The Art Effect

ArtsBridge is a multi-year college preparatory program engaging Poughkeepsie youth in the arts to provide them with training, support, and mentorship to help them succeed in higher education. ArtsBridge establishes a pathway for students to higher education through the arts. Youth ages 14-19 gain advanced artistic preparatory and portfolio development skills through the Art Institute as well as college readiness training, and emotional support through individual mentorship with a focus being on college scholarships and matriculation.

ArtsBridge runs two semesters per year where students meet in their cohorts weekly, get one-on-one mentoring, and also attend one Art Institute class of their choice on full scholarship. ArtsBridge often invites guest artists, site visits to local colleges, and more, exposing youth to a variety of college majors and career fields.

Click here to learn more about The Art Institute.

ArtsBridge is a unique program that establishes a pathway for students who may not typically consider college to begin thinking about higher education. Students are mentored on the college selection process, looking for financial and merit-based scholarships, how to write the right personal essay, negotiating financial offers from schools, and SAT prep.

To apply for ArtsBridge, email david@thearteffect.org and schedule an interview!

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History

Arts Bridge was first established in 2019 with a small group of youth as a pilot program and has continued to develop to support youth entering and succeeding in college. Arts Bridge was inspired by Poughkeepsie youth and created as a unique way to sponsor young aspiring artists through The Art Institute. Through the development of the pilot program, student feedback, and youth needs, Arts Bridge has morphed into an exciting program that helps youth gain advanced art skills, alongside life skills and social emotional support that help them succeed in college.

In the last four years:

• 100% of students complete at least 10 portfolio-worthy works of art. Types of projects ranged from self portraiture to observational work to personal interest projects.
• 100% of ArtsBridge participants graduate from high school.
• 100% of those who apply for college will enter a 2- or 4-year institution and receive a college scholarship.

“Arts Bridge really helped me build up my portfolio for college and understand what colleges will best fit me”  
-Katia Estrada              

“I think The Art Effect is really helpful and really teaches a lot of skills, not just from art but also from daily life.”
-Ashley Santos-Perez

ArtsBridge is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, monies received from the New York State Council on the Arts, and from Adams Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee supporting The Art Effect’s exemplary programs.

The Art Effect’s National Art Honor Society (NAHS) Chapter #2242 recognizes 9th-12th grade students of high academic and artistic standing throughout the Hudson Valley. This is the only chapter in the United States not affiliated with a high school. The NAHS encourages students to reach their highest level of professionalism and prepares students for a career in the arts. Members serve their community by designing and painting public murals, raising money for scholarships and local organizations, creating public art projects, participating in community art events, and helping set up student exhibits. 

Members are selected each semester from nominated high school students at The Art Effect who meet the requirements of excellence in visual and media art, a minimum of an 87 weighted GPA, and attendance in courses within the Art Institute, Spark Studios, and/or MADLab programs. NAHS members are seen as leaders in their field and often receive priority treatment when applying to college. Membership opens up opportunities for college scholarships from numerous institutions as well as from the NAEA (National Art Education Association) that are not typically available to other students.

There are approximately 18-25 members each semester from high schools throughout the Hudson Valley including: Arlington, Dutchess Day School, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Haldane, The Harvey School, John Jay, Millbrook, Newburgh, New Paltz, New Rochelle, Oakwood Friends School, Our Lady of Lourdes, Poughkeepsie, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Rondout Valley, Roy C. Ketcham, Stissing Mountain, Wallkill, and Warwick Valley.

NAHS members upon graduation have received thousands of dollars in scholarships to attend college. More than six of our graduates have received the $60,000 NAEA scholarship towards high-end art colleges and universities such as Pratt Institute. In the last two year, NAHS members have been offered more than $1,000,000 in scholarships to schools including MICA, Tufts, SVA, Harvard and BU.

NAHS meets every 2 weeks following the school year schedule.

History

Started by the National Art Education Association (NAEA) in 1978, the National Art Honor Society (NAHS) inspires and recognizes 9th-12th grade students who have shown an outstanding ability in art and academics. The Art Effect’s NAHS chapter #2242 was started in 2003 under Mill Street Loft and has proudly served over 300 individual young artists.

