Textile artist Holly Swangstu vividly remembers her days as an art student at the Kansas City Art Institute, struggling to pay the rent and working menial jobs. Her story is not unlike millions of artists around the world who, through the centuries, have defined the term “starving artist.” But thanks to a program in Kansas City, Mo., called Studio 150, idealistic art students no longer have to starve while learning and practicing their craft.

Studio 150

“It would have been a dream for me to actually be paid to create while learning,” Swangstu says. Studio 150 offers arts-based job training for young artists in the five-county area of metropolitan Kansas City. For eight weeks each summer, professional artists supervise apprentice artists as they learn valuable job and artistic skills, create art and earn a paycheck. The approximately 40 students (ages 15 to 19) who participate each summer earn $7 per hour. Lead artists, who supervise 10 to 12 students, are paid a stipend based on their background and skill level.

“I like that it teaches accountability and job skills while creating art,” Swangstu says. “Too many artists don’t know the administrative, business side of their work and that lack of knowledge limits their success.”

Swangstu, who now owns a studio, gallery and school in the upscale Kansas City suburb of Leawood, worked for two years as an on-site coordinator for Studio 150 before being selected as a Lead Artist. Although the eight weeks she devotes to Studio 150 limits the time she can create her own products for sale, the media exposure the program receives benefits her career.

“My passion is hands-on interaction with people and art,” says Swangstu. “I get satisfaction out of inspiring others to create and appreciate a variety of creations.”

Studio 150 students work on art projects under the supervision of professionals in the field.

The concept of Studio 150 is to expose both artistic young people and the public to art. In Kansas City, the program was first held in a park south of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, but now is on the street corners of the city’s historic 18th and Vine jazz district. Business people, tourists and local residents encounter the art program under tents as they go about their business. Private foundations provide funding for the salaries, supplies and administrative costs.

Gallery 37

Studio 150 is one of nearly three dozen job-training programs for artists around the country based on a concept begun in Chicago called Gallery 37. Gallery 37 was initially conceived in 1991 as a summer jobs program located on a city block in downtown Chicago.

Since then, Gallery 37 has grown to offer year-round programs throughout the city through the parks program and the public schools. More than 4,000 young people participate annually in visual, literary, media, culinary and performing arts with support from public and private sources.

“One of the wonderful things about Gallery 37 is that it makes the process of art education and creativity very public,” says Miriam Socoloff, a painter and mosaic muralist who teaches in two Gallery 37 programs. “In a time when funding for the arts in public education is in jeopardy, I believe our presence makes funding more possible because the results are so visible and so positive to the public.”

An additional social benefit to the program is the inter-mingling of socio-economic, racial and ethnic students from the Chicago metro area. From Socoloff’s perspective, such intermingling creates students with a greater vision of the world around them while building self-esteem. “Students come together in a safe, nurturing environment where they shine,” says Socoloff. “Rarely is a visual arts student the popular ‘big man on campus’ in high school, but here they find the encouragement they need to flourish.”

One of those students was Lidia Hernandez, who entered a Gallery 37 mural program when she was 16. The success she experienced through that, and additional classes through the remainder of her high school career, convinced her to attend college at DePauw University, where she now has a degree in graphic design.

“This opened up to me so many disciplines in art to choose from,” Hernandez says. “By having teachers who have been there and done that, I knew more about what to expect in the work place and that I could succeed.”

Hernandez is employed full-time as a graphic designer. The emphasis Gallery 37 placed on job skills, like being to work on time and the necessity of interpersonal relationships, has been invaluable. The program has been a positive in Socoloff’s career as well.

“As an artist, I learn from the students,” she says. “I appreciate the opportunity to interact with other creative minds, to not be isolated in my work and to share ideas.”

RiverWalk Art Project

Positions for lead artists at Gallery 37 are open to Chicago residents only, but a few hours away in Anderson, Ind., a town of 50,000 residents, applications for RiverWalk Art Project are encouraged from artists around the country who wish to get away to rural America for a few weeks each summer. The salary range for artists for four weeks is $800 to $4,000, based on experience.

“Anyone with fresh ideas and energy is welcome,” says Beth Griner, economic development coordinator for RiverWalk. Here, corporate sponsors provide funding that allows about 40 art and drama students, grades seven to 12, to explore the potential of a career in art.

“Throughout the program, students visit all of the arts centers in our city and get to see what can be done with art,” Griner says. “They learn that art doesn’t necessarily hang in a museum and can become a viable career choice.”

RiverWalk students work under tents in the Citizen Plaza, an outdoor pedestrian center frequented by business people and visitors to the city. The public is invited to an end-of-program picnic that includes live music, student performances and an auction of student work. Half of the money from the auction goes back into the program, but students get to keep the other half.

“The RiverWalk Art Project is a wonderful part of the summer scene in our community,” Griner says. “Froman economic development perspective, it makes perfect sense to keep such efforts in place, not only for the students, but for the future of our community as well.”