CREATIVE ADAPTATION
Center for Creative Education ‘immediately pivoted’ when pandemic hit
When the coronavirus hit in March, the Center for Creative Education “immediately pivoted,” recognizing the need for creating programs to promote wellness and support the greater Kingston community in the safest way it possibly could, Executive Director Drew Andrews said recently.
“A lot of people are hungry, we’re feeding them. A lot of other organizations, like People’s Place, are doing their due diligence as well. It’s no time to sit and complain. It’s time to get to work and that’s what we’re here for,” Andrews said.
“Our summer programming flowed directly from the necessity of developing physical initiatives under the conditions of COVID. … This included six weeks of Summer Youth Enrichment programs, and a twoweek Arts Intensive program. In both instances, we were limited in the number of students we could serve. We took temperatures and hand sanitized every child upon entry,” a report written by the CCE states.
With the start of school, the CCE’s Project ACCESS, a dropoff program tailored to students’ needs, anxieties and concerns in the midst of the pandemic has begun, Andrews said. It serves 62 students in pre-K through eighth grade. Andrews calls it a “micro-school.”
“To me right now it’s a matter of how we begin to help each other and make sense of what’s happening in the world. … This is the time a community steps up,” Andrews said. “This is what I really feel and what our partners feel. You’ve got to step up
for the community or it won’t work well.”
The center’s emphasis on health and safety continues.
“We follow the CDC’s guidelines. Temperature. We sanitize everything all of the time. The place is beginning to smell like a hospital,” Andrews said during a phone interview.
In addition to sanitation, Andrews said students and staff work in pods. “It makes it easy just in case there is ever a breakout so that there can be contact tracing,” he said.
Registration is required for Project ACCESS participants, Andrews said.
The COVID-19 pandemic coincided with CCE’s long-anticipated move to Energy Square, at 16 Cedar St. in Midtown Kingston, a community center and mixed-income housing complex built by RUPCO that provides 12,000 square feet for CCE programs, he said.
“We use every square foot of it,” Andrews said of the new space, f rom multi- purpose rooms to “state- of-the-art studios” for recording, dance, yoga, and “in-person and virtual technologies,” a bank of 30 computers for education and gaming, a music room, a podcasting space and a “thinking room” where, among other things, youth work on conflict resolution skills. And the list goes on.
In partnership with Family of Woodstock and the Kingston School District, the center provides free breakfast and lunch to students who may not be able to attend school in person and
whose parents or guardians are unable to stay home with them.
Andrews said students at CCE have access to certified teachers, social workers and guidance counselors and are provided a structured, full-day experience, as well as after-school and evening programming.
The program is essential because “parents and grandparents are overwhelmed right now,” Andrews said. “A lot of youth are at risk. Their families are desperate.”
“While dance and drumming are areas that CCE is passionate about, Creative Education has always been our driving idea,” and the center strives to continually expand its offerings and serve every child and adult who comes through its doors, Andrews said.
The center’s offerings include teen hip hop, youth hip hop, jazz technique, drumming, family groove, soul line dancing, dance xross fitness, Energy Dance Company, and P.O.O.K.. is in addition to chess, guitar, DJ and musical technology offerings.
While it is primarily known for Kingston-focused events and activities, the CCE continues to serve the residents of the poorest parts of the city, Andrews said the organization also partners with Ellenville, Saugerties and Rondout schools, community health providers, local food banks, the Everett Hodge Center, the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club, and Family of Woodstock.
Just as COVID-19 forced the CCE and so many others to adapt, the center has partnered with Bard College students, some of whom provide virtual mentoring and instruction to special needs kids, Andrews said.
He said that many CCE kids, particularly those who have challenging home lives, find it hard to fit in with their peers, or struggle with communicating their thoughts and feelings and can “find solace, acceptance, comfort, strength, compassion and encouragement at CCE.”
Beginning this week, the CCE will start its Extended Day Program from 3 to 6 p.m., along with a “limited capacity” drop-in program. Included will be the Read & Write program offered by Teresa Thomas-Washington in which children will be required to read books and write about them for 45 minutes after school and before getting to “run around and play,” Andrews said.
For a f ull listing of classes, clubs and events at CCE’s Energy Square location, visit cce4m.org. Andrews said 98% of the families who send children to the CCE are unable to pay and no one is turned away.