Like every mother, I can’t help but marvel that this “baby” of mine has just completed its tenth 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 2002 we finally gave up the (midtown) ghost and moved to paradise: the Starret Lehigh Buidling on 26th Street. Overlooking the Hudson River – in our stunning studio that overflows with art supplies and the boundless energy of amazing young artists -- we now dance on sparkling white 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 Whitney – 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.

It’s going to be a spring of brilliantly imaginative explosions as HiArters divvy up their energies between the enchanting art of Takashi Murakami and Maurice Ravel’s opera of the enchanted, L’enfant et les Sortileges. Join us as frogs, cats, trees, cups, saucers and teapots burst into life in some of the 20th century’s most beautiful music. And in the studio we shall immortalize them in the most vivid of colors and the brightness of SUPERFLAT. Count the days!!!

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. On October 3, 2006, Time In --- a pioneering, non-profit venture under the auspices of the New York Foundation for the Arts - began its mission to bring children out of at-risk schools and into HiArt! on a weekly basis. Away with time outs and chatter about imagination, Time In offers children in underserved communities something real that they can hang onto, it’s about teaching children in ways that make 21st century sense: by engaging them and showing them that the world around them is indeed their world, not someone else's. I urge you to explore the Time In page on our website, and add your name or your company’s name to the list of contributors who support this exciting initiative. Making the world a better place for other people’s kids is the greatest gift we can give our own kids.

Big Kids continue to rule their roost. We’ve got the most happening manga studio in town - Manga Madness will be led by the lovely Yali Lin -- where kids can learn everything from simple faces to page design and the mysterious “tone.” For the more experienced big and bigger kids, Jazz-minh Moore brings on life-drawing and painting in wild, wacky and wonderful ways.   And a brand new Saturday afternoon class, Art in the Afternoon, gives HiArt! kids their own permanent arty party with London artist and theater designer, Caroline Thaw:  a chance to build model sets, design costumes, sculpt little people and dress them and illustrate until the cows come home. Stay tuned for new and exciting additions! And the brand new Big Beasts, Small Beasts with the brilliant sculptor, Nickolas Lascot.

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.

Last year, Culture Bugs! kids - big and small - left the real world for Fairyland. Benjamin Britten’s magical setting of Shakespeare’s Fairyland, that is. This year's project is still to be announced, but rest assured that we'll be exploring some incredible work of music in HiArt! style - loads of hands-on art and loads of inspiration. As always, the summer will be stacked with star-power artists in 2, 3 and 4D! hang onto your hats - more news to come!

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

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Check it out: Cyndie writes 4 books for Scholastic’s KidSketch!
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And catch our Manga class with illustrator Yali Lin!
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