Avanti High School pairs students with artists for real-world experiences in creativity

Internships with local artists are opening up opportunities for students at Olympia’s Avanti High School.

The Avanti Creative Enterprise program, or ACE, is in its second year, and it gives junior and senior art students real-world experiences working alongside teaching artists.

“We’re connecting some of the best artists in town with some of the most creative students,” said artist and educator Evan Horback, who launched the pilot program in collaboration with Avanti art teacher Cecily Schmidt. “It’s electric. Sometimes as an educator you just need to get out of the way. … The students are hustling in the world. They are setting up shows. They are exhibiting their work.”

The program allows the student artists to get outside of the classroom and see different ways to be an artist, Schmidt says in a video about the program. “Art has the power to transform society, and I think this program can be a really powerful transformative force,” she says

The eight students participating in the program and the artists working with them will be part of a collaborative Arts Walk show April 26 and 27 at the Olympia Knitting Mills, an effort that received one of the city’s Arts Walk Innovation Awards.

“We were excited to win an award,” said J. Hukee, who’s been working with students on printing and printmaking in her studio at the Knitting Mills. “I imagine we will have an Arts Walk show with the students every year, whether here or somewhere else.”

“The biggest benefit I’ve seen for students is their overall confidence in themselves as artists,” Schmidt told The Olympian. “They come out of the program with more artistic experience and also a more solid sense of who they are as artists, with a network of support within and beyond the school walls.”

Hukee has been working with three students, teaching them about printmaking and letterpress printing. The other teaching artists, paired with one student each, are Diana Fairbanks, Kathy Gore-Fuss, Roxana Groves, David Hoekje (whose work is featured on this spring’s Arts Walk map) and Kelsey Smith, who runs Community Print.

Nico Kalama-Archer, 16 and a junior, has been working with Hukee.

“Before this, I didn’t really know how printing worked or that it was even an option,” Kalama-Archer said. “I really like it, and I hope to keep doing it. Having the opportunity to learn from someone who has been doing it a long time is really cool.”

“I liked learning about how to use the press and the challenges that come with it,” said Natalya Hayes, who’s also working with Hukee. The 16-year-old junior isn’t sure whether she wants to make art a career, but she does hope to write a graphic novel.

Many of the teaching artists have brought in other artists to work with the students. “It’s been really cool connecting with other artists,” Kalama-Archer said. “Hukee had one of her friends do a printing class, and that was really cool.”

“It’s common for interns and teaching artists to continue to have meaningful relationships after the program is officially over,” Schmidt said. “I believe these intergenerational connections are key in building a vibrant and thriving creative economy in Olympia.”

“This is not a program that is being initiated just from within Avanti or within the school district,” Horback said. “The community is coming together to create accessible opportunities for students who want to engage in a future in the arts or a career in the arts. We want to partner with arts organizations and the city.”

He’s aiming to serve those who might face barriers in accessing arts experiences and education and support the next generation in contributing to the arts. He’s looking for more funding to make that happen.

So far, the program has been funded with grants from ArtsWA and Mastery Based Learning and is getting administrative support from Enterprise for Equity. But even with that, Horback finds himself working partly as a contractor and partly as a volunteer.

“Right now, the arts are in a precarious position,” he said. “Despite the obstacles and barriers, we have a lot of conviction that this is needed not just at Avanti and in the school district, but also for the city of Olympia.”

Avanti High School students at Arts Walk

• What: Avanti High School students and the teaching artists they’ve been working with will exhibit their work as part of Arts Walk.

• When: 5-9 p.m. Friday, April 26, and noon-4 p.m. Saturday, April 27

• Where: Olympia Knitting Mills, 508 Legion Way SE, Olympia