After school each day, DREAMS of Wilmington is a bustling center of activity for children and youth, who are busy dancing, acting, making music, painting and shaping pottery.
But before and after that, the 8,300 square foot, state-of-the-art Fanning Street facility is quiet, empty.
Thanks to a partnership with the Wilmington Family YMCA, that will soon change.
The award-winning nonprofit organization has teamed up with YMCA to offer YArts @ DREAMS, a variety of courses–from creative movement to expressive painting–for preschoolers and adults.
Founded in 1996, DREAMS aims to offer the arts education to kids who might not be exposed to it otherwise.
“Our real mission is youth development through the arts. So, not art for art’s sake but really building creative, committed citizens, strong thinkers, critical thinkers, youth who become confident and go out in the world to do great things. And we do that through the miracle of the arts,” DREAMS Associate Director Emily Collins told Port City Radio morning host Aimee Bowen.
That mission has been fulfilled, primarily, through afternoon enrichment for ages eight to 17.
“So, that means that during the day and then when our kids go home in the evening, this gorgeous center, this fabulous community resource is sitting unused,” Collins said. “And we thought, you know, that’s really just a crime.”
Since DREAMS had a “long-standing partnership” with the YMCA, Collins said it seemed like a perfect match. The professional artists who work with DREAMS routinely do community outreach projects, which have included collaborations with the local YMCA.
“And there is a national trend where YMCAs are adding arts and humanities programming to what they do,” Collins noted.
A variety of ongoing courses–for YMCA members and the community at large–will get underway beginning this week. The DREAMS center is an 8,300-square-foot building complete with dance and theater space, a pottery studio with a kiln, two multimedia art studios, a music studio and a digital arts lab.
“We’re really looking to target two different age groups that we don’t normally serve. One is preschoolers–and, you know, preschoolers, there’s something called creative movement that preschoolers love to do. It’s kind of a precursor to dance,” Collins said.
The creative movement class–for ages three to five–begins Oct. 15 and runs each Wednesday morning through Dec. 10.
“But the bulk of the YArts program is going to be focused on arts offering for adults,” Collins added.
DREAMS sent a survey to YMCA members to gauge which arts classes they would most be interested in. Overwhelmingly, Collins said, it was painting and pottery.
So, in response, YArts is launching eight-week sessions–with early afternoon and night classes–in expressive painting, technique-focused painting and pottery.
The new program also includes “Mind, Body and Spirit,” a weekly combination of yoga and visual arts.
“Think of these as eight weeks of Saturday mini-retreats, where you can attend an hour of yoga and meditation and then go straight after that into two hours of either expressive painting…or pottery,” Collins said. “We’re hoping that people will come, leave the stresses of the week behind them, do that yoga and meditation…and then either go into the pottery studio or the fine arts studio and be refreshed, create and [then] they can leave, go to lunch or brunch and just have a wonderful Saturday.”
More information about class schedules and fees are available here.
Hilary Snow is a reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6341 or [email protected].
