Chicago jobs program gives young artists a chance

CHICAGO (Reuters) -- Moses Hidalgo was speechless when he landed his dream summer job. "I was so excited I couldn't say anything. I always wanted to work here," he said.

The 16-year-old high school student competed with more than a thousand other applicants to earn one of 650 positions at the Gallery 37 job training program.

Launched in 1991, Gallery 37 hires city residents between the ages of 14 and 21 to apprentice in the arts. Its downtown portion operates in a vacant block in the Chicago Loop, where some of the most beautiful U.S. high-rise building architecture is located. It sits in the shadow of office buildings and across the street from the Marshall Field's flagship department store.

Under 14 oversized white tents, 450 young people work from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every day. Each tent is dedicated to a different artistic discipline and sponsored by a Chicago arts group or foundation.

Professional or "lead" artists teach apprentices in their areas of expertise, which include dance, music and painting.

Hidalgo works in the architecture tent, where he is studying the Empire State building in New York city, tracing the outline of the structure to get a better feel for its shape. Chicago's Sears Tower has commissioned a series of drawings from the tent, which the world's second-tallest building will display.

Hidalgo was eager for a job at Gallery 37 because, unlike his friends stuck in summer school, he is getting paid -- most of the apprentices make the minimum wage, or $5.15 an hour -- to do something he enjoys.

While some curious onlookers poke their heads through the decorative fence that surrounds the park to catch a better glimpse of a dance lesson, others take advantage of the open-to the-public-policy and wander around the grounds to observe the artists up close.

On a recent visit, Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" drifted from the jazz band's tent as one of the lead artists in narrative art leaned over to critique an apprentice's work.

"I love the chair in her ear," Paula Henderson told a girl drawing a tiara of objects around her subject's face. Henderson has been with Gallery 37 since 1994. Under her supervision, apprentices learn to tell a story through painting.

She recognizes that many of the apprentices will not become professional artists themselves, but Henderson and the other professionals at Gallery 37 are teaching the young people transferable skills that they may not be learning at home.

"A lot of the kids come from dysfunctional situations," Henderson said. "They see people start and quit or get fired from jobs."

Forty percent of the downtown program participants come from low-income families. Federal funding and private donations pay apprentices' salaries, and the program retains the artists' work to sell in Gallery 37's store.

The apprentices have access to workshops on filling out college applications, job interviewing and resume writing.

Gallery 37 has been so successful that almost two dozen cities across the United States and abroad, from Tucson, Arizona, to Adelaide, Australia, have replicated the program.

Although imitation is one form of flattery, some might argue the biggest compliments to Gallery 37 come from apprentices.

After spending just two weeks in the programme, one young artist asked a visitor from the program's administration office if he could be in the exact same tent with the same apprentices and Henderson next year.

Henderson was unfazed by his enthusiasm. "We do try to make them love each other," she said.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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