Artitude at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County

Kids ages 6-18 in Fort Collins, Loveland, and Wellington benefit from our high-quality youth development programs and professional staff. We give them a safe place to go after school and during all school breaks, where they can learn positive life skills and have fun at the same time.
We want to offer a stellar Arts Program that will enrich children’s hearts and minds. Whether to further develop the talents of budding artists, musicians, dancers, and thespians, or to provide the creative outlet that will allow youth to simply experience the joy that art can bring to their lives, art is crucial to the development of the whole child. Unfortunately, cuts in school budgets, and families unable to afford fee-based arts programs, mean that many kids in our community have a limited exposure to the arts.
“Artitude!” is a program for 11 to 16 year old members, through which they will explore different modern media. By expressing themselves through both visual and performing art, they can see how alternative art forms, such as graffiti-style art and break-dancing, commonly tainted by negative social associations, can be positive, and also considered a "fine" art.
The goal of the program is for a total of 50 participants (25 in the fall and 25 in the spring), ages 11 to 16, to be able to reconstruct their attitudes through art, to hone skills of expression that may have otherwise remained undiscovered, and to learn positive decision-making and self-control. They will have the opportunity to build positive social connections with other people their age, the staff, and volunteers, as well as with local artists who will share their skills with the kids in the program through graffiti-style art, painting, sketching, and dance.
Contact Maria Swall at 970-223-1709 x104 or mswall at bgclarimer dot org to learn more.