ATLANTA — An Atlanta nonprofit is keeping students on the campus of HBCUs over the summer, dozens of whom are working on a mural.
Kaliyah Sanders brings a fresh perspective to painting.
“It’ll be fine! You can always turn your mistakes into beauty,” the fifth grader said.
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She’s one of 50 fifth graders working together to bring a mural to life.
Professional artist Lavan Wright is their teacher.
“Being able to connect with people through art is special,” he said.
It’s part of a special summer camp on the campus of Spelman College in Atlanta called Camp HBCYouth.
“Only 5% of Black children actually attend camp in the U.S., so we want to increase that number with Camp HBCYouth, as well as expanding to all HBCUs,” cofounder Brian Wright said.
Three years ago, both Brian Wright and his brother, Lavan Wright, decided to bring children from underserved communities to local HBCUs to have fun and to learn.
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The nonprofit’s project has grown every summer, and this year Walmart provided a $15,000 grant so the kids could learn about large-scale public art and learn how to work together to create it.
Kaliyah Sanders says she has learned a lot from the professional artist, and from her fellow campers.
“They had art. They’ve done art. But at the same time, they were like, ‘You’re creative. You can do this,’” she said.
Over the summer, Camp HBCYouth is running at Spelman College, Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University.
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