2011 Highbridge Community Fair

The High Bridge Library Council and the YUCA Arts Program in collaboration with several community organizations, civic and business leaders, and clergy are  sponsoring a community-wide Library/Health/Art Fair on May 21st, 2011 from  9am to 5pm. The purpose of the Fair is to promote the Highbridge Library re-opening, to increase health awareness through education and prevention, and celebrate the artistic talent of our youth as we empower them through the visual arts. 
All the participating organizations believe the Fair will provide a valuable service to our community. We are asking all New York City residents to come out and join the festivities. We also extend a warm invitation to community leaders and their respective organizations to get involved. Your participation will help us in our efforts. We want to provide (basic health screenings, and blood pressure checks) as well as a variety of informational booths designed to help the community become aware of the many  programs, services, and providers located in the surrounding Highbridge community. The fair will also include giveaways, food, an art exhibit by local young artists, enteritainment, and much more!
The Fair will be open to the entire Highbridge community. We anticipate an attendance of approximately well over 1,000 people. We are asking community leaders that each participant provide some form of information/educational materials, demonstration, or service for the Event.
The fair will take place this spring both inside the Highbridge Library as well as in Martin Luther King Triangle, which is the park property directly across the street from the Highbridge Library.  We would ask you and your organization to consider participating and tabling in this event and to help in the planning for this event by attending our next planning meeting March 16^th at 10am in the Highbridge Library at 78 West 168^th Street. We are excited about providing this event to our community and look forward to all of you being there.

Phipps Beacon & YUCA Offer Free After School Program

Free graphic design classes are now being offered through a Phipps Beacon and YUCA collaboration. The first class began this week and will continue twice weekly over the next 18 weeks at the Urban Assembly CIVIC school located at 650 Hollywood Avenue, Bronx, NY 10456. 
This after school course is designed to help students learn about graphic design as a commercial art form as well as reinforce the themes and topics covered in class. Students will learn about traditional techniques, including typography, page layout, and color theory. They will also have an opportunity to transform themselves into the motifs and designs that will be reflected in three class projects. All students will be required to creat a class portfolio of their work. 

An underlying goal of these projects is to help students think critically about art, history, culture, and design, how it is constructed, presented, and interpreted. In addition, students will gain an understanding of the process involved in developing commercial art ventures such as posters, t-shirts, brochures, and silk screened t-shirts from beginning to end.
It's is a great way for someone who is considering going into graphic design as a career to get started. You will have a chance to get your “feet wet” and see if pursuing a career in graphic design is right for you. Come out, Tuesday and Thursday, from 6pm - 8pm to see what you can learn and how well you grasp working with Photoshop, and Illustrator. The classes are taught using  new Apple Imac computers and running the latest version of Adobe's Creative Suite (CS5). 
For those who have their sight set on college, this program can jump start you into graphic designing and prepare you for more formal educational pursuits in the future. Give us a call if you're a Teenager, age 14 - 19, and are looking for something cool to get into for the next 18 weeks. 646.573.4461 or email william@yucaarts.org.  Seats are limited so an application must be completed before joining the class. You can also drop by any Tuesday or Thursday to speak to the instructor and request an application in person.

Replace Spofford with viable community based programs

Join the United to Stop Spofford campaign on March 23rd, 4-6pm as it gathers to demand the City close Spofford. Once the jail is permanently shut down, we are proposing the facility be turned over to the South Bronx community, and social programs be supported that ensure the success of our youth. 

Our kids need a variety of training initiatives. In addition to programs which offer classes in resume writing, interviewing skills, time management, many of our youngsters need basic life skills preparation. For example, training on how to communicate with adults, how to dress for an interview, and how to be on time. Computer literacy is also a programming area that would help them succeed. YUCA is presently providing technology and art training to students and hopes to extend this training to youth in or recently released from incarceration.

Young people who have been incarcerated are more likely to be repeat offenders as adults. Communities have a responsibility to try and help youth to ensure that this doesn't happen.Thus, various programming that will help them succeed is critically needed and, even desired by youth themselves. Educators, parents, community organizations, and clergy working together have a great opportunity to stem the tide and help high-risk youngster reach their God-given potential.

The rally will take place outside of the Bridges Juvenile Detention Center (formerly known as Spofford), located at 1221 Spofford Ave (Between Tiffany and Casanova Streets) in the Bronx.

For more information contact Avery Irons at 212-697-2323. 

