CSC-sponsored community art project empowers Belle Glade students

This summer, students from Belle Glade explored their creative side as part of a community art project sponsored by Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County. 

To launch the project, the Council engaged Jose R. Mendez, a teaching artist and creative director of R. Dot Arts & Creative Agency. Mendez, a Lake Worth Beach native, partnered with The Boys and Girls Club Teen Center in Belle Glade, where more than 30 children engaged in the project, learning valuable lessons about the art world through hands-on art classes. The children explored acrylic paints, spray paint, clay and watercolor, using art as a way to express themselves and celebrate their community. Meanwhile, students from West Tech Construction Academy built the picnic tables.

The Teen Center youth chose four final designs to paint on the tables, which will be placed at the following Belle Glade locations:

Boys & Girls Club’s Smith & Moore Family Teen Center
341 SW 12th St.
(two tables)

Hand Park
500 W Canal St.

Louis James Butts Park
1224 SW Avenue E Pl.

To complete the project, Children’s Services Council will create weatherproof QR codes to be affixed to the tables, allowing families who use them to hear the story of the children who painted them and invite families to upload their own videos or messages on how and when they enjoyed use of the tables to share on the Council’s social channels. 

This is the second time the Council has partnered with local artists and other organizations to support a community art project. Last year, CSC partnered with Mendez to work with children in the Lake Worth community, where four youth-painted picnic tables now reside.

Click here to see the video of this year’s community art project in Belle Glade.

The Council would like to thank the following local partners for their support: Members, staff and leadership of the Boys & Girls Clubs and Smith & Moore Family Teen Center of Belle Glade; West Technical Education Center; the City of Belle Glade.