(bright music) >> Melissa: HAPA stands for the Hammond Arts and Performance Academy.

We are a magnet arts program that is here in School City of Hammond.

The program really focuses on the arts and allows students to study in those specific areas.

>> Hannah: For over 65 years, the Chesterton Arts Center has been home in the Duneland area and it has been an organization deeply rooted in education and arts education for the community.

>> Dr. Dionne: DancExcel is about excellence in the arts.

DancExcel is about excellence in general.

I think we have had a mission to instill a sense of respect and pride in being great.

>> Dale: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Narrator: Family, home, work, self, of all the things you take care of, make sure you're near the top of the list.

NorthShore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess and put yourself first.

From medical to dental, vision, chiropractic and mental health, NorthShore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running, so make sure to take care of yourself.

NorthShore Health Centers, building a healthy community, one patient at a time.

(light music) >> Narrator: "Eye On The Arts" is made possible in part by South Shore Arts, the John W. Anderson Foundation, and the Indiana Arts Commission, making the arts happen.

Additional support for Lakeshore Public Media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(light music) (upbeat music) >> HAPA stands for the Hammond Arts and Performance Academy.

We are a magnet arts program that is here in School City of Hammond.

So we have programs both here and at Hammond Central.

At HAPA, we have what we call majors.

So the students then kind of choose a major that they want to focus in.

We have vocal arts.

We have band and orchestra.

Guitar, piano, rock band is a newer major for us and it's doing really well.

Dance is a major, both acting and technical theater.

And then also visual arts is a major that we have students focus on too.

(upbeat music) The program really focuses on the arts and allow students to study in those specific areas.

While other schools and districts and states even are cutting arts programs, Hammond doubled down in 2010 and said, "You know, this is an important part for our students," and decided to help us make that a reality.

(energetic music) >> I didn't feel like I joined.

Once I got here, it was just like, they gave me a schedule.

I was like, "All right, let's find my classes."

And eventually I joined the dance team and then I was like, "Well, I love this.

This is something I wanna pursue.

This is something I wanna continue doing.

I just love it."

You could go at your own level.

It was your own speed.

It was so encouraging because I didn't know what I was gonna do.

Never knew what I was gonna accomplish.

Never knew what I loved, my passion and all this.

So joining all these classes, just having somewhere to go, be able to talk to people that have the same interests and stuff like that, it was just like, "This is what I wanna do."

Now I'm here and I love it.

>> I would say it's a little more than just an art program for a lot of people.

It's like a experience.

For instance, some of the people in our orchestra program, our theater program, they were put there because they wanted to be there.

And HAPA is a great experience and I wish that almost every student could experience HAPA.

They get to see things.

They get to do things that they wouldn't normally do.

And it's something that a lot of people need, I think.

Well, when I first started music, decided to play brass instrument to start, and I asked my teacher and he said, "Play trombone 'cause we got too many trumpets."

I said, "All right," and I did.

And I got really good at it pretty quickly.

I think it makes me happier as a person to be able to entertain people, you know what I mean?

I love entertaining people and music is a form of entertainment.

I get to show off my piano skills, for instance.

When I'm in rock band, I get to sing.

I love rock band.

I think it's a great thing.

Concert band, one of the fun things about concert band is that you get to see all aspects of students, 'cause all aspects of students get to come in there.

Then they find out, "Oh, wow, this is very fun."

(energetic music) (light music) >> I would say that students are very much engaged when they are passionate about something.

So, if students have a reason to come to school, if students have a reason to keep their grades up, which we want them to do, ultimately you're here to graduate.

And if being in a dance class because you want to be in dance class, 'cause you want to be in whatever show we're doing, and that can inspire them to do those academics, yes, let's have that focus for them.

One of the things that we say as part of our vision is that we want to prepare and inspire artists of the future.

And not only artists, but audiences as well.

You learn so many other things by doing the arts as well and teamwork and being responsible for other people and yourself and making sure that you're prepared.

All of these things are things that we know employers are looking for and what colleges are looking for.

And so, great, these are things that the arts and our programs are teaching kids how to do.

So if we can do that through something they love, like guitar, like piano, like singing, then great.

You know, they'll learn it even better because they're passionate about that one particular thing.

So let's throw in some other little life lessons that they don't know that they're getting until later (chuckles), you know.

