September 10, 2020
Hello Friends,
Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend! Ah, Labor Day…. the “unofficial” end of summer. It is hard to believe we are heading into fall, isn’t it? But, here we are! So, while we put away our flip flops and start dusting off our scarves (OK, who am I kidding, we keep the flip flops out year round in SoCal), I thought it was a good time to take a look back at what Studio ACE has been up to during this crazy roller coaster of a year!
As many of you know, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shutdowns this past March, Studio ACE fulfilled its mission of enriching lives through Arts, Community, and Education in multiple ways—through classes at our physical studio location and through numerous partnerships in the community.
Class offerings at ACE’s physical location consisted of a variety of free, donation-based, and low-cost art classes for children, families, and adults, making the arts accessible and affordable for all economic levels and abilities. This included:
$5 Children’s Art Classes
Donation-based Family Art Exploration Days
Reduced-price Adult Art Classes for Seniors
Free Weekly Art Classes for Adults with Developmental Disabilities in partnership with Community Interface Services
As you may also know, here at ACE we have a strong belief in the power of community (hey, the C in ACE stands for Community!), and this past couple of years we really drove this point home! ACE collaborated with multiple community organizations in 2019 and the beginning of 2020 at festivals, events, and art walks, providing a free art project for all participants. We served over 6,000 people in 2019 alone! These community partnerships included (just to name a few):
Alley Art Festival, Vista
Dia de Los Muertos Festival, Mission San Luis Rey
Filipino-American Cultural Organization Festival
North San Diego County NAACP Juneteenth Celebration
Oceanside Art Walk
Oceanside Firefighters Association Open House
Oceanside Promise
Oceanside Public Library
Samoan Cultural Festival
Another key component of ACE’s core programming is our signature program, ArtsConnect, a K-8 school program that integrates the arts with Common Core subjects. Through partnerships at Laurel and San Luis Rey/Garrison Elementary schools, ACE provided free arts-integrated weekly programming for approximately 700 students on an on-going basis. Art teachers worked with schoolteachers to integrate the arts into their science, math, social studies, and language arts curriculum, giving students a different way to connect and learn, and helping to supplement an underfunded education system. After Covid-19 struck, ACE and the schools were forced to close (but FYI we are now working closely with the schools’ principals to offer virtual classes for every grade at both schools—but more news on that later—stay tuned!).
The point is, as you can see, ACE’s core programming has always relied heavily on face-to-face interactions within our physical studio walls (a small space of only around 640 square feet) and out in the community, so after the shutdowns we were forced to get creative quickly! Realizing the absolute necessity to secure food, shelter, and education for Oceanside students, ACE also wanted to address the toll the shutdown would take on students’ social and emotional health. Art is healing and soothing and provides a way to express emotions and feelings. It also gives children a break from screens and homework, while giving parents a break as well. And let’s not forget, art is just plain fun and makes you smile!
With the above in mind, knowing how art heals, soothes, and helps both children and adults, within a week of the stay-at-home shutdown orders, ACE had plans in place to create and distribute Free Art Kits to the community. This started with a goal of 250 Kits, and to-date ACE has secured funding and donations to create and distribute over 4,600 Art Kits, positively impacting thousands of children and families in the community!
The Free Art Kit giveaways began as a small gesture for the community, but the positive response was overwhelming. ACE gave away 700 Kits to the community at large, and had multiple organizations reaching out with a desire to partner and help distribute Art Kits even further. So far, Free Art Kit partner organizations have included:
Oceanside Unified School District (1,200 Kits)
USO Camp Pendleton (550 Kits)
Boys & Girls Club Oceanside (75 Kits)
STAR After School Program (50 Kits)
Oceanside Public Library (1,800 Kits)
Oceanside Parks & Rec Summer Camp (225 Kits)]
All Art Kits included instructions and supplies for 3 art projects along with a journal, glue stick, pencil, pencil sharpener and eraser, stickers, markers or colored pencils and various other art supplies. The Kits were packed by gloved and masked volunteers at Studio ACE, and many parts of the Kits were prepared at people’s homes, taking all necessary safety precautions including gloves and masks as well. It was hot, tedious, and tiring work, but everyone showed up with smiles, just wanting to help their community, and help they did!
In addition to the Free Art Kit giveaways, beginning in May, ACE was able to resume weekly classes for Adults with Developmental Disabilities in partnership with Community Interface Services. This time, via Zoom! These virtual online classes have allowed the students to participate in a weekly drawing lesson (they get to choose the subject each week), as well as talk with friends. The resource counselors at CIS said these students talk about art class constantly, asking who will be at each session and looking forward to it all week. This has brought joy and an invaluable sense of connection to these vulnerable students.
Studio ACE also launched four extremely low-cost virtual family summer camps over four weeks, attended by almost 100 students! Kits containing all supplies for camp projects were provided for pick-up for all students, and camps included video instruction by ACE instructors as well as Zoom meetings with the young artists, providing further connection.
Summer may have looked a bit different, but we sure made the best of it and had some creative FUN!
Now, as we move into the fall, we are so happy to say that we are looking forward to a virtual line-up of classes for children, teens and adults with our amazing teachers and instructors! ACE’s virtual offerings will include the return of some popular weekly classes such as the “All About Art” series for Kids and Teens, our Family Friendly “Art Exploration” series, and our fantastic watercolor class with Kene Lohmann.
We also have a couple of other fun fall tricks up our sleeve! We are sponsoring an upcoming “VOTE” Contest complete with fabulous prizes! Anyone can enter—just write, color, or create the word “VOTE” any way you like—on paper, on the sidewalk with chalk, create a painting or sculpture, make something out of found objects, etc. More details regarding how to enter will be coming soon but, in the meantime, start flexing those creative muscles (and register to VOTE)! Likewise, we will be launching a Halloween Art Kit “Buy One, Give One” Campaign where Studio ACE will create spook-tacular Halloween Art Kits for purchase and for every kit purchased, we will give a free kit to one of several participating community non-profits! Come to think of it, there are no tricks here…just treats!
Look for more details coming soon and, until then, please continue to stay safe, happy, healthy, connected, and creative! From my heart to yours….
Warmly,
Julia Fister
Executive Director
