3 non-profits selling discounted art to build bridges between city and suburban kids
BOSTON — Three local non-profits are coming together to connect city kids and suburban kids through a camp funded by the arts.
"It fills me with so much drive and hope for the future because people are doing what they can," said Kimberly Andersen of the Boston Bridges Initiative, one of the three groups involved.
"So when the program came together, it came together to create opportunities for the students to be able to be integrated in the summer program," said METCO's Lincoln program director Marika Hamilton.
METCO's Lincoln division teamed up with Boston Bridges and Downsize for Diversity to create an integration program.
"I met this wonderful woman, Joanna, and she started telling us about Downsize for Diversity and how she was able to do this amazing fundraising for Lincoln and I was like, 'I want part of that,' said Andersen.
Now, they take donated pieces of art and sell it. One-hundred-percent of the money raised goes to the Boston Bridges Initiative so they can send kids from different backgrounds together to camp.
The artwork sold is about 30 percent lower than artwork purchased in a gallery, but one purchase can send kids to camp for five days.
"If we are leaders in this area, we help guide and intentionally break down these barriers," said Andersen.
Lasting friendships between students and families within racially diverse communities is the outcome they hope for.
"My kids have gone to that camp since they were 5 every year and they are going again this year for a couple of weeks," said Joanna Schmergel of Downside for Diversity. "So it's beautiful."
"I feel like the students are the ones that are teaching the adults oftentimes to take risks and to step out and they are able to say, "I connect with you," said Hamilton.