Over the years, members have worked with numerous community organizations and throughout the City of Poughkeepsie to make a difference through the arts. Some past projects include:

• Pet Portraits for the Hudson Valley Animal Rescue and Sanctuary to raise funds for their no-kill shelter.
• Collected non-perishable food and clothing for Rebuilding our Children & Community families.
• Painted the windows of the Trolley Barn Gallery beautifying middle-Main Street, Poughkeepsie.
• Participation in Juneteenth hosted by R.E.A.L. Skills Network.
• Moon Landing mural at the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum.
• Heroes mural at the Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie .
• Mural at entrance of Dutchess County SPCA.
• Site clean ups on Pershing Street, Poughkeepsie.
• Participated in Chronogram Media’s community panel discussing social justice, racism, human rights, inequity, in the Hudson Valley art scene.
• Mural restoration of the Hudson River serpent “Kipsy,” in Poughkeepsie designed by artists Dick and Margret Cranson.
• Painted the “Garden of Hope” mural in the Specialty Pediatrics waiting room at Vassar Brothers Medical Center.

Program Manager

In addition to being the Director of Programs, Mary Ellen Iatropoulos is also an active teacher at The Art Effect and coordinates its #2242 NAHS chapter. Since 2007, Mary Ellen has been one of The Art Effect’s lead teaching artists in radio production, film, photography and zine-making/writing, teaching classes for schools, libraries, and partner organizations across the Hudson Valley. She was the media arts instructor at Poughkeepsie Day School’s middle school from 2011-2017, teaching courses in film, photography, digital media, and YouTube for middle school students. She loves helping students produce meaningful and often award-winning content, including the award-winning student film Santa Woman which was selected by the Tribeca Film Festival’s “The America I Am” competition.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and is partially funded by monies received from the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Art Institute inspires and motivates students, preparing them for successful careers and acquiring merit-based scholarships to the nation’s best art schools in the visual and media arts. Art Institute is a year-round, intensive, pre-college portfolio development program for motivated teens ages 14-19. Graduates generate an impressive portfolio of original work that demonstrates their pre-professional skills in the visual and media arts. 

See current and upcoming courses HERE.

Courses and Skills

Art Institute classes take place after school, on weekends, and in the summer on a trimester schedule. Classes are taught by professional artists/educators with a curriculum that surpasses the New York State Standards of Art Education. The student-centered, holistic program prioritizes personal and professional development through rigorous arts instruction, regular critiques, mentorship, public exhibition, and engagement with college and conservatory programs.

The program creates a firm foundation in the visual and media arts by training students in developing ideas through the creative process toward the completion of a portfolio of original work. Students leave The Art Institute with a core understanding of skills including:

• Core techniques and skills within their focused medium(s)
• The processes of artmaking (concept to finished product)
• Ability to create original work independently and professionally
• Color theory, composition, perspective, depth
• Artistic vocabulary to professionally speak about artwork & processes
• Portraying personal experiences, emotion, thoughts in their artwork narratives
• Giving and receiving constructive critique/feedback
• Gaining confidence in themselves, their artwork, & their futures
• Exhibition experience
• Making connections to art in the world around them

Teachers use a rubric based on the National Art Standards and customize their approach as they help students understand their strengths and weaknesses and learn how to critique their own and other students’ work. Throughout the year, students may also participate in international study trips, field trips to artists’ studios, college visits and portfolio reviews, and summer intensives. 

The Art Institute also offers local youth opportunities to build collegial and community service connections. Students participate in the Art Institute’s National Art Honor Society; attend the Hudson Valley Regional Portfolio Day to meet with college representatives; host, curate, and display their work in public exhibitions; and participate in national art competitions.

Scholarships and Awards

The Art Institute began as part of The Art Effect’s pre-merger organization, Mill Street Loft, in 1997 with the goal of helping motivated, talented high school students interested in pursuing careers in the visual arts build skills and develop portfolios. The Institute provides one-on-one mentoring to support students’ college applications, including a long history of success in helping Art Institute students secure merit-based scholarships to art schools and colleges. Our students have been awarded over $56 million in scholarships to the nation’s finest art schools across the nation including Maryland Institute College of Art, Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, Columbus College of Art and Design, FIT, Rhode Island School of Design, Purchase College, Rochester Institute of Technology, SCAD, and Maine College of Art and Design.

In 2020, nearly $18,000 in financial assistance scholarships to The Art Institute courses were awarded to low-income students through scholarship funding including the Carole and Ted Wolf Scholarship Fund and other generous funders. Poughkeepsie youth who receive scholarships also participate in ArtsBridge, providing them with training, support, and mentorship to help them succeed in higher education, navigating acceptance and maximizing scholarship, and financial aid offers. 
Additionally, The Art Institute sponsors student applications to the Scholastic Art Awards, YoungArts Competition, and the Congressional Art Competition. Since 2019, more than 200 gold, silver, and honorable mention keys have been awarded to students at The Art Effect from Scholastic’s Hudson Valley Art Awards. In 2020, students Anneke Chan and Alyssa Palerma both received competitive grand prize awards from their Congressional district.