Illustrators Competition & T-shirt Design Contest

Communication Arts magazine has been an inspiration for graphic designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers—everyone involved in visual communication for many years. They recently announced their annual Illustration competition and are now accepting entries. The competition is a great way for established illustrators as well as beginners to get their work critiqued by seasoned professionals, and have your work showcased on a national level. Please follow this link to learn more: http://www.commarts.com/competitions/illustration

BRIC Arts is also putting out a call to graphic designers, illustrators, and all creatives for a T-shirt design contest to promote the Celebrate Brooklyn forthcoming events. The winning design will be printed on hundreds of t-shirts then sold to promote Celebrate Brooklyn performances. For details visit:

http://www.bricartsmedia.org/performing-arts/celebrate-brooklyn/design-a-t-shirt-for-celebrate-brooklyn

Since their inception in 1979, BRIC Arts has enriched the cultural landscape of Brooklyn by presenting, producing and enabling a wide array of quality contemporary art, performing arts and community media programs. As a non-profit arts organization, they have been a leader in innovation in the arts and media, a proud participant in the revitalization of Prospect Park and a champion of arts education through their programs.

From Apprentice to Master Printer

Since the introductory t-shirt design workshop last month, YUCA students have been steadily building their knowledge of designing and creating silk-screened t-shirts.  We have turned our Saturday class into a strictly t-shirt design setting, where students get to explore and experience first-hand what it takes to execute t-shirt designs from scratch. 

We've thoroughly covered the basics, everything from creating art in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (eventually transferred to film transparencies); working with emulsions and different types of inks; and getting hands-on experience with various silk screen/printing equipment such as four-color presses, flash dryers, and a UV exposure unit. As important, YUCA students are in charge of brainstorming their own ideas and getting in practice on executing their designs. Be on the lookout for a YUCA fund raising event in the beginning of 2011 featuring original t-shirt designs by our students! 

We're also excited to report several of our students have expressed interest in applying to FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) and Pratt Institute. They are busy building-up their portfolios with the work they create at YUCA each week before submitting their applications. The illustration on this post is a student sample by Tasha, age 18.

YUCA's T-shirt Design/ Silk Screening Workshop

In our continued effort to partner with community organizations and expand our artistic range of programs, YUCA in collaboration with the CIVIC school hosted a silk screen/t-shirt design workshop on Saturday, October 23rd. Held at the Highbridge food pantry, the afternoon included an overview of the silk screening process conducted by Tony and Grace Colon. They are Brooklyn-based graphic and textile designers who mesmerized the youth in attendance with their creativity and production expertise. Students went from being passive listeners into active learners, especially when they began to utilize the art supplies on hand to explore their own creativity. Tony was able to make learning practical, memorable, and yes - even fun! A big shout out also goes to crafts artist, Henry Peña who was on hand making sure the workshop ran smoothly. He was also able to arrange to have the entire session video taped, which we will post shortly. This workshop is the first in ongoing classes which are running through the end of this year, and will culminate in an exhibit/art fair slated for early Spring, 2011. CIVIC teachers, Adelaide Fuller and Misha Brown, brought the partnership to fruition when they met with YUCA's Executive Director over the Summer and agreed to organize these classes in the fall semester. This opportunity is particularly for YUCA and CIVIC students enrolled in community art classes. The students are learning professional technical graphic design skills and beginning to experiment as commercial artists. These classes are learning to use Photoshop to create t-shirt and poster designs that explore Scholars’ artistic identity. In order to actually screen print their designs, and expose our scholars to extracurricular arts opportunities, scholars will have to attend weekend YUCA classes. A screen printing machine and other specialized art-making tools are available at the YUCA studio. A YUCA board member will also work with scholars to develop business plans for the sales of their t-shirt and poster designs.  YUCA would like to thank everyone who helped to organize the event, especially the Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund for helping fund these activities.

YUCA joins effort to close Spofford

YUCA lent its support to the Close Spofford Campaign by joining concerned community members, parents, youth, activists, faith leaders, educators and others in hosting a community rally and speak-out to address youth and community concerns about New York City’s overreliance on jails and prisons.
The Spofford Juvenile Detention Center – renamed Bridges when it was reopened in 1998 – serves as an ugly reminder to the local community that New York City would rather invest in youth jails than in building and nurturing our youth.
Members of the campaign have been regularly meeting to organize greater community awareness around this issue throughout the last two years. YUCA artists helped brand the  initiative by creating collateral materials, a wide range of documents organizers used to promote themselves.