Eight-year-old Makayla Fleming, a student at East Pilgrim Elementary School in Columbus Ohio, wants to be an artist when she grows up.

“I feel excited when making art because it is my favorite hobby, and because I want to be an artist when I grow up,” she says.

By participating in ArtSafe’s YouthGIFT (Gaining Insight from Tradition) program, Makayla is getting a jump start on her future career. YouthGIFT is a partnership program with providers of after-school programs to provide needed arts programming in supportive learning environments. Children between 5 and 13, like Makayla, are exposed to the visual arts, dance, oral history and writing under the guidance of experienced artists/instructors, staff and community volunteers. The children craft various projects and take field trips.

Some of the projects include the uplifting thoughts air balloon and sunshine personality project. The sunshine personality project helped participants look at the positive aspects of themselves as well as explore the different ways we express ourselves when we’re excited. Makayla’s favorite project was the uplifting thoughts air balloon, “because we made our own designs that look like a real air balloon.” This project had participants create a list of happy thoughts, and send positive messages to uplift spirits of themselves and others around them. The list was stored in the cabin of their balloon, and when they are feeling down, they can pull out the list and think about happy ideas. Her favorite field trip was to the Kings Art Complex, where she discovered many new pieces of art.

Makayla enjoys participating in the program because “we get to do a lot of fun activities. Instructors can help us if we don’t get it.”

The future looks bright for this budding artist. One ArtSafe instructor observed, “It’s been exciting watching her blossom into a reflective artist. It’s obvious she really enjoys the process of making art.”