The Art Institute is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and is partially funded by monies received from the New York State Council on the Arts, The Dyson Foundation, the Leslie C. and Irene G. Roe Fund of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley and other supporters.

Youth Arts Empowerment Zone

The Youth Arts Empowerment Zone (YAEZ) along Main Street in Poughkeepsie, NY  is a long-term initiative to establish a youth-led arts district with The Art Effect as the anchor arts institution. This initiative is a roadmap for place-keeping through the arts. Currently, the YAEZ is bringing arts-based engagement to the local community through the PKX festival, publics events, workforce development programs, and community workshops.

YAEZ Liaison

YAEZ Liaisons are part of The Art Effect’s curatorial training programs at the Trolley Barn Gallery. YAEZ Liaisons focus on the impact of the community in and around the Trolley Barn Gallery. Each year, youth plan and implement community events, including workshops, art activities, and an annual arts festival. Youth employees earn a stipend as they learn the tactics of creative placemaking, marketing, outreach, event planning, and more. YAEZ Liaisons are equipped with skills in community organizing, festival planning, civic engagement, and arts-advocacy through leading outreach workshops with local artists and community organizations and conducting presentations to stakeholders and government officials.

Become a YAEZ Liaison

Youth ages 15+ interested in becoming a YAEZ Liaison can apply online. Sessions run in the Spring (February -June) and Fall (September – December). Application periods for each session open in November (for the Spring) and June (for the Fall). Applications are accepted in May for a limited number of full-time summer positions (in which youth can earn minimum wage).The group meets weekly in two hour research and mentoring sessions in the spring and fall. Members also lead monthly community outreach activities and attend a variety of public meetings as both presenters and participants. Click HERE to see upcoming events.

Summer Employment

During the summer,  youth work full-time between both of The Art Effect’s curatorial training programs (Trolley Barn Curatorial Team & YAEZ Liaisons) at the Trolley Barn Gallery. Youth make high-level exhibition curation decisions about upcoming juried exhibitions while being mentored by experts in the field, and work within the community to foster the youth-led arts district along Main Street, YAEZ.

Partners

PKX Youth Committee works with community partners, and the curatorial advisory committee across the county including; 

• MASSDesign
• Barrett Art Center
• Hudson River Housing
• FallKill Creative Works
• Dutchess Tourism 
• The YOU
• The City of Poughkeepsie
• Arts Mid-Hudson
• WomensWork.Art
• Poughkeepsie Public Library

Program Staff

Jaime Ransome, Trolley Barn Gallery Manager was born and raised in Rhinebeck NY and graduated from Syracuse University in May of 2022 after receiving her MFA in Museum Studies and her BFA in Film. She specializes in feminist and BIPOC art history and film theory. She attended Children’s Media Project (The Art Effect’s former Spark Studios program) and is now happy to be returning to Poughkeepsie to pass on her knowledge to The Art Effect Youth.

Destiny Kearney, Trolley Barn Fellow is a New York based artist who graduated from Bowdoin College, with a Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies, Art History, and Visual Arts. After entering her first technical art classes during her sophomore year of college, she encountered a teaching style that excluded Black people. The gap in her artistic training led her to pursue the study of race in arts education. During Kearney’s time within Bowdoin’s Visual Arts program, she continued to learn from and rebel against that pedagogy. Taking the skills she acquired through self-teaching she continues to focus on depictions of Blackness in art. Over the past year, Kearney has used painting, photography, and collage to explore her Black and Indigenous identity, with a focus on land, lineage, and language. Her works address the hypervisibility, visibility, and invisibility of her racial and cultural identities. Bowdoin College Awarded her with The Richard P. Martel Jr. Memorial Prize in Visual Arts which is awarded to the students who, in the judgment of the Visual Arts Faculty at Bowdoin are deemed to have produced the most creative, perceptive, proficient, and visually appealing art works exhibited at the college during this academic year. Embarking on her post-grad journey, Kearney joins the Art Effect team as the Trolley Barn Fellow. She will be with us for the next two years as a member of the first cohort of Lead for Poughkeepsie Fellows, a branch of the Lead for America program.

Radio Uprising is The Art Effect’s exciting weekly youth radio show that gives young producers the opportunity to express themselves creatively via the airwaves, developing next generation newsmakers and covering youth issues in Poughkeepsie, NY. In a weekly hour-long live broadcast on 91.3fm WVKR at Vassar College, middle and high school age students engage in on-air discussion of politics, social action, current events, and personal experience. Each week, Radio Uprising features a rotating lineup of youth DJs and radio hosts.

