Like every mother, I can’t help but marvel that this “baby” of mine has just begun its sixteenth year. HiArt!’s first semester consisted of one good-natured two-year old and his parents, my daughter, my husband and me in a quite dingy midtown dance studio. Everything we needed for class had to come, each week, with me. Picture me: tv, boom box, cassettes and my gigantic shopping bags of art supplies in hand. Surely I was the bane of every cab driver in New York City: an art-crazed shopping bag lady loading this huge cartful of supplies in and out of a taxi smack in the middle of midtown traffic. Nonetheless, we had the grandest of times : dancing away to Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, we created spectacular art drawn from the images of fallible saints and the angels watching over them.

In our stunning studio that overflows with art supplies and the boundless energy of amazing young artists -- we dance on sparkling floors and sully them daily with masses of paint, glitter and every conceivable art supply imaginable. The entire city is our art-oyster: whether it’s Chelsea, or Brooklyn, or uptown at the Guggenheim – HiArt! kids don’t just look at art, they “climb inside of it.” We’ve danced to Pipilotti Rist, jumped under Christo’s gates, been part of Albert Maysles documentary, made animations from food, chatted with Thomas Struth, worked on a community mosaic in Harlem, been on the stage – so many times – of the New York City Opera and immersed ourselves in the brilliant music of composers from Rameau to Prokofiev, from Schoenberg to Babbit.

At HiArt! there's a permanent big dream: to nurture a generation of kids as they grow in breadth, skill and insight. 2012 is well underway and we are bursting with energy and plans! In some seemingly prehistoric time, let's just say over a decade ago, I sang the role of Cendrillon in a tiny, no longer existent theater in Chelsea, and all the HiArt! kids came and were riveted. For me, and clearly for all the kids who came to see it, Massenet's music and the way he unfolds plot is totally captivating. So out with the glass slippers:  Opera 'N Art revisits this very different version of the Cinderella fairy tale. (And yes, boys love it too!)  Then hop, hop, hop we go - sketchbooks in hand - into the world of today's most provocative contemporary art scene. Galleries, museums. Wherever great modern art goes, so go we! Think your kid is too young? Or too old? Think again! Mine started before she was 2 and look at her now: a sophomore in the honors program at the School of Visual Arts, a fabulous artist who's sold thousands of dollars of art to help support Time In and a HiArt! teacher to boot!

As kids grow, so does HiArt!.  And we've devised plenty of ways for Bigger Kids to spread their wings -- all the way through middle school! Like real working artists do it? That’s what the Bigger Kids classes are about. We’ve got the most happening manga studio in town: Now you can come to class on Thursday, Friday and/or Saturday and have THREE different, amazing teachers!  There’s Manga Madness with Yali Lin  on Thursday, Manga Stories with Ashley Silva & Zoe Greenbaum on Fridays, and  Zoe’s Mangathon on Saturday. And, if you want to branch out more broadly into comics, come spend some time with the fabulous Maggie Siegel Berele!  Or, if you like to build, Sculpture with Mallory Breiner could be right up your alley, or come on over and Paint! with JJ Manford, or Photography with Tempest Neucollins.  I mean, if you're over 6, you can spend every day of your life at HiArt! and take advantage of these once in a lifetime opportunities to work with the art stars of tomorrow!  Please mommy, can I go too???? 

Need inspiration? You'll find it here! Whether during the school year, at one of the many Holiday Camps still to come this Spring, or during the summer at Culture Bugs!, HiArt!'s incredible programs for the arts-savviest kids in the city are not to be missed!

By now you’ve probably figured out that HiArt! is not your neighborhood art program. The impact our work has made on the thousands of families who have crossed our threshold since 1997 is enormous. “HiArt! has changed our lives,” parents say, and children badger their parents until they can come back again and again. Which is why, in addition to all our regular classes, camps and activities, we’ve decided to bring another “child” into the world. Her name is Time In, and she’s devoted to bringing more HiArt! to more children in New York City than ever before.

Six years ago, The Time In Children’s Arts Initiative began bringing children out of at-risk schools and into HiArt! every single week as part of their regular school day. Not a modified, scaled-down HiArt! for poor kids, but exactly the same fabulous HiArt! that your own kids know and love. Opera ‘N Art, live performance, gallery hops and museum visits. The whole shebang. Every kid in the class, every single week of the school year. And the entire program is privately funded.

Making the world a better place for other people’s kids is the greatest gift we can give our own kids. Without your help we can’t make it happen. With your help we can change the world. Add your name to our list of donors in honor of your own child. Just click here to make an artful difference in some very wonderful — but hugely underserved - kids’ lives: www.hiartkids.com/

Then follow our amazing progress on Facebook -- and watch your dollars at work!

Think ahead to summer: registrations piled in this year for Culture Bugs! – HiArt!’s brilliant and exhilarating summer arts program for kids from 3-13. Children who love creating and exploring are in their element here. Every moment of our day is an adventure: whether it’s making art, dancing, interacting with music, visiting galleries, drawing, painting, thinking, playing or just hanging with new friends and shooting the breeze. Little kids come for half day with an adult companion; big kids – K and up – can come on their own for a full day of the “Best Children’s Arts Program” in New York.

Summer is prime HiArt! Time. Kids are rested and ready to make, see and do with gusto! Last year, Culture Bugs! kids were immersed in marvel after marvel:  Poulenc's settings of surrealist texts, Deep Sea diving with Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko, Layered Landscapes and Painting with Tempest, Earthshaking Bookmaking with Becky Brown, Manga with Yali, Hyeondo and Zoe. This year? Wait and see! As always, the summer will be stacked with star-power artists in 2, 3 and 4D! hang onto your hats - more news to come! Keep your eyes open for details, registration is now open for the summer! Be there or be square!

Since 1997 we‘ve been the city’s mainstay of real arts programming for young children. In fact, in a poll taken by Go City Kids, parents unequivocally answered that Hi Art! is the place to come to develop your kids’ “Inner Picasso.” As New York Magazine said, “It’s time to get with the plan.” If you and your child have never been here before, we look forward to welcoming you!

With promises for another magical year of the highest art at the Best Children’s Arts Program in New York!

Cyndie Bellen-Berthézène
Founder and Director
HiArt! + Time In

Paint! with JJ Manford begins April 8th!
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Opera 'N Art! presents Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko for Spring 2012
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They're Wild, They're Wacky: Check Out Our Holiday Camps!  More info

Culture Bugs 2013!  
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Andreas had a fantastic time! Thanks again for running the best art program in NYC. :-)

    -Stephanie Johnson

Check it out: Cyndie writes 4 books for Scholastic’s KidSketch!  More info

Amazing art to benefit Time In is still for sale! Call for more info!
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