launch our new pilot program, called “IDEA Hub!” This five-week, half-day summer arts program was offered to youth ages 7-12 and held at Creative Hub’s new Youth Arts Space at 653 Main Street! We also were able to strengthen our partnership with Clark University, hiring a total of eight university volunteers for the program! These “Clarkies” created and implemented approved art curriculum for groups of 10-12 students, cultivating positive and empowering relationships with youth in their neighborhood and gaining hands-on experience in youth work, community development, and nonprofit management!

  • 25 Youth Served (ages 7-12)
    • 40% Main South residents
    • 40% also enrolled in our Full-Day Program
    • 84% awarded scholarships to attend
  • 17 Volunteer Staff
    • 4 Teens in Leadership Program (ages 13-15)
    • 8 Clark University Volunteers
    • 2 Volunteer Staff from Creative Hub
With your support, 25 local youth had the opportunity to participate in dance, drama, and visual art classes, with activities including imprav-based drama games, writing and performing original drama skits, learning and performing new dance choreography each week, painting, drawing, printmaking, and much more! Additionally, each student received a FREE snack each day of the program. The program culminated with a Showcase Performance for family and friends on the last day of the program, complete with complimentary refreshments and an art gallery of the students’ work.

We are excited to continue our partnership with Creative Hub this Fall, by partnering with them as guest artists for their upcoming after-school program, as well as hosting our Teen Program at their Youth Arts Space!

GWCF Creative Community Engagement Grant
Main IDEA Youth & Arts is both humbled and honored to receive a Creative Community Engagement Grant from the Barr Foundation and Greater Worcester Community Foundation. We are excited for this grant to help us expand our program and offer it to more youth in the neighborhood, allow for deeper collaborations with local partners, and firmly embed our small organization in the larger Worcester community!

Congratulations also to our fellow awardees, Crocodile River Music, Worcester Chamber Music Society, Music Worcester, Inc., and Arts Worcester! We look forward to learning and growing along you all this coming year, and changing our city for the better!

Teen Arts Program

Enroll your teen for our Teen Arts Program, beginning this Fall! This program is for Worcester youth ages 12-17, and will meet weekly on Tuesdays, 6-8pm, at Creative Hub’s Youth Arts Space (653 Main Street). We will be hosting a variety of different arts workshops throughout the year, including visual art, music, dance, creative writing, drama, and culinary arts!

October: Visual Art
Oct 2nd
Oct 9th
Oct 16th
Oct 23rd

November: Music
Nov 6th
Nov 13th
Nov 27th

December: Music & Visual Art
Dec 4th: Music
Dec 11th: Visual Art
Dec 18th: Visual Art

Oct 8th Fall Program

We are excited to soon be hosting our 2nd Annual Fall Program on Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Oct 8th)! This full-day program will be offered at Clark University to Worcester youth, ages 7-12, free of cost to participants, and offer classes in visual art, dance, music, drama, and creative writing! Click here to enroll and/or learn more!

Easy Ways to Help  Main IDEA

Paypal allows you to make DONATIONS to Main IDEA. Click here to visit our website and make a donation today!

AmazonSmile is a free way to help Main IDEA as you shop online. Simply go to AmazonSmile for all of your shopping, choose Render Creative Inc for your charity, and a donation will be made to Main IDEA for every purchase! Click here to sign up for AmazonSmile!

Leadership Worcester

Help us congratulate our Executive Director, Joy Rachelle Murrieta, on being chosen as part of the 2018 -2019 Leadership Worcester Class!

We are honored to be nominated for Best Nonprofit in the Telegram.com’s annual “Best of Central Mass” Contest! Please take a quick minute to vote for us! You can vote once a day until Sept 30th!

Upcoming Fall Events 

Sun, Sept 17th
11am – 6pm

stART on the Street
Outdoor Arts Festival
Highland & Pleasant Streets

Sat, Sept 22nd
11am – 6pm

Exhilarate Worcester
Arts Festival
Woodland Academy

Tues, Sept 25
6-8pm:

Teen Open Mic
& Art Night

Worcester PopUp

Tues, Oct 30
6pm – 8pm

Teen Open Mic
& Art Night

Worcester PopUp

 

Tues, Nov 20
6pm – 8pm

Teen Open Mic
& Art Night

Worcester PopUp

 

Fri, Dec 7
6pm – 8pm

Thank You Summer 2018 Sponsors!

Visionary Donors:
The TJX Companies
United Way of Central Massachusetts

Partner Donors:
UniBank
POW! WOW! Worcester!

Special Thanks:
Clark University, Main South Community Development Corporation,, Country Bank, Davis Publications, CC Lowell, Worcester Bravehearts, Straight Ahead Ministries, Friendly House Inc., YPWA Worcester, Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center Chordlet, Art Reach, Target, NU Kitchen, Shaw’s, Big Y, Stop & Shop, Price Chopper

Contact Us

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Copyright © 2018, Main IDEA. All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
9 Irving Street, Worcester, MA, 01609

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