Nancy Whitlock founded and is the Executive Director of Nature Consortium. Their office is housed in the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center which houses several other non-profits, rental spaces and three floors of artist live-work spaces. (Rental spaces include: a theater, kitchen, movement studio, recording studio, media lab, workshop, classrooms and more.)
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Nature Consortium sign outside the office. |
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Nature Consortium has a variety of rolls in the community. They have monthly work parties to care for the Duwamish Greenbelt. And coming this summer is the Arts in Nature Festival - this is a 2-day festival teaching environmental lessons through the creative arts: music, dance, theatre, an outdoor "museum of sound", environmental education and kids activities. I’ve been several times and enjoyed the art and sound in a camp setting. The festival usually takes place at the end of August at Camp Long and the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center.
Nature Consortium mission is teaching environmental lessons through the creative arts and hands-on conservation projects. They are an art program partner at Rainier Vista and Yesler Terrace Housing Communities.
Nature Consortium is a great example of an individual creating non-profit in their local community. She has a background in IT (Information Technology) recruiting and then stayed home to raise her son. Wanting to meet her neighbors in the West Seattle neighborhood of Gatewood, she organized a festival on her block with a theme of “What is Your Art?” People exhibited & sold brought whatever the result of their creative endeavor. Nancy’s at that time was making cards. She used the sleeve of the shirt to put on greeting cards and that is what she brought to the party. The shirt hangs in the office as a reminder of the humble beginnings of a successful and growing non-profit.
Deciding to expand the idea she organized the West Seattle Art, Nature, Literature Festival in Lincoln Park in 1998. The Festival has continued and is now called Arts in Nature Festival. This year there is two locations with a shuttle - Youngstown and Camp Long (both in West Seattle).
The organization has grown ~ now encompassing a board, a full-time Arts Education Director, a part-time Restoration Project Coordinator and over 20 part-time contract Teaching Artists. All of which Nancy oversees. Nancy would like to keep the organization small in size but large on the programming side. She has been able to see young people grow in their involvement - some as long as four years.
Nancy worked for years at a minimal salary. As the founder, that has been her choice to help establish stability and grow the non-profit to a point where she now makes a low salary for an Executive Director but double what she made a short time ago.
How does Nature Consortium make it work financially? Nancy tries to keep 7 grants pending at the same time. Occasionally she subcontracts the grant writing process - which can be expensive. On the wall she has the manila file folders with all the grant application in progress. As far as their programming, they do charge a fee-for-service, but it just covers the costs. They make a point to pay their artists a fair rate who teach their classes.
The next step is to hire and office administrator and contract for development work. That would give Nancy more time to program. In addition, Nature Consortium is developing a formal Evaluation Plan for their Youth Art Program, which has come from their involvement in an Arts Education Consortium with 6 other arts education related nonprofits.
Site visit and photo Saya Moriyasu, June 2006
Nature Consortium class visit
Street Dance is a lively and engaging class taught for free by Nature Consortium teacher, Jarius Green. Yesler Community Center is located about 5 blocks East of the Smith Tower downtown. It's a beautiful building, designed by the Mithun Partners (Mithun designed the REI Seattle store).
Jarius is a talented teacher. He knows the right amount of structure to get the kids to learn while making it fun. During the hour I sat in, I saw the boys learn new moves and incorporate them into a short routine. Jarius starts with short sequences, careful to make sure that they know each one before moving on to the next sequence. Jarius walks around and makes sure the students are comfortable doing the moves. He also motivates them by throwing in advanced moves that they could work up to (for example - a gravity defying one armed, hand stand). After learning the routine, he let each student lead the class in the routine. They enjoyed this immensely with beaming, proud smiles.