>> Honestly, I think it's just the passion, you know what I mean?

I mean, everybody has a passion for something, you know.

You all have to, everybody needs to find one, they all need to find one.

Everybody has one.

They just don't know where it is, you know what I mean?

For me, I think it was in music, you know what I mean?

And of course, there's other things I like, but music is kinda just that thing.

It's just kinda like driving me and driving me.

And then one of the best things about music that kinda pulls me forward is the more I put myself into other situations that are forms of music, the better I get at one form of music, which makes me even further wanna do other things.

Even when I don't want to do something, I know in the back of my head I'm like, "One day this is gonna pull off.

This is gonna be a good reason.

You're gonna do this for a reason."

You know what I mean?

And that passion is just like deep rooted.

It's my love for music.

I get very excited about those things and it just pulls out something in me, you know what I mean?

When I see people dancing and acting, all that stuff, all the arts, they just pull me in.

That's what made HAPA so special.

That's why I decided to take that as my major, you know.

>> Looking back at all the old things that I did, it was like, "Okay, well, you took ballet, now you're doing this, now you're doing modern."

It's like all those different things I can go take somewhere else.

They'll see the background that I have.

I wanna keep doing this.

I wanna pursue it.

So I'm looking into colleges for dance.

Just this program showed me all of this and look where I am now.

So it's like joining another program that's even higher in education, but looked like a lot of fun.

You learn what you love.

You watch yourself grow so much.

You watch yourself become this person that it's like, "Whoa, where did that person come from?

I didn't know that person two years ago.

Who is this now?"

So I think HAPA, it shows you how you can grow.

You step in that room, that studio, this auditorium, the stage, you step on it and it's just like, I'm doing what I love.

(gentle music) (lighthearted music) >> For over 65 years, the Chesterton Art Center has been home in the Duneland area and it has been an organization deeply rooted in education and arts education for the community.

(lighthearted music) You know, because of the history of the organization, there are generational stories to tell.

So we see adults who are bringing their kids to classes when they came here as a kid.

And so they understand the joy that it brought them and that they're now bringing their kids to experience that with us as well.

I mean, that's a huge gift for us, to watch that.

There are kids who have been in our afterschool classes with Jen Aitchison for years, and then they grow 'cause their age ranged and we watch them grow from the little guys to the older kids, to the tweens, to the teens, and then into going to teen arts groups.

We get to see artists exhibit with us repeatedly and kind of watch their process change and their bodies of work transform and grow.

There's something about the length of time that we've been here, that we just get to see these little arcs.

>> As program director, it's really my job and my goal to provide educational opportunities for people of all ages.

Our classes start at three years old.

We have a preschool program where the little ones can come in and they get to paint and have fun and make something, some teen classes.

And then from there, we offer tons of adult classes and we have people who join us all the way up into their nineties.

The Youth Arts Outreach, which serves 150 kids a week approximately, what happens there is we go to these afterschool programs.

The kids get completely free art classes.

We try to keep topics that have like a STEM or a STEAM component.

So they make some art and then they learn something else and it all ties in together.

It's another language.

It's another form of communication.

It's a way to tell stories.

It's a way to share emotions.

It's a way to connect with other people.

Art really is science and math and engineering all come together into one thing.

You can't create art without all those other elements.

The way to go and experiment and be fearless and make mistakes with no consequences.

It's a way to accept that mistake and move on and learn also that mistakes can also lead to beautiful and unexpected things.

(light music) ♪ Ah ♪ >> Well, I moved to Chesterton about 15, 20 years ago, and I decided to take a painting class.

One of the reasons, I needed to know more about it, but also because I was new, I figured it'd be a way to meet people too.

So, I did the painting and then, because the other students, when you talk in class, you find out, "Oh, my gosh, you know, I'm not the only one going through this."

And that's the welcoming part with the Chesterton Art Center.

(light music) >> Every time I would come out to a reception, it would always be people who were older, much more older than I am.

And so to be able to have something such as the Emerging Artists Society, it was very, very eye-opening for me to know that there are other artists my age, and that they're also trying to make a name for themselves and make work and get themselves out there.

There are many locations that don't have that type of hub, as you would say, to be able to let the youth connect with art in the way how places like big city, in Chicago, art is all over the place in Chicago.

And when you think about Indiana, you don't really think about that.

