A downtown Calgary initiative is trying to provide affordable, low-barrier afterschool tutoring and art programs for families living in the downtown core.
Good Neighbours’ Homework and Art Club is a new initiative providing afterschool tutoring and art programs for junior high and high school kids living downtown. The program will be launched on Tuesday, Sept. 10, a week after school starts.
Co-founders Matias Martinez, Cecilia Xu and Alice Lam said they developed the program after realizing there aren’t a lot of non-profit tutoring and art programs in the neighbourhood. The trio wanted to utilize the space above the Good Neighbour Thrift Store to fill that need.
“Lots of nonprofits do offer their own singular programming for their clients, but not everybody may be a client of theirs. Ours is open to any family and any income level, and we just want to make sure that there’s a space where kids can learn and thrive and have fun and be proud of living downtown,” Lam told LWC.
Xu, who coordinates the academic portion of the program, said English and math tutoring programs are in high demand. However, the program will also help with social studies and the sciences.
Tutoring will be provided by high school and university students, or practicing teachers and mentors in the community that demonstrate enough depth of understanding and excellence that they choose to tutor.
“We try to keep it as low barrier as possible. There isn’t much criteria, as long as you’re able to transport to our location downtown and there’s pickup available for you. Other than that, there’s not too much that we’re asking students,” Xu said.
Experiencing the arts
Martinez, also a creator of the Como se Dice Collective, said art lessons and supplies are often expensive and something not all families can afford.
The Homework and Art Club will provide children with the opportunity to explore classical art – like sketching and still-life drawing – as well as “new wave” art – chaotic collages, building sculptures out of different materials, playing with clay, and building a little robot out of scrap materials.
Kids interested in joining the art club do not need prior artistic experience. Local artists who are already established in Calgary arts scene or have graduated art school will be helping kids with their projects and their portfolios if they want to apply to art school.
“I don’t think [art school] is necessarily the end all be all, but I do think it’s very important to have certain perspectives that only someone with an academic background can give you,” Martinez said.
The Homework and Art Club is ultimately a safe space for children to build community and have fun, while also knowing that it is a place to learn and grow.
“We’re all children of immigrants who came here at a young age … I think we all have a soft spot for helping immigrant kids, especially those who live downtown, whose parents cannot afford art or tutoring or extracurricular activities … Quite honestly, it was a struggle for myself, like it was quite isolating growing up in like an immigrant family that was low income,” Lam said.
“I think that, had I had opportunities like this, I probably would have done better academically at an earlier age, instead of having to go through more struggles at a young age. So, I don’t want other kids to have to go through that.”
Martinez added that art is a good way for children to make friends, even if they don’t speak a common language.
“Art is just something that connects a lot of people. It crosses barriers and crosses languages a lot of the time. I didn’t really speak English until I was in Grade 2, so it was always something where I was like, ‘Oh, I can make friends through art, through visual things,” he said.
