Youth Arts Council provides aid for Calibraska classes
The Perkins County Youth Arts Council is offering a free online course from the Calibraska Arts Initiative to ten local youth to help expose the community’s youth to new and interesting art fields.
Calibraska has been working for seven years now to bring Los Angeles art-industry professionals to Nebraska for high-quality arts classes that the public cannot get anywhere else.
Teaching artists for Calibraska include professionals that have studied at the California Institute of Arts; UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television; Harvard and other acclaimed arts programs. They have worked for such industry giants as Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, the Los Angeles Animation Guild and the Groundlings.
Classes are typically offered in person by professionals and teaching artists, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals will be hosting their classes on Zoom.
“2020 has presented so many challenges and I was compelled to do everything I could to make Calibraska happen this summer because so often the arts allow us to re-center in the middle of life changes,” said Calibraska Arts Initiative Director and Founder, Erica Larsen-Dockray.
“Taking Calibraska online was met with an overwhelming response by the professionals and teaching artists who wanted to be involved as well as my partners at Nebraska 4-H who have been pivotal to this transition. I am truly blessed to have so many amazing folks across the state supporting this initiative and can’t wait to see how this might open up opportunities throughout the year!”
Gerty Wyatt, President of the Perkins County Youth Arts Council, discovered Calibraska last week through a friend. Unfortunately, because it is late in the summer, not many classes are still open for registration. Next year the Youth Arts Council hopes to make parents and youth aware of Calibraska courses sooner so more opportunities will be available.
Wyatt says she thinks just showing kids what is out there may spark interests and passions they may not have found otherwise. Many of the classes cover arts that aren’t often found in this area, and exposing kids to these new fields may open up opportunities for them.
“We might have some kids who would really love to be a computer animator, but if they’re never exposed to it, then they don’t get the opportunity to see this might be something they like to do,” Wyatt said.
Current classes open for registration are Comedy/Improv, Creature Creations, Film Making and Hip-Hop Fundamentals. Each class is divided into age groups, so it is important to select the correct age group when registering.
The Youth Arts Council will be covering class fees for ten youth from K-12th grade selected on a first come, first serve basis. Some of the classes, particularly geared toward older kids and teenagers, can be $100 or more, but for ten children that cost will be waived.
Interested youth can contact Kristin Chamness, Vice President of the Youth Arts Council, for a registration code. Chamness may be reached at 308-530-9343.
Students will need to go to www.calibraska.org to purchase their chosen class using the registration code and fill out a registration form. Each code can only be used for one class per order.
Calibraska also offers limited scholarship opportunities for those in need of financial aid. The application for funds can be found on Calibraska’s website, www.calibraska.org.