EXEMPLARY PROJECTS AT SACRED PLACES (cont.)
and other relatives who suddenly find themselves
caring for their children’s children. Although G.A.P.
offered reading and crafts for younger children and
sports activities for teens, Brown expressed concern
that teenagers with more artistic inclinations did not
have an outlet or a focus; Art Sanctuary established the
North Stars program to provide that outlet. Since its
beginning, more than 125 teens have been transformed
by the program, including all six of Eileen Brown’s
grandchildren, as well as many other G.A.P. youth. This
year, Brown once again sat in the audience, proudly
watching her two youngest grandchildren, Rasheeda and
Tyann, perform in the African dance numbers.
While her granddaughters grin and glow after strutting
on stage, Eileen Brown knows that North Stars’ true
value comes from the program’s less glamorous
moments. The gradual mastery of difficult dance steps
and the steady presence of North Stars’ instructors, all
accomplished artists in their own right, are what will
make a lasting difference in the teens’ lives. “It builds
up their self esteem,” she says. “They do better in
school.”
Cary notes that shyer kids sometimes gain confidence
at North Stars and then become so involved in student
council or theatre at their schools, they no longer have
time for the program. “Sometimes we’re victims of
our own success,” she jokes. Susan Seifert’s research
supports these observations. Social Impact of the Arts
has demonstrated that neighborhoods with thriving
community arts programs experience lower truancy and
delinquency rates.
Church of the Advocate makes a fitting home for
organizations like Art Sanctuary and G.A.P., which
are part of a buzzing hive of community services at the
church, including a soup kitchen and clothes cupboard
based in the neo-Gothic National Historic Landmark.
While its ample campus and cavernous interior support
Art Sanctuary’s practical needs for storage, rehearsal
and performance space, the church’s activist history
is also a source of heady inspiration. As the site of
the city’s Black Power Conference in 1968 and of
the Episcopal Church’s first ordination of women in
1974, the Church of the Advocate resonates with the
significant contributions it has made — not just to
Philadelphia, but also to the world. As Cary says, “People
get that we’re righteous if we’re at the Advocate.”
9 • Sacred Places • www.sacredplaces.org • Fall 2010
And though Art Sanctuary moved its offices to South
Philadelphia this spring in order to further its
commitment to build bridges to other neighborhoods
and communities, the Advocate remains Art Sanctuary’s
true home, where North Stars kids build confidence as
they learn to play guitar and dance, and where renowned
artists like Charles Fuller tell inner-city youth their own
stories of struggle and triumph. “Our groundedness
comes from our relationship with the church,” says
Tarana Burke, Art Sanctuary’s managing director. “We
will always be a part of the church.”
An Emerging Project:
Arts in Sacred Places
Partners knows anecdotally and from broad
research that congregations host a variety of
artistic and cultural programs. Yet, in order
to encourage more connections between
sacred places and those in the arts community
who need space, the patterns, dynamic,
and opportunities of these arts activities
must be understood. Currently, there is little
known about the sustainability of performing
arts activities in sacred places, the capacity
for more intensive use, and the tools and
resources that would be useful to bring
arts groups and congregations together in
mutually beneficial, sustainable space-sharing
arrangements.
With funding from the Barra Foundation,
Partners’ new Community-Based Arts in Sacred
Places aims to gather and analyze data on
congregation-hosted arts programs in Center
City Philadelphia, and to use that data to
create effective tools and technical assistance
that encourage a greater number of venues
for dance, music, and theater, and to pilot a
matching service that will connect churches
that have space to offer with arts groups in
need of space. This intensive, individualized
process will go beyond a simple database by
helping both the congregations and the arts
organizations to establish strong, long-term
space-sharing relationships in Philadelphia
neighborhoods.