Erica Merritt is the coordinator for the Nature Consortium programming at Yesler. She sits in the classes and takes care of any discipline so that the teacher can focus on teaching. Her open and loving nature come across quickly. She knows all the kids by name and actively encourages them during class. At one point after learning some dance moves, a boy exclaimed, "I'm so glad I'm here!" Erica replied, "So am I! I am so proud of you, you are really doing a great job." That level of engagement and love goes a long way for these kids who may live in the surrounding public housing. It gives them a place to go that is positive. They can learn new things, have a snack and maybe even a hug from Erica. The classes are meant to be fun, so the kids can come in and be a part of the class and leave if it isn't a good fit for them.
All classes are offered for free for 8 weeks in the summer and 10 weeks during the school year. When Erica sees a new student, she calls them over, gets some basic information and asks them to register after class. The registration is a simple, two-page form to gather statistics and emergency contact information.
Erica has a social work background, sings, and teaches singing through Nature Consortium. Her direct role is coordinating the classes but she takes it much further than that. She actively recruits for classes in the neighborhood. She posted class leaflets at nearby Harborview Hospital and kids have come as a result. Her social work background is integrated into her role as coordinator. By getting to know the children she can encouraging them to participate in classes that suit them. She worked with the City of Seattle before working for Nature Consortium, so that has helped her integrate her coordinator position with the city run community center. The trust she developed allows her access to the kitchen and the center's van. She is, in a nutshell, a perfect fit for the coordinating position at Yesler. Erica loves her job and it shows.
Erica meets frequently with Nancy Whitlock, Executive Director and Victoria (who coordinates the overall education programming). She has a lot of input into what classes are taught because she directly sees if there is interest in them. She is organizing a show of visual art and performance at the community center. During summer they provide snacks and she is planning a cooking class of ethnic food. She says the kids are always hungry so she tries to give them food when she can. The community center benefits tremendously by having this free programming in the center.
Rainier Vista class visit
The same week I visited a Collage Class at Rainier Vista in the South end of Seattle.
The public housing there is going through a radical transition from low-income housing to mixed-income housing. One side of Martin Luther King Way is full of brand new housing and a community center called Neighborhood House. The other side of the street is full of temporary cyclone fences, houses torn down to their foundation, dried out lawn and the Boys and Girls Club. This side is next up for redevelopment
Classes at this site are primarily attended by the Boys and Girls Club members. From their website, I found out some background.
Since 1943, the Boys & Girls Clubs of King County has provided a wide variety of programs for youth ages of 6-18.
The heart of every Boys & Girls Club is the drop-in program. For an average membership fee of $1.50 per month ($18 annually), members can visit a Club after school and on weekends and explore new games, develop social skills, get help with homework, take computer education classes, play in the games room, recreate in the gym and on the ball fields, and make new friends with peers and adults. Additional structured programs are available year round (only to members) for a nominal fee. - from Positive Place.
The class is open to the public as well. The staff their escorts them in and out and helps with any behavior issues (much like Erica does at the Yesler site).
Artist Susanna Bluhm has been teaching the collage class. She began by asking them what they would like to see on the hill scene she had attached to the wall. They raised their hands and helped make a list that included a house, candy, animals, etc. The fifteen or so kids quickly set up their work areas and dove into the collage project. Soon the hill scene was full of the figures they had made in the weeks before and new elements that they had helped to list at the beginning of class.
Susanna gave clear instructions to the kids. She conveyed the idea of the project and frequently assisted them individually. She knew most of their names and encouraged them to participate. She's a talented teacher and is at ease in the classroom. She teaches other classes for Nature Consortium and they allow her to develop her own ideas for projects and types of courses taught.
When the Boys and Girls staff alerted the kids to clean up, they worked fast and efficiently. Amazingly, for those who work with kids, they did not have to be repeatedly asked to do this or that. They knew the whole routine -- stack chairs, pick up the collage scraps, sort pens and glue, etc. Then they lined up and were off to another event. The class was the fastest and most productive art class I have ever witnessed.
Nature Consortium is a good example of the API's goals of deepening, broadening and diversifying. They have gone into their target communities and served a need for children's activities, hired staff that reflects the neighborhood and empowered the staff to be invested in the program. The direct benefit to the community is positive and readily apparent.
Site visit by Saya Moriyasu, August 2006.
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