And so for here in Indiana, it's more about, "Oh, I need to find this," because it's not something that is often talked about, I feel.

And so for a place like Chesterton to offer a lot of classes for the youth and for the teens and even have ease, it's perfect because there are children and teens who love making art.

I remember when I was a child, I loved making art.

And for Chesterton to have those classes and to have ease, it's very wonderful to have those type of things available for groups of all ages.

(light music) >> Well, it started out because I work on school from home and I don't really have anyone to talk to other than people I live with, and that got kinda boring.

So I decided I want to leave the house and, you know, do something.

And I wound up here.

I've never really been a social person, but I feel like as I'm getting older, I'm starting to enjoy socializing more.

This has been a good way to socialize because a lot of the people here are very, very nice people.

You know, we'll talk to each other from time to time and then just go back to work.

It's pretty relaxing atmosphere, I think.

I've made a few acquaintances here and a few friends that I hang with outside of the art center.

I just like talking to my friends.

That's like the main selling point for me.

(light music) >> I think that there's a joy.

We talk about like our organizational values a lot and we talk about the mission of the organization.

And the truth is that we hold one of our organizational values as joy and we mean it.

So I think that what we get to see is people that really can find some respite here, bit of creative home.

I certainly see the impact on the kids that we work with.

When you're working with a young person and sometimes when they get older, it gets a little bit quieter, the transformations.

But I mean, I see what our teen arts group struggles, you know, with the challenges that we present them with building public art for the community.

I mean, that's not an easy task, but they collaborate and they persevere.

And I think that art teaches us that, as well as how to connect and just in general be better humans.

So I think that if we kind of hold that with all the things that we offer, then yeah.

I mean, we get to see the best of folks.

(light music) >> Dr. Dionne: DancExcel is about excellence in the arts.

DancExcel is about excellence in general.

I think we have had a mission to instill a sense of respect and pride in being great, not being perfect.

Absolutely contributing the best of what you have to the things that you do.

(light music) >> DancExcel Champion Center for Creative Art Education offers dynamic programming in the arts for all ages.

We have through this from two all the way up until whenever, 30 and plus.

I started as a student first in 2013.

I was offered the opportunity to come be a part of "The Spirit of the Baobab Tree," which is one of our most important productions that we do.

And from there, I wanted to take classes because the environment was so amazing and so welcoming.

There's never been a place quite like this.

Like as soon as you walk in, you know that there's something great happening.

The spirit, the atmosphere, the love that you get as soon as you walk into the door.

And then when I walked into this space, it was amazing.

Dr. Dionne was teaching choreography, and I'm like, "I've never seen anything like this before."

That kept me, as I enter into this position, I try to keep that same spirit going with our students now.

I can only speak from my perspective of what it meant for me to be a teenager in spaces like this.

It saved me, you know.

So I only hope that what I do and what our staff does, we help save these kids.

You know what I'm saying?

Because in Gary, in East Chicago, Hammond, and this entire area, they can be doing a lot of things, but this space offers them, like I said earlier, an outlet, you know.

And we harp on good grades here.

That's a part of our foundation.

You wanna be intelligent and you wanna be creative, you know.

So we do our best to merge those things.

We have tutoring.

We make sure that homework is being done.

So I think this space is just, again, for a lot of our kids, they don't have a good home foundation.

They don't have what they need.

So this space offers that to them.

A student comes in and you could tell they're reluctant in some ways, whether it's shy, whether it's anger, sometimes you get that, and then by the time the end of rehearsal or the end of the first month that they're here, they're leading, they're smiling, they're walking in and saying, "Warmups start right now."

They're taking over.

And that's for me as an instructor, teacher, artist, whatever it can be, when I see that the student now becomes the teacher, we've done our job.

When they can walk in and say, "Denzel doesn't have to be here."

"Daria doesn't have to be here."

"Miss Dionne doesn't have to be here, I'm here."

You know?

And that for me shows that there's some type of transferrable learning going on, because if they only remain students, what was the purpose?

(light music) >> I was born and raised in Gary, Indiana.

I grew up dancing, so when I was less than two years old, my mother and father noticed that I would walk around on my toes all the time.

So they were like, "Yep, put her in some dance classes."

And they brought me to this building on 2345 Grant Street and signed me up for dance classes, ballet classes, with a woman named Corinne Morris Williams.

