Ex-pro player’s hoops league and art draw ever more kids

As a former pro player with the Universal Basketball Association, Arelious Cooper knew the “paint” was the name of the area from the baseline to the free throw line on a court. So when he launched a youth-oriented nonprofit a year ago, he drew on that connection to create Art in the Paint, a southwest Atlanta-based organization that meets kids where they often are: on basketball courts.

The idea for the nonprofit came after jogging up Stone Mountain one day, and a woman stopped him to ask about the carving. As he explained the representation of Confederate generals, he was struck by the thought of using art in a more positive way.

“I wanted to use art to uplift people rather than making them feel bad,” he said. “Where could I do that? Well, one place where I had influence in my community was on the basketball court.”

The graduate of Fulton County’s Westlake High went to check out some of the public courts in his area.

“I’d played on some of them when I was younger,

and they were in the worst condition,” he said. “I came up with a plan to paint them and add lighting.”

The makeovers also included murals with social justice themes created by local artists. But it wasn’t long before Cooper had a second insight.

“I realized that, realistically, basketball courts don’t help people; programming does,” he said. “So I went to NPU (Neighborhood Planning Unit) meetings to find out what else was needed.” That led to the organization offering COVID-19 testing, registering voters, hosting a speakers series, helping kids with reading and orga- nizing a league that now has about 630 young players and is gearing up to host its first girls’ basketball camp.

“One of the easiest ways to keep a kid coming back is through a league,” said Coo

per. “So along with having speakers and mentors come and talk to them, we also do art projects and have a lot of fun.”

Much of the programming takes place on and around the courts. “I started with the mindset of making the courts look better, but now we’re turning them into community centers without walls.”

Cooper’s efforts were recently bolstered by a $20,000 grant from the Quest Rookie Challenge. He was one of four individuals who received funding for ideas that help others.

“It’s been really exciting that they selected my project,” said Cooper. “Now we’re refurbishing more courts and going deeper into our programming. We have projects coming up in northwest Atlanta, East Point, College Park and Marietta. And we want to offer it everywhere.”

COURTESY Former pro basketball player Arelious Cooper founded Art in the Paint to refurbish public courts in southwest Atlanta and build community around them.