May 22, 1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD Ð Extensions of Remarks E855 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS PRAISING THE ARTS FOR The White House ceremony is timed with youth, serving more than 8,000 teens in 1995. DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN the publication of a report developed by the More than 50% of Santa Fe's 8700+ teens par- President's Committee on the Arts and Hu- ticipated in Teen Project activities in the manities, Coming Up a Little Taller: Arts past year, of which 55% were Hispanic, Na- HON. BILL RICHARDSON and Humanities for Disadvantaged Children, tive American, or African-American. About OF NEW MEXICO which profiles successful youth programs in 85% of Teen Project participants come from IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES this country. The CCA Teen Project was one families with a low or low/moderate income. of nine organizations chosen for in-depth Tuesday, May 21, 1996 HISTORY OF THE TEEN PROJECT study by the Committee, drawn from a pool In 1990 the Center for Contemporary Arts Mr. RICHARDSON. Mr. Speaker, unfortu- of 500 youth programs in cities and towns of Santa Fe (CCA) began planning a new con- nately in too many of our communities, our across the nation. The Committee was cept in arts outreach, designed to actively youth are confronted with difficult societal charged with identifying promising cultural engage and integrate Santa Fe's youth into problems such as drug use and gang vio- youth programs that reach disadvantaged CCA's activities, and to create a ``place to children, and subsequently to find ways in go'' that would provide a safe, creative, and lence. For some kids, these problems rep- which to increase the availability of the arts resent an alternate way of life, and often a positive environment for teenagers. Key to and humanities to at-risk children. the development of the Teen Project were way that they can escape their problems and The Committee's report states that suc- Bob Eggers, a Santa Fean who first con- at the same time gain a misguided sense of cessful programs ``take full advantage of the ceived of the idea of establishing an arts- identity in a society, and at an age, where it capacity of the arts and humanities to stim- based teen center in our community and pro- is difficult to do so. In New Mexico, we have ulate a different way of knowing and learn- vided major funding for the Teen Project; ing.'' Carlos Uribe, the Teen Project's Pro- a program that has been successful at offering Bob Gaylor, former Executive Director of gram Director, says in the report ``The arts CCA, who played an instrumental role in de- these vulnerable children a productive and en- provide a safe container for every person or ticing option for indulging their creativity, de- veloping the Teen Project's programs and in every culture or every group to express raising the necessary funds; and Chrissie Orr, veloping their individuality, and supplying that things about coming into being as an adult, an internationally-recognized public artist crucial sense of belonging. dealing with hardship, dealing with a sense who served as the Teen Project's first direc- On April 26, the President's Committee on of beauty. No other activity provides us with tor. In 1991 a temporary facility was estab- the Arts and Humanities also recognized this that. [The arts and humanities] allow us cul- lished at the former Brunn School in Santa program and honored the Center for Contem- turally, individually to say things and do Fe, and in the following year the Teen things we might never get to do.'' Project moved to an easily-accessible offsite porary Arts Teen Project of New Mexico for Director Ana Gellegos y Reinhardt com- warehouse near the center of town, where it having one of the most promising cultural mented, ``We are honored to be a part of the is now located. Highly regarded as a national youth programs for disadvantaged children in Committee's report, which recognizes the demonstration project, the Teen Project has hard work of the staff, and of the youth of the United States. The work being performed hosted numerous visitors from other cultural Santa Fe and northern New Mexico, who by the Teen Project is invaluable to the com- institutions wishing to replicate its pro- have made the Teen Project into a vital re- munity, and especially to the youths that it grams. As a model program, the Teen source for our community. I feel very privi- Project demonstrates how cities, social serv- serves. This program not only keeps kids off leged to be invited to the White House. Of ice agencies, and cultural institutions can the streets, but it also allows them the flexibil- the nine youth organizations that were cho- combine forces to serve our youth in a very ity to discover their talents, express their emo- sen from hundreds in the country, two are effective and unique way. The Project has tions and creativity, and connect with the soci- from New Mexico [the other is the Working also attracted national attention from other Classroom in Albuquerque]. In that our state ety at large through the arts. quarters. In 1994, former director Chrissie is one of the poorest in the nation, I believe The fact that 85 percent of the program's Orr and two Santa Fe teens testified before this is a testament to the commitment and participants are from low and moderately low Congress in support of the NEA's Commu- ingenuity of all of New Mexico's arts organi- incomes, and 55 percent are either Hispanic, nity Building Initiative (at the request of zationsÐand of the funding agencies, individ- NEA Chair Jane Alexander). In 1995, the African American, or Native American, dis- uals, and businesses which support themÐ plays that this type of program can work in Teen Project was one of five organizations which enrich the lives of our state's youth, featured in an international satellite con- some of the most economically challenged and indeed of all New Mexicans.'' and socially diverse areas. ference and film documentary on youth cul- BACKGROUND ture and violence, which was also broadcast The success of this program also dem- The Center for Contemporary Art's Teen on PBS. onstrates the continued need for the National Project, now entering its fifth full year of The Teen Project was launched with the Endowment for the Arts and the positive im- operation, successfully demonstrates that support of a three-year NEA Challenge III pact that the arts have on our community. In- the arts can be used as an effective tool to grant and some of America's most pres- terestingly, the NEA helped launch the Teen bring teenagers from all walks of life to- tigious foundations, including the Mac- Project with a 3-year NEA Challenge III grant. gether in a setting designed by them to meet Arthur, Cummings, Hearst, Brown, Frost, I urge my colleagues to review the back- their specific needs. The Teen Project was and Culpeper Foundations. Generous local support has also come from area founda- ground information on this program, as it has created as a response to Santa Fe's teen- agers' complaint that ``There is nothing to tions, city agencies, corporations, and indi- been highly successful in New Mexico in de- do. There is nowhere to go,'' and to our ob- viduals. Major annual funding has been pro- veloping the minds and confidence of our at- servation that teenagers are an audience tra- vided by the City of Santa Fe's Children & risk youth, while simultaneously enhancing ditionally undeserved by the arts commu- Youth Commission. and strengthening our community. I believe nity. At the Teen Project, northern New PROGRAMS that his program, and what it offers to our Mexico's youth develop, produce, and exhibit Open 350 days each year, more than 380 young people, can be successfully duplicated a wide variety of artistic projects in a facil- events and activities are presented annually in other States, and together we can continue ity which they help run. Its participants, in a facility which provides performance, ex- to develop and protect the real future of this who vary greatly in socioeconomic and eth- hibition and band rehearsal space, meeting nic background, reflect our belief that the great countryÐour children. rooms, a darkroom, and offices. These events best way to serve disadvantaged youth is not and activities include: CCA TEEN PROJECT HONORED AT THE WHITE to isolate them in programs that serve nar- More than 250 free workshops in photog- HOUSE row constituencies, but to combine ``likes'' raphy, printmaking, silkscreen, acting, cre- The CCA Teen Project announced today and ``unlikes'' in activities which are cul- ative writing, graphic design, dance, theater, that its Director, Ana Gallegos y Reinhardt, turally relevant to all, which encourage and and music. Continuing workshops are pre- will be attending a White House ceremony on inspire the development of a creative voice, sented by local arts professionals, while spe- April 26 honoring the work of the President's and which make all teens feel like they are cial workshops are provided by regional and Committee on the Arts and Humanities and a productive and valued part of the larger national artists-in-residence who come to the top nine youth programs in the country community. Since that time, the Teen Santa Fe as part of CCA's programs. that use the arts to change the lives of at- Project has continually expanded its success- Open mike nights were teens present their risk children. ful programs for northern New Mexico's own music, poetry, and literature.