On a cold fall morning in 1986, 7th grader Reginald Robinson walked into the auditorium of Robert Emmett Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side, unaware that his life was about to change.
“I knew we were there for some sort of school program, but I had no idea of what it was about,” remembered Robinson, now 29.
The young Robinson sat quietly and watched two men appear on stage, one sitting at a piano. “Then, one guy started lecturing about music and the second guy demonstrated at the piano,” he recalled. “They talked about jazz and classical music, but when they got to ragtime, I was hooked.”
So much so that he decided he would teach himself how to play ragtime, first on a small electronic keyboard, then on a secondhand piano his mother bought for him.
From student to teacher
Today, Robinson is an accomplished pianist-composer who specializes in ragtime, playing nightclubs and music festivals around the country.
But he’s also proud that he is an occasional performer with the Urban Gateways music program at various Chicago public schools.
The reason? It was an Urban Gateways program that inspired Robinson to study ragtime.
“It’s always a kick for me to know that there might be a young Reginald Robinson out there in the audience listening to me,” he said.
A passion for arts access
Although only a few of the students exposed to music and the arts by Urban Gateways pursue careers as performers, the program enhances their lives in many other ways, said Tim Sauers, director of the organization’s program department.
The non-profit arts-education organization, founded in 1963, reaches hundreds of thousands of pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade annually through multicultural literary-, performing- and visual-arts programs. Sixty percent of the organization’s efforts are in the Chicago Public Schools.
“Our mission is to provide access to the arts for all kids–no matter where they reside or no matter what their economic background is,” Sauers said.
“We like to think that the arts not only help enrich a child’s life, but that the arts teaches them how to better think as students. The program teaches them cultural enrichment and supplements the school curriculum.”
The Urban Gateways program has several components:
– School performances.
There are hundreds of musical performances in schools throughout the Chicago area each year. They range from dance to ragtime.
“In addition to a 40-minute performance, there’s a component where the performers work with students,” Sauers said.
“The kids are genuinely interested in hearing about what you do, and how you do it,” said Robinson, who began working with the organization last year. “It’s wonderful to open them up to music they’re not familiar with and watch them get excited about new ideas.”
In addition to music, the performances that are offered run the gamut.
Last month, the Jazz Diva Connection performed at Hitch Elementary School, 5625 N. McVicker Ave.; “Songs and Rhythms for Young Children” and “Roots: Dr. Martin Luther King, the Peaceful Warrior” symposiums were at Corkery Elementary School, 2510 S. Kildare Ave.; “A Piece of My Soul: The Anthology of Gospel” was at Parker Community Academy, 6800 S. Stewart Ave.; and “Images of Africa” was at Clinton Elementary School, 6110 N. Fairfield Ave.
“The children enjoy the performances very, very much, and they also add much to the curriculum of the school,” said Roberta McNutt, a Parent Community Council member and a school-community representative on the local school council at Delano Elementary School, 3937 W. Wilcox St.
“The list of performances we have had here is also impressive. The kids have learned about Black History Month, calligraphy, quilting and all sorts of music.”
– Matinees.
In the matinee program, children are bused from Chicago schools to various auditoriums across the city, such as the Chicago Theatre and the Shubert Theatre.
“That program not only exposes children to the arts, it gets them out of their communities and into the venues,” Sauers said.
– Artist in residence.
This program places 45 literary, vocal and performing artists in schools throughout the Chicago area for up to 11 weeks.
African dance artist Amaniyea Payne, for example, was in residence last month at Parker Community Academy; theater instructor Scott Ferguson was at Locke Elementary School, 3141 W. Jackson Blvd.; visual artist Gamaliel Ramirez was at Von Linne Elementary School, 3221 N. Sacramento Ave.; mosaic artist Carolyn Harvey was at Wacker Elementary School, 9746 S. Morgan St.; and visual artist Casper Jankowiak was at Newberry Elementary School, 700 West Willow St.
“Having an artist in residence at a school is a wonderful idea,” said Pamela Hart, the teacher resource director at Parker Community Academy.
“It’s terrific how the artist works what they do into the curriculum of the school. The children learn about geography, history and culture as it relates to the art.”
“Art instruction on a regular basis challenges the students and helps them look at a subject in a different manner,” mosaic artist Harvey said. “It gets them to stretch their minds. They may say, `I can’t,’ to something, and then they amaze themselves.”
She added, “There’s also a sense of pride that comes with creating something that other people enjoy.”
– Other focuses.
Urban Gateways also runs two other programs. One is AileyCamp Chicago, a six-week summer dance camp created by choreographer Alvin Ailey. This program also is sponsored by the Chicago Park District-Garfield Park and the Chicago Public Schools Office of Language and Cultural Education.
The group also partners with other organizations–such as Gallery 37, the Chicago Arts Partners in Education, the Dance Center of Columbia College and Child’s Play Touring Theatre–to produce specialized arts programs in schools.
Myriad benefits
In the current economic times, Sauers said, Urban Gateways’ role becomes more prominent.
“We do this because not all schools can afford to bring in their own arts program,” he said. “And arts programming is the first thing to be cut any time there are budget restrictions.”
For those children with artistic abilities, Urban Gateways allows them to “be creative in a world that’s not creative at this moment,” Sauers said.
The organization also “opens new doors” for Chicago-area schoolchildren, he added.
“I remember being at a performance of Chinese dancers two years ago at this one school where the kids were absolutely mesmerized,” he said. “They had never seen anything like that in their lives.”
Another benefit of a program such as Urban Gateways is that it can be therapeutic, Sauers said.
“The program is even more important in times like these,” he said. “After [Sept. 11], we had artists in schools who did visual representations of what the kids were feeling. It was important that the kids could bring up what they were feeling.”
Making a difference
Sometimes the simplest aspect of the program can make a difference in a child’s life, Sauers said.
“I remember when we bused several children to the Auditorium Theatre for a performance. And there was this one little boy who was just awed by the theater itself,” he said.
“He had never been in a place like that, and you could tell it was magical for him.”
———-
For more information on Urban Gateways, call 312-922-0440 or visit www.urbangateways.org.