Tune in to 91.3fm on Thursdays from 4-5pm EST or visit the live stream on www.wvkr.org

Skills

The Art Effect’s Radio Uprising program supports and grows the next generation of journalists and newsmakers through hands-on learning in media literacy and production skills. Young people who participate in Radio Uprising gain a diverse skill set in:

• audio recording
• audio editing
• public speaking
• critical thinking
• interviewing
• journalism
• field recording

To learn more about audio recording, editing and video journalism visit Spark Studios.
Apply to be a youth DJ or radio host! E-mail maryellen@thearteffect.org or call 845.471.7477 to set up an interview.

History

Radio Uprising, a weekly radio show on Vassar College’s WVKR station, has been broadcasting for over thirteen years. Since May 2008, Radio Uprising has provided a public platform for young people to express themselves and their opinions on a variety of hard-hitting topics. Radio Uprising youth have interviewed and partnered with local organizations in Poughkeepsie such as the Poughkeepsie Journal, Planned Parenthood, and Grace Smith House.

They have also featured work from other youth radio producers from around the country including Blunt Youth Radio Project, Global Action Project, the Bay Area Video Coalition, Radio Rootz, and Reel Grrls. Radio show topics include:

• Covid-19 and quarantine
• fake news
• black lives matter
• technology’s impact on youth
• Immigration
• Mental health and depression
• Gun violence
• Teen rebellion
• Student debt and college loans
• Sex 
• Religion

Listen to the full list of past podcasts HERE.

Radio Uprising is a partnership with WVKR and Vassar College which has received past support from the Jane Nuhn Charitable Trust.

The Art Effect’s Media, Art, and Design Lab (MADLab) engages teens ages 14-19 from the City of Poughkeepsie and helps them develop life and workforce skills in the growing arts and media sectors. Through four after-school sessions and one full-time summer session, MADLab youth earn a wage or stipend as they gain competency while learning about visual art, media art, and design careers. Through youth mentorship, on-the-job learning, and access to materials and equipment, MADLab fosters youth development, facilitates academic and workplace performance, and is a catalyst for community engagement and urban renewal in the City of Poughkeepsie.

Skills

Each MADLab session exposes students interested in visual art, creative placemaking, public art, media and design, and more to the creative workforce process by producing collaborative visual arts projects, and learning workplace skills such as time management, team work, leadership, and communication. The summer program has a special focus on public art and creative placemaking in which youth design and produce a public art installation in downtown Poughkeepsie.

• graphic design
• painting
• sculpture
• digital painting
• photography (see also; Spark Studios)
• public speaking
• leadership
• workplace etiquette
• presenting and critiquing

Students work both independently and in teams on various creative prompts to get the most out of this “earn while you learn” mentorship program. Every semester students work on one client project to develop a professional creative portfolio including logo development, resume writing, and graphic design. MADLab youth who have developed advanced skills, are supported in connecting to outside jobs and internships with businesses and organizations to help provide additional early job experiences in our community.

Support MADLab youth and contact us to hire a student for your design project today!

Field Trips and Partners

The MADLab Program often takes hands-on learning on the road! Through the MADLab program, students work on various projects with and for many local community partners including visiting local galleries, museums and community organizations throughout the year. Trips include; Storm King Art Center, Art Omi, and Bard College. MADLab students have partnered with a number of community organizations including:

• Logo design for Celebrating the African Spirit
• Public art along the Fall Kill with MASS Design Group and Scenic Hudson
• Human Rights Day Posters for Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum
• Fall Kill revitalization sculptures with Northside Collaborative
• Scripted and produced radio Public Service Announcements to reduce littering in Poughkeepsie
• Poster design for the Athena Awards in partnership with Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce

Teachers and Program Staff

David Wong is a graduate of the arts management program at SUNY Purchase with a degree in commercial art from SUNY Dutchess. David’s background in contemporary sculpture includes working in fine art institutions such as Dia: Beacon and Storm King Art Center. David has been an art department intern for both feature films and music videos, and his work as an educator specializes in creative placemaking. David began with The Art Effect’s as an intern in 2016 working for the 21st Century Project (later called The Empire Program). He has also worked with Spark Studios and ArtsBridge and has coordinated the MADLab program since 2018.

Programs provided by this agency are partially funded by monies received from Dutchess County, New York State Council on the Arts, in part by the Bailey Foundation, Community Foundations Hudson Valley, Dutchess County Workforce Investment Board (DCWIB), the City of Poughkeepsie, and from Adams Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee supporting The Art Effect’s exemplary programs.