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WE MADE IT! We’re proud to announce that our first exhibition in the Portside’s studio #12 at Cherry Street Pier is open to the public. Come and help us celebrate our new space this First Friday, August 7th in Studio #12 at the Pier!
The exhibition will feature the amazing artwork of Chris Windle, Portside Arts Center's Resident Artist in the studio space for the months of July and August. Chris is also a treasured member of the Portside's teaching staff. The current exhibition also contains the work of artists from the Portside community including Kim Creighton, Bill Dankanis, Salvatore Damiano, and Portside's After School Arts Program Students. The exhibition will be held in Portside's gallery space in Studio #12 at Cherry Street Pier. This amazing display of art will be on display and for sale throughout the month of August. Please note that artists are donating 20% of their sales to the Portside! Cherry Street Pier is a year-round, mixed-use public space on the central Delaware River waterfront. Built into the shell of a century-old municipal pier, it is a reflection of Philadelphia today—creative, diverse, historic, adaptable, and inspired. Portside has been chosen among many applicants to have a studio space at Cherry Street Pier, which has repurposed shipping containers into artist studios and galleries. Artists and organizations utilize the spaces to create work, educate, and host arts exhibitions and programs. In the last several months that we have been waiting to be able to take occupancy, we have already had such an amazing experience, meeting all the talented artists and the fantastic staff at Cherry Street Pier. We plan on having all kinds of artsy stuff at the Pier this year! 
Portside Arts Center is so excited to host a creative medley of programs and classes to be offered at the Pier. As previously mentioned, Portside is hosting a different local artist each month to be an Artist in Residence, and to utilize the space to create their work. During their residencies, these artists will showcase their work, and give an artist talk to the public. In addition to the artist’s work, the gallery space will feature the artwork by members of the Portside community including students and teachers.
The studio space stands next to the mezzanine on the second floor of the Pier, which will serve as a spacious area to conduct art classes. These kids, adult and teen classes will include our Teen Artist Workshops, Upholstery 10 week class and One-Day Workshops, and Adult Paint Nights. Various programs are now in the works, and we can’t wait for things to be in full swing! We will continue to update the community on developments involving upcoming programs. Cherry Street Pier houses 12 other artists, creatives and non-profits, as well as food carts and a bar. With the current pandemic, the Pier is instilling safety procedures to help maintain a relaxing, clean, and fun environment for everyone. Safety precautions include the Pier’s capacity being capped at 250 individuals, studio capacity being 2 visitors at a time, and mandatory mask wearing unless an individual is eating or drinking. That being said, the Pier is the perfect place to visit for a fun night out, while practicing safe social distancing. We’ll see you soon in studio #12!
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Thank You Penn Treaty Special Services District for Sponsoring Portside's Summer Arts Camp 2020!7/7/2020 
Summer is in full swing! This has been a strange and unpredictable year for everybody. Following CDC guidelines, Portside Arts Center had to pause our After School Arts Program and all children, teen and adult classes. The Portside strived and planned countless scenarios in order to run their Summer Arts Camp this summer. We really feel that providing kids around the community with arts education is more important than ever, and for the kids to socialize with their friends after months of isolation. Portside was prepared to take all of the precautionary measures to ensure safety to students and teachers, and to pull their resources in order to make camp a reality for kids in the area.
Portside is very thankful for the much needed support this year from Penn Treaty Special Services District (PTSSD), who are sponsoring this year's Summer Arts Camp. The PTSSD is a non-profit private foundation which supports non-profit organizations in Fishtown, Northern Liberties, Kensington and Port Richmond along the RIver Wards and has been a continuous support to the Portside Arts Center throughout their 11 years. This year especially, the PTSSD helped make a difference to the Portside and to the families in the community who wished to send their kids to camp this year but could not afford to due to the Covid-19 virus. Portside received scholarship applications for camp from 24 families in need of financial aid who needed to send their kids to camp this year. The PTSSD provided the community $5,000 in scholarship funds, making it possible for these families to attend Summer Arts Camp! They also supplied Portside with funding for art supplies, and field trips (which are virtual this year.) Now into the second week of camp, kids and teachers are grateful for the experiences of making artwork with friends, at a safe distance! This week is STEAM & Robotics week at camp, and the kids are busy making art that involves the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, ART, and Math. Each child will be constructing their own personalized robots this week, and hearing from a guest speaker and architect Kevin Malawski, who will be talking about how his work incorporates art, math, and other elements. Thank you very much Penn Treaty Special Services District for helping us make camp extra special this year! 
WOW, what a spring! Last Friday evening, Portside families, teachers and administrators joined together in Portside's first ever virtual graduation for this past year's After School Arts Program (ASAP) students. During graduation, all 56 students in the 2018/19 After School Arts Program were honored for their accomplishments at the Portside in the past school year. It was great to see everyone's faces, celebrate together, and get some closure to the strange end of the school year that we have all experienced.
Although we were unable to gather in person at the Portside for the last three months of ASAP, Portside's teachers and administrators pulled together and worked hard to maintain a strong sense of creativity, structure and socialization in students' daily lives by immediately transitioning to virtual programming. Portside's lead teachers taught daily art lessons on Zoom, and assistant teachers posted art activities online for the kids. For many of Portside's ASAP students, this was the highlight of their days for the past few months. "It's kinda crazy making art together. It's kinda crazy because, well, we don't see each other that often...it was helpful to see my friends," said Sharks student Cole, age 8, about his daily art lessons with Miss Natasha. Thank you to Minnows lead teacher Miss Rachel, Sharks lead teacher Miss Natasha, Pirates lead teacher Miss Jesa, and our assistant teachers Miss YeEun, Miss Paulina, Mr. Joseph, Mr. Chris, Miss Gabby, and Miss Jean. With their help, we have been able to make it through these past few months and to continue "Empowering the Artists of Tomorrow." And thank you to all of our students for being AWESOME and creative young people. "I'm very proud of our teachers and their dedication to picking up immediately and continuing to provide arts education virtually to their students. We have the best kids in the world!” exclaimed Kim Creighton, Founding Director of Portside Arts Center. We are really looking forward to this year's After School Arts Program where we will see many returning happy faces, as well as some new ones! |
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