Corinne had been teaching in the city of Gary since she was 11 years old.

She became my first dance teacher.

I stayed and took classes at Corinne's dance studio from the time I was two all the way through high school.

During that time, I also fell in love with not only dance, but math and science.

And I went to and graduated from Emerson School for the Visual and Performing Arts in 1994, valedictorian of my class because I was just really engaged with math and science and dance.

And so I did really well in that program.

Having an inherent love for movement and dance and expressing things through movement and simultaneously an inherent love for logic and math and science, and questioning why things were in the world the way they were.

And for my entire academic career, I was pushed to think of those things as completely separate.

I was told that I was gonna have to choose a path, that I couldn't be great in both, that I couldn't do both, that one was gonna sacrifice the other, and that I was gonna have to choose.

And I fundamentally rejected that my entire life because I've always felt like all of those things are core to who I am and how I make sense of the world.

And so part of this is just me on this mission to help people understand that this is a valid way of making sense in the world.

And not only is it valid, but it's super helpful.

There are things that dancing will help you understand about science and math that other things just will not.

They're things that math and science can help you understand about yourself as a dancer that there's just not a lot of other pathways to get to those ways of understanding.

♪ Whoo ♪ ♪ Whoo-ooh ♪ ♪ Whoo ♪ >> To realize that not only are you passing down artistic skills and disciplines and things that are gonna support students in being productive in whatever path they choose, whether it's through the arts and dance or through anything else.

Knowing that you have the opportunity to shape lives in a way that they not only feel like they can come and contribute and make a difference, but they're in a position to do that, to continue to pass the torch, it's like the most meaningful thing in the world to me, because it means that my vision can keep going whether I'm here or not.

That Corinne's vision can continue whether she's here or not.

And I think that's what we're all trying to do.

That's the reason for being here, right, on earth, to be able to continue to exist and to have your name and your ideas and your visions and the things that you pass on still continue to affect people positively even after you're gone.

And I think that is a legacy that has persisted as I've seen our students go out into the world feeling comfortable and confident enough in themselves and their abilities, that they can go out and make a positive difference.

Knowing that even if they don't know something, they can put themselves in the position where they can ask a question or go get more information or learn enough so that they can go and accomplish the tasks that they really wanna do, the things that they set their minds to.

I think above all, that's the legacy.

♪ Moon mother ♪ ♪ Open your arms ♪ ♪ Moon mother ♪ ♪ This magic's just begun ♪ >> We've done so many great things, but even beyond that, I look at our students now and I'm like, "Wow, you guys really are gifted."

And now it's up to our generation to come and pour into that.

Somebody had to pour into me, Ms. Dionne, Dr. Leon Kendrick, who was my teacher at East Chicago Central High School.

They took it upon themselves to pour into not only me, but hundreds and thousands of students.

And I think now it's my responsibility to give that to the next generation.

>> Dale: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Narrator: Family, home, work, self, of all the things you take care of, make sure you're near the top of the list.

NorthShore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess, and put yourself first.

From medical to dental, vision, chiropractic and mental health, NorthShore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running, so make sure to take care of yourself.

NorthShore Health Centers, building a healthy community, one patient at a time.

(light music) >> Narrator: "Eye On The Arts" is made possible in part by South Shore Arts, the John W. Anderson Foundation, and the Indiana Arts Commission, making the arts happen.

Additional support for Lakeshore Public Media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(light music) (dramatic music) >> You really have to think about how do you support a child through all the developmental aspects of life.

>> When we have those positive relational experiences and we learn that we're worthy and it's a safe place to be and that there's hope in the world, we take that with us.

>> It is really a learning process between two people and that's what building a relationship is all about.

That's such a satisfying and bonding thing for you and your child.

You feel it and your child feels it too.

And if a child receives comfort, support, nurturance, and protections, then they learn safety, security, trust, and hope.

And think about what a world we would live in.

(dramatic music) >> Narrator: A $100,000 matching grant generously provided by the Legacy Foundation will double your contribution today.

Building Blocks, a community investment with everlasting returns.

>> Narrator: Across Northwest Indiana, stories are told, shared and sought after.

Tune into Lakeshore Public Media 89.1 FM to hear these stories about Northwest Indiana and your community, streaming online at LAKESHOREPUBLICMEDIA.org.

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(upbeat music) (bright music) (lighthearted music)