Oh my, what an adventure! Yesterday marked the children’s first day of Portside Creative Classroom: a daily in-person program where children are assisted with school work, able to socialize with friends, and instructed in arts education for a portion of each day. The children were so excited to see their friends and classmates for the first time in months, and to meet new friends!
With students from Hackett, H.A. Brown, and Adaire schools, the Portside follows the Philadelphia School District schedules for virtual schooling. From 8:30am until around 3pm, students are engaged in synchronous classwork on their computers as well as asynchronous school work. Creative Classroom students are separated by grade, and grouped with other students by teacher. Because of this, the children are able to gain experience in a classroom atmosphere, and work with classmates. For those children who are entering their first year of school, they are able to enjoy the company of friends in the comfort of their own classroom.
At 3pm, the fun begins! We want to give the children a fun experience at Portside, and have it be someplace they want to come to every day. We follow our award winning After School Arts Program curriculum and provide the children with a one hour art project each day between 3-5pm. During that time, students will also have outdoor play time, weather permitting. They will be going to either Penn Treaty Park or the Cione field where they will be participating in limited social contact activities and games. At 5:30pm, it’s time to go home!
Our part time and full time options give families flexibility to plan around their schedules. Full time is Monday through Friday, and part time options are two days a week (T,Th) and three days a week (M,W,F). We are grateful for Penn Treaty Special Services District’s generous funding for Creative Classroom Scholarships. Children in the PTSSD catchment zone are eligible for the scholarship, and those who live elsewhere are eligible for our Income Based Tuition scholarships. We still have spots available in Portside Creative Classroom for kids in grades Pre-K 4 - 5th. Check out the link below to learn more about Creative Classroom and to enroll your child!
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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! 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! |
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