When Lansing resident Alice Brinkman founded REACH Studio Art Center in 2003, the artist not only wanted to have a space to make textile pieces, but also envisioned a place that would give the community access to art.
The center, located at 1804 S. Washington Ave., in REO Town in Lansing, is positioned in a diverse urban area, Brinkman said.
“(Our) mission is to make art accessible, meaning mostly economically accessible,” Brinkman said. “Whether a child is from a low-income situation or not, everyone should have access to art.”
Brinkman said the center facilitates about 800 to 900 youth in a year’s time, according to a report she conducted in 2010.
The center offers summer camps, after-school programs and teen workshops, and it has an Art Truck, which transports art to places, such as schools or churches, bringing sessions to the youth in areas who would otherwise not have exposure to art.
Emily Nott, a Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and art education senior, works as an Art Truck coordinator at the center and led sessions on painting murals at two different locations Tuesday.
“In Lansing schools right now, budgets are tight — meaning art programs are usually the first to go,” she said. “I feel like (Art Truck) is a way to give creativity to kids who normally wouldn’t have